Food Chains And Food Webs In Aquatic Ecosystems

Food webs describe the structure of communities and their energy flows, and they represent interactions between species in ecosystems. Recently, we have witnessed rapid development of techniques for both experimental studies and theoretical/computational studies on food webs as well as species interactions. This reprint book is focused on food chains and food webs in aquatic ecosystems, with seven papers published in the corresponding Special Issue of Applied Sciences. The topics include empirical studies on food chains and food webs as well as effects of environmental factors on organisms in aquatic ecosystems.

Food webs describe the structure of communities and their energy flows, and they represent interactions between species in ecosystems. Recently, we have witnessed rapid development of techniques for both experimental studies and theoretical/computational studies on food webs as well as species interactions. This reprint book is focused on food chains and food webs in aquatic ecosystems, with seven papers published in the corresponding Special Issue of Applied Sciences. The topics include empirical studies on food chains and food webs as well as effects of environmental factors on organisms in aquatic ecosystems.

'Aquatic Food Webs' provides a current synthesis of theoretical and empirical food web research. The textbook is suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers in community, ecosystem, and theoretical ecology, in aquatic ecology, and in conservation biology.

Biologists have made significant advances in our understanding of the Earth's shallow subtidal marine ecosystems, but the findings on these disparate regions have never before been documented and gathered in a single volume. Now, in Food Webs and the Dynamics of Marine Reefs, Tim R. McClanahan and George M. Branch fill this lacuna with a comparative and comprehensive collection of nine essays written by experts on specific aquatic regions. Each essay focuses on the food webs of a respective ecosystem and the factors affecting these communities, from the intense and direct pressure of human influence on fisheries to the multi-vector contributors to climate change. The book covers nine shallow water marine ecosystems from selected areas throughout the world: four coral reef systems, three hard bottom systems, and two kelp systems. In summarizing their organization, human influence on them, and recent developments in these ecosystems, the authors contribute to our understanding of their ecological organization and management. Food Webs and the Dynamics of Marine Reefs will be a useful tool for all benthic marine investigators, providing an expert, comparative view of these aquatic regions.

This classroom resource provides clear, concise scientific information in an understandable and enjoyable way about water and aquatic life. Spanning the hydrologic cycle from rain to watersheds, aquifers to springs, rivers to estuaries, ample illustrations promote understanding of important concepts and clarify major ideas. Aquatic science is covered comprehensively, with relevant principles of chemistry, physics, geology, geography, ecology, and biology included throughout the text. Emphasizing water sustainability and conservation, the book tells us what we can do personally to conserve for the future and presents job and volunteer opportunities in the hope that some students will pursue careers in aquatic science. Texas Aquatic Science, originally developed as part of a multi-faceted education project for middle and high school students, can also be used at the college level for non-science majors, in the home-school environment, and by anyone who educates kids about nature and water. To learn more about The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, sponsors of this book's series, please click here.

'Aquatic Food Webs' provides a current synthesis of theoretical and empirical food web research. The textbook is suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers in community, ecosystem, and theoretical ecology, in aquatic ecology, and in conservation biology.

The first stand-alone textbook for at least ten years on this increasingly hot topic in times of global climate change and sustainability in ecosystems. Ecological biochemistry refers to the interaction of organisms with their abiotic environment and other organisms by chemical means. Biotic and abiotic factors determine the biochemical flexibility of organisms, which otherwise easily adapt to environmental changes by altering their metabolism. Sessile plants, in particular, have evolved intricate biochemical response mechanisms to fit into a changing environment. This book covers the chemistry behind these interactions, bottom up from the atomic to the system's level. An introductory part explains the physico-chemical basis and biochemical roots of living cells, leading to secondary metabolites as crucial bridges between organisms and the respective ecosystem. The focus then shifts to the biochemical interactions of plants, fungi and bacteria within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems with the aim of linking biochemical insights to ecological research, also in human-influenced habitats. A section is devoted to methodology, which allows network-based analyses of molecular processes underlying systems phenomena. A companion website offering an extended version of the introductory chapter on Basic Biochemical Roots is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/Krauss/Nies/EcologicalBiochemistry

In its statutory authority (National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended), the NSF is directed to both initiate and support basic scientific research. In its Ecology Program, one mode of initiating research is to en courage the development of new ideas through advisory workshops. The NSF is specifically directed to strengthen our nation's research potential. In addition, stimulating new approaches to research will continue to be prominent in the coming years as federal attention is given to increasing the innovativeness and competitiveness of the U. S. in science and engineering. A decision to initiate a workshop does not arise de novo in the Ecology Program. Rather, it emerges from panel discussions, conversations with in vestigators at meetings or on the phone, and from discussions between pro gram officers in the Division of Biotic Systems and Resources. This workshop was developed to provide advice to the NSF and the lim nological community. Some NSF perceptions on future funding for ecolog ical research on lake communities are presented here. Researchers often mentioned a paucity of innovative lake ecology at the community level. This perception was accompanied by a certain frustration since lakes probably have the best empirical data base of any natural environment and should continue to lead in the development of ecological concepts. Members of NSF advisory panels sometimes expressed similar concerns during consid eration of proposals for lake research.

"Explains the concept of a food chain and how plants, animals, and humans are ecologically linked." -- T.p. verso.

This book presents new approaches to studying food webs, using practical and policy examples to demonstrate the theory behind ecosystem management decisions.