Linking Species & Ecosystems

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-4

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   2. Why Link Species and Ecosystems? A Perspective from Ecosystem Ecology

      • Nancy B. Grimm

      Pages 5-15

   3. Organisms and Species as Complex Adaptive Systems: Linking the Biology of Populations with the Physics of Ecosystems

      • James H. Brown

      Pages 16-24

3. Scope

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 25-27

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   2. Bioturbators as Ecosystem Engineers: Control of the Sediment Fabric, Inter-Individual Interactions, and Material Fluxes

      • Jeffrey Levinton

      Pages 29-36

   3. Biogeochemical Processes and Marine Benthic Community Structure: Which Follows Which?

      • Anne E. Giblin, Kenneth H. Foreman, Gary T. Banta

      Pages 37-44

   4. Marine Snow: What It Is and How It Affects Ecosystem Functioning

      • M. W. Silver, S. L. Coale, D. K. Steinberg, C. H. Pilskaln

      Pages 45-51

   5. Floods, Food Chains, and Ecosystem Processes in Rivers

      • Mary E. Power

      Pages 52-60

   6. Population Variability in Experimental Ecosystems

      • Michael L. Pace, Stephen R. Carpenter, Patricia A. Soranno

      Pages 61-71

   7. How Important Are Consumer Species to Ecosystem Functioning?

      • Nancy Huntly

      Pages 72-83

   8. Linking Tree Population Dynamics and Forest Ecosystem Processes

      • Charles D. Canham, Stephen W. Pacala

      Pages 84-93

   9. Soil Organisms as Engineers: Microsite Modulation of Macroscale Processes

      • J. M. Anderson

      Pages 94-106

   10. Soil Fauna: Linking Different Levels of the Ecological Hierarchy

       • Robert W. Parmelee

       Pages 107-116

   11. Beaver as Engineers: Influences on Biotic and Abiotic Characteristics of Drainage Basins

       • Michael M. Pollock, Robert J. Naiman, Heather E. Erickson, Carol A. Johnston, John Pastor, Gilles Pinay

       Pages 117-126

   12. Atmospheric Oxygen and the Biosphere

       • Heinrich D. Holland

       Pages 127-136

4. Approaches

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 137-140

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   2. Linking Species and Ecosystems: Organisms as Ecosystem Engineers

      • John H. Lawton, Clive G. Jones

      Pages 141-150

   3. Top-Level Carnivores and Ecosystem Effects: Questions and Approaches

      • James A. Estes

      Pages 151-158

   4. Food Webs in Soil: An Interface Between Population and Ecosystem Ecology

      • Jan Bengtsson, David Wei Zheng, Göran I. Ågren, Tryggve Persson

      Pages 159-165

I was asked to introduce this volume by examining "why a knowledge of ecosys­ tem functioning can contribute to understanding species activities, dynamics, and assemblages." I have found it surprisingly difficult to address this topic. On the one hand, the answer is very simple and general: because all species live in ecosystems, they are part of and dependent on ecosystem processes. It is impossible to understand the abundance and distribution of populations and the species diversity and composition of communities without a knowledge of their abiotic and biotic environments and of the fluxes of energy and mat­ ter through the ecosystems of which they are a part. But everyone knows this. It is what ecology is all about (e.g., Likens, 1992). It is why the discipline has retained its integrity and thrived, despite a sometimes distressing degree of bickering and chauvinism among its various subdisciplines: physiological, be­ havioral, population, community, and ecosystem ecology.

• Charles Darwin
• Darwin
• Fauna
• ecology
• ecosystem
• ecosystem ecology
• ecosystem processes
• environment
• environmental protection
• terrestrial ecosystem
• terrestrial ecosystems

...this is an excellent book and an important contribution in bridging two major sub-disciplines of ecology: population /community ecology and ecosystem ecology. Webber State University

• Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, USA

  Clive G. Jones, John H. Lawton

• Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire, England, UK

  John H. Lawton

Policies and ethics