The Economy of Nature

Cover Page ... -1
Half-Titile Page ... 3
About the Author ... 4
Title Page ... 5
Copyright Page ... 6
Brief Contents ... 7
Preface ... 15
Enduring Vision ... 15
New to This Edition ... 15
Resources for the Student ... 18
Resources for the Instructor ... 19
Companion Web Resources ... 19
Acknowledgments ... 20
Contents ... 9
Chapter 1: Introduction ... 23
Ecological systems can be as small as individual organisms or as large as the biosphere ... 25
Ecologists study nature from several perspectives ... 27
Plants, animals, and micro organisms play different roles inecological systems ... 29
The habitat defines an organism’splace in nature; the niche defines its functional role ... 33
Ecological systems and processes have characteristic scales in time and space ... 33
Ecological systems are governed by basic physical and biological principles ... 35
Ecologists study the natural world by observation and experimentation ... 36
Humans are a prominent part of the biosphere ... 39
Human impacts on the natural world have increasingly become a focus of ecology ... 41
Ecologists in the Field: Introduction of the Nile perch into Lake Victoria ... 39
Ecologists in the Field: The California sea otter. ... 40
Chapter 2: Adaptations to the Physical Environment: Water and Nutrients ... 45
Water has many properties favorable to life ... 47
Many inorganic nutrients are dissolved in water ... 48
Plants obtain water and nutrients from the soil by the osmotic potential of their root cells ... 51
Forces generated by transpiration help to move water from roots to leaves ... 53
Salt balance and water balance go hand in hand ... 54
Animals must excrete excess nitrogen without losing too much wate ... 58
Ecologists in the Field: Flip-flopping osmoregulation in a small marine invertebrate. ... 57
Chapter 3: Adaptations to the Physical Environment: Light, Energy, and Heat ... 60
Light is the primary source of energy for the biosphere ... 61
Plants capture the energy of sunlight by photosynthesis ... 63
Plants modify photosynthesis in environments with high water stress ... 64
Diffusion limits uptake of dissolved gases from water ... 68
Temperature limits the occurrence of life ... 70
Each organism functions best under a re stricted range of temperatures ... 72
The thermal environment includes several avenues of heat gain and loss ... 72
Homeothermy increases metabolic rate and efficiency ... 77
Global Change: Carbon dioxide and global warming ... 74
Ecologists in the Field: Keeping cool on tropical islands. ... 76
Chapter 4: Variation in the Environment: Climate, Water, and Soil ... 83
Global patterns in temperature and precipitation are established by solar radiation ... 84
Ocean currents redistribute heat ... 89
Latitudinal shifting of the sun’s zenith causes seasonal variation in climate ... 91
Temperature-induced changes in water density drive seasonal cycles in temperate lakes ... 92
Climate and weather undergo irregularand often unpredictable changes ... 94
Topographic features cause local variation in climate ... 97
Climate and the underlying bedrock interact to diversify soils ... 101
Ecologists in the Field: A half-million-year climatic record. ... 96
Ecologists in the Field: Which came first, the soil or the forest? ... 105
Chapter 5: The Biome Concept in Ecology ... 109
Climate is the major determinant of plant growth form and distribution ... 111
Climate defines the boundaries of terrestrial biomes ... 113
Walter climate diagrams distinguish the major terrestrial biomes ... 115
Temperate climate zones have average annual temperatures between 5°C and 20°C ... 117
Boreal and polar climate zones have average temperatures below 5°C ... 122
Climate zones within tropical latitudes have average temperatures exceeding 20°C ... 124
The biome concept must be modified for fresh water aquatic systems ... 126
Marine aquatic systems are classified principally by water depth ... 130
Chapter 6: Evolution and Adaptation ... 135
The phenotype is the outwarde xpression of an individual’s genotype ... 137
Adaptations result from natural selection on heritable variation in traits that affect evolutionary fitness ... 139
Evolutionary changes in allele frequencies have been documented in natural populations ... 143
Individuals can respond to their environments and increase their fitness ... 146
Phenotypic plasticity allows individuals to adapt to environmental change ... 148
Ecologists in the Field: Rapid evolution in response to an introduced parasitoid. ... 141
Chapter 7: Life Histories and Evolutionary Fitness ... 154
Trade-offs in the allocation of resources provide a basis for understanding life histories ... 157
Life histories vary a long a slow–fast continuum ... 158
Life histories balance trade-offs between current and future reproduction ... 159
Semelparous organisms breed once and then die ... 164
Senescence is a decline in physiological function with increasing age ... 167
Life histories respond to variation in the environment ... 170
Individual life histories are sensitive to environmental influences ... 172
Animals forage in a manner that maximizes their fitness ... 174
Global Change: Global warming and flowering time ... 168
