Ecology of a Changing Planet -3rd Edition

Hardback  528 pages  ISBN 0130662577      £61.00

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This is the first introductory text to outline the fundamental ecological principles which provide the foundation for understanding environmental issues. A strong framework of applied ecology is used to explore specifics such as habitat fragmentation, acid deposition, and the emergence of new human diseases. This text clearly links ecology, evolution, conservation biology, and environmental change.

Contents

I. BIODIVERSITY AND THE PHYSICAL SETTING.
1. Ecology and the Power of Natural Selection.
2. Chance, Change and Evolution.
3. The Great Wealth of Life: Biodiversity.
4. Climate.
5. Ecosystems, Nutrient Cycles, and Soil.
II. POPULATION AND COMMUNITY ECOLOGY.
6. The Ecological Efficiency of Living Things.
7. Who Needs Sex Anyway?
8. Populations and Resources: A Balancing Act.
9. The Power of Predators.
10. Peopling Earth.
III. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY.
11. Biomes: The Great Vegetation Types.
12. Aquatic Ecosystems.
13. Why Wetlands Arent Worthless.
14. Making Connections: Fisheries.
15. Ecological Succession: Rebuilding Ecosystems.
16. Communities Through Time: Changing Populations and Landscapes.
17. Climate Change and Global Warming.
18. Habitat Fragmentation and Extinction.
19. Working to Save Biodiversity.
IV. ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY.
20. Feeding the World.
21. Pollution: The Other Face of Fertilizers and Pesticides.
22. Atmosphere, Air Pollution, and Ozone.
23. The Use and Supply of Energy.
24. How Does Acid Deposition Affect Ecosystems?
25. Disease.
26. Environmental Economics.
27. Environmental Legislation and Policy.
28. Peering into the Future.
Glossary.
References.
Photo Credits.
Index.

Features

• NEW - New chapter, The Great Wealth of Life added - Provides students with a greater focus on temperate rather than tropical systems.
• NEW - Revised and reorganized to present biodiversity earlier in the book - Enables students to address issues shaped to accommodate conservative biology and guides students through population ecology before introducing community ecology.
• NEW - Climate Change and Global Warming chapter completely rewritten - Provides students with material that reflects the rapid development in the field.
• NEW - Natural population fluctuations in fish - Including a data set for 100 year cycles in Californian anchovy population conservation.
• NEW - Mechanism of natural selection and consequences of evolution chapters redrafted - The example of the peppered moth as a model of natural selection has been replaced with that of Galapagos finches.
• NEW - Risks vs. benefits of genetically modified foods - Encourages students critical thinking on the issue of feeding the world.
• NEW - Freshwater shortage coverage - Provides students with a view of the factors affecting predicted future events.
• NEW- Cafi energy standards addressed
• Emphasis on scientific method.
• Application of theoretical ecology to the applied science of conservation biology.
• Synthetic chapters establish knowledge that is brought together in an applied chapter.
• Emphasis on evolution and natural selection.