Protected Land

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Ecosystems in Theory

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

      PDF

3. Four Ecosystems, Four Questions

   1. Four Ecosystems, Four Questions

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 1-13

4. Ecosystems in Theory

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

      PDF

   2. The Ecosystem Idea and Ideal

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 17-35

   3. A Thing is Right

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 37-53

   4. Disturbance, Stress and Resilience

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 55-69

   5. Invasion

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 71-84

5. Ecosystems in Practice

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-85

      PDF

   2. Very Small Ecosystems

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 87-97

   3. Forested Ecosystems

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 99-113

   4. Grassland Ecosystems

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 115-127

   5. Freshwater Ecosystems

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 129-142

   6. Saltwater Ecosystems

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 143-154

   7. Protecting the Shifting Quilt

      • Douglas J. Spieles

      Pages 155-162

6. Back Matter

   Pages 163-164

   PDF

By many measures, Earth’s ecosystems are stressed. Actually, it may be more accurate to say that Earth’s remaining ecosystems are stressed. The fact is that most of the planet’s biomes support only a fraction of the biological communities they once did, primarily because humans have converted large areas of land to alternate uses. More than two-thirds of the global temperate forests, half of the grasslands, even a third of desert ecosystems have been conscripted for human uses like agriculture, construction, harvest and extraction. Cultivation alone covers a quarter of the habitable terrestrial surface. Aquatic ecosystems have not fared any better. An estimated half of the world’s wetlands are gone, particularly those of coastal regions or on arable land. About a fifth of the coral reefs and a third of the m- grove swamps of a century ago have been lost in just the last few decades. The volume of water impounded by dams quadrupled over the same period – it now far exceeds the volume of water in unimpeded rivers (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005; Mitsch and Gosselink 2007). So any assessment of ecosystem status is necessarily an analysis of fragments and remnants, and many of these are degraded by one or more anthropogenic stressors.

• ecology
• ecosystem
• environment
• organization
• wetland

From the reviews:

“This new volume may be slender, but brevity, coupled with clarity, is a virtue here. The book focuses on ‘ecological protection and management, in the face of our changing concept of the ecosystem.’ … The simple, lucid prose sustains the reader, making complexity easy to grasp. This book is slated to become a must read for students, conservation professionals, and citizen activists. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.” (K. B. Sterling, Choice, Vol. 48 (8), April, 2011)

• Denison University, Granville, USA

  Douglas J. Spieles

Policies and ethics