Tropical Ecosystems and Ecological Concepts

by Patrick L. Osborne

• ISBN13: 9780521177344
• ISBN10: 0521177340
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Tropical habitats cover over one third of the Earth's terrestrial surface and harbor much of its biodiversity, with many areas rich in endemic species. However, these ecosystems are under significant and growing threat from issues such as deforestation, land degradation and ocean acidification. This introductory textbook provides a comprehensive guide to the major tropical biomes. It is unique in its balanced coverage of both aquatic and terrestrial systems and in its international scope. Each chapter is built around a particular tropical ecosystem, with descriptive case studies providing a framework around which ecological concepts and applied ecological topics are presented. This second edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect recent advances in the field and includes a greater focus on the impact of global climate change. The text is supported throughout by boxes containing supplementary material and is illustrated with over 200 clear, simple line diagrams, maps and photographs.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Abbreviations and units	p. xiii
The tropical environment and climate	p. 1
The tropics	p. 2
Tropical and temperate environments	p. 3
Tropical climates	p. 4
Global climate change	p. 12
Biogeographical regions	p. 18
Summary	p. 24
Dry, hot deserts and environmental factors	p. 26
Tropical deserts	p. 27
The Sahara Desert and arid zones of northern Africa	p. 27
The Namib Desert	p. 31
Australian deserts	p. 35
Environmental factors	p. 39
Water"	p. 39
Limiting factors and Liebig's law	p. 42
Temperature	p. 45
Salinity	p. 46
Soils and nutrients	p. 47
Environmental factors and plant and animal distributions	p. 51
Desertification or land degradation?	p. 55
Summary	p. 56
Grasslands and primary production	p. 59
Grass structure and biology	p. 60
Neotropical grasslands	p. 61
Light as an energy source	p. 64
Carbon dioxide uptake by plants	p. 65
Photosynthesis	p. 66
Photorespiration	p. 67
Photosynthetic strategies	p. 67
Respiration	p. 70
Environmental factors and photosynthesis	p. 70
Primary production	p. 73
Assessment of grassland primary production	p. 74
Effects of rainfall, grazing and fire on grass growth	p. 75
Primary production rates in terrestrial biomes	p. 78
Summary	p. 79
Savanna and population dynamics	p. 81
Fire and savanna vegetation	p. 82
Savannas of the world	p. 82
The Serengeti	p. 87
Savanna plants and heterogeneity	p. 89
Animal population dynamics in the Serengeti	p. 91
Herbivores and herbivory	p. 93
Principles of population growth	p. 96
Factors determining population density	p. 101
Density-dependent mortality factors	p. 104
Competition theory and the competitive exclusion principle	p. 109
Predation	p. 111
Density-independent mortality factors	p. 121
Reproductive strategies and population growth	p. 121
Population age structure and life tables	p. 125
Key factor analysis	p. 132
Conservation of African wildlife	p. 132
Ecosystem dynamics and ecological models	p. 135
Summary	p. 139
Lakes, energy flow and biogeochemical cycling	p. 142
Thermal stratification	p. 143
Pelagic zone production	p. 161
Littoral zone producers and primary production	p. 166
The catchment area concept	p. 168
Aquatic consumers	p. 170
The biota of tropical and temperate lakes: a comparison	p. 172
Food chains and energy flow	p. 174
Food chain energetics	p. 175
Trophic levels	p. 176
Limited length of food chains	p. 178
Food chain efficiencies	p. 181
Food web dynamics and trophic cascades	p. 182
Biogeochemical cycles	p. 184
Quantitative aspects of nutrient supply and cycling	p. 190
Eutrophication	p. 193
Aquatic resource management	p. 199
Summary	p. 201
Rivers, floodplains and estuaries: the river continuum and flood-pulse concepts	p. 204
Nile River	p. 205
Purari River	p. 211
Amazon River	p. 216
Ecological concepts	p. 226
Estuaries	p. 235
Summary	p. 239
Sudd-communities of Lake Naivasha	p. 243
Rooted emergent swamps of Lake Chilwa	p. 244
Freshwater herbaceous wetlands: structure and function	p. 245
Swamp forests	p. 249
Wetland succession	p. 251
Ecological succession	p. 253
Community development and assembly	p. 254
Wetland loss and conservation	p. 255
Summary	p. 257
Tropical rain forests and biodiversity	p. 259
How many species exist?	p. 260
Biogeography of rainforests	p. 260
Vegetation structure of tropical rain forests	p. 267
Phenology and reproduction of tropical forest trees	p. 270
Life-form concept of plants	p. 273
Rain-forest animals	p. 273
Convergent evolution	p. 276
Plant-animal interactions	p. 277
Co-evolution	p. 281
Productivity and nutrient cycling in forests	p. 281
Micro-climates and resource acquisition	p. 283
Biological diversity	p. 285
Why are rain forests so diverse?	p. 288
Latitudinal gradients and species diversity	p. 289
Gap theory	p. 293
Processes maintaining local diversity	p. 296
Tropical deciduous forests and ecotones	p. 300
Low-diversity tropical rain forests	p. 300
Deforestation	p. 301
Rain-forest conservation and restoration	p. 304
Biodiversity conservation	p. 309 Summary
Mountains, zonation and community gradients	p. 315
Environmental factors and altitude	p. 316
Zonation on tropical mountains	p. 316
Vegetation zonation on Mount Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea	p. 317
Zonation in the Andes	p. 322
Plant and animal ecophysiology: examples from Mount Kenya	p. 325
Mountain zonation	p. 330
Variation in plant and animal communities	p. 330
Summary	p. 332
Mangroves, seagrasses and decomposition	p. 334
Mangrove biogeography	p. 335
Mangroves of New Guinea	p. 337
Ecological adaptations of mangroves	p. 339
Mangrove animals	p. 342
Mangrove productivity	p. 345
Seagrasses	p. 346
Coastal vegetation and organic matter export	p. 347
Decomposition	p. 349
Decomposition rates and environmental factors	p. 352
Detritus food chains	p. 353
Decomposition in other tropical systems	p. 353
Coastal zone management	p. 354
Summary	p. 355
Coral reefs and community ecology	p. 358
Coral reef communities	p. 359
Coral biology	p. 361
Coral reefs	p. 369
Coral reef algae	p. 371
Coral reef animals	p. 372
Coral reef biogeography and biodiversity	p. 375
Community ecology	p. 380
Coral reef communities and phase shifts	p. 385
Coral reef management and conservation	p. 386
Summary	p. 393
Islands, archipelagos, biogeography and evolutionary ecology	p. 395
Krakatau	p. 396
Dispersal	p. 397
Colonisation and community assembly	p. 401
Island biogeography	p. 402
Natural selection and evolution	p. 410
The Galapagos Archipelago	p. 411
Speciation	p. 414
The Hawaiian Archipelago	p. 420
Extinction	p. 421
Exotic species on islands	p. 422
Community ecology and evolution	p. 423
Summary	p. 425
Cities and human ecology	p. 427
Tropical cities	p. 428
Evolution of human societies	p. 429
World population growth	p. 431
Food production	p. 435
Industrialisation, natural resource use and pollution	p. 444
Human population growth: consequences and solutions	p. 446
Sustainable development	p. 449
Conclusions	p. 450
Summary	p. 450
Glossary	p. 452
References	p. 471
Index	p. 501
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