Ecologists in the Field: The cost of parental investment in the European kestrel. ... 159
Ecologists in the Field: Optimal foraging by starlings. ... 174
Data Analysis Module 1: Spatially Partitioned Foraging by Oceanic Seabirds ... 178Black,notBold,notItalic,open,TopLeftZoom,20,-190,0.630005
Chapter 8: Sex and Evolution ... 181
Sexual reproduction mixes the genetic material of two individuals ... 183
Sexual reproduction is costly ... 184
Sex is maintained by the advantages of producing genetically varied offspring ... 185
Individuals may have female function, male function, or both ... 188
The sex ratio of offspring is modified by natural selection ... 189Black,notBold,notItalic,open,TopLeftZoom,20,-190,0.630005
Mating systems describe the pattern of pairing of males and females within a population ... 194
Sexual selection can result in sexual dimorphism ... 197
Ecologists in the Field: Parasites and sex in fresh water snails. ... 186
Ecologists in the Field: Effects of fishing on sex switching. ... 190
Chapter 9: Family, Society, and Evolution ... 202
Territoriality and dominance hierarchies organize social interactions within populations ... 204
Individuals gain advantages and suffer disadvantages from living in groups ... 205
Natural selection balances the costs and benefits of social behaviors ... 206
Kin selection favors altruistic behaviors toward related individuals ... 207
Cooperation among individuals in extended families implies the operation of kin selection ... 211
Game theory analyses illustrate the difficulties for cooperation among unrelated individuals ... 212
Parents and offspring maycome into conflict over levels of parental investment ... 214
Insect societies arise out of sibling altruism and parental dominance ... 215
Ecologists in the Field: Are cooperative acts always acts of altruism? ... 210
Chapter 10: The Distribution and Spatial Structure of Populations ... 220
Populations are limited to ecologically suitable habitats ... 222
Ecological niche modeling predicts the distributions of species ... 226
The dispersion of individuals reflects habitat heterogeneity and social interactions ... 229
The spatial structure of populations parallels environmental variation ... 231
Three types of models describe the spatial structure of populations ... 234
Dispersal is essential to the integration of populations ... 235
Macroecology addresses patterns of range size and population density ... 238
Global Change: Changing ocean temperatures and shifting fish distributions ... 228
Ecologists in the Field: Effects of habitat corridors on dispersal and distributions in an Atlantic coastal plain pine forest. ... 237
Chapter 11: Population Growth and Regulation ... 244
Populations grow by multiplication rather than addition ... 246
Age structure influences population growth rate ... 249
A life table summarizes age-specific schedules of survival and fecundity ... 251
The intrinsic rate of increase can be estimated from the life table ... 256
Population size is regulated by density-dependent factors ... 261
Ecologists in the Field: Building life tables for natural populations. ... 254
Data Analysis Module 2: Birth and Death Rates Influence Population Age Structure and Growth Rate ... 268
Chapter 12: Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Populations ... 270
Fluctuation is the rule fornatural populations ... 272
Temporal variation affects the agestructure of populations ... 274
Population cycles result from timedelays in the response of populations to their own densities ... 274
Metapopulations are discrete subpopulations linked by movements of individuals ... 279
Chance events may cause small populations to go extinct ... 282
Ecologists in the Field: Time delays and oscillations in blowfly populations. ... 278
Data Analysis Module 3: Stochastic Extinction with Variable Population Growth Rates ... 286
Chapter 13: Population Genetics ... 289
The ultimate source of genetic variation is mutation ... 290
Genetic markers can be used to study population processes ... 291
Genetic variation is maintained by mutation, migration, and environmental variation ... 292
The Hardy–Weinberg law describes the frequencies of alleles and genotypes in ideal populations ... 294
Inbreeding reduces the frequency of heterozygotes in a population ... 295
Genetic drift in small populations causes loss of genetic variation ... 298
Population growth and decline leave different genetic traces ... 301
Loss of variation by genetic drift is balanced by mutation and migration ... 302
Selection in spatially variable environments can differentiate populations genetically ... 304
Ecologists in the Field: Inbreeding depression and selective abortion in plants. ... 297
Chapter 14: Species Interactions ... 309
All organisms are involved inconsumer–resource interactions ... 311
The dynamics of consumer–resourceinteractions reflect mutual evolutionary responses ... 312
Parasites maintain a delicate consumer–resource relationship with their hosts ... 314
Herbivory varies with the quality of plants as resources ... 316
Competition may be an indirect result of other types of interactions ... 318
Individuals of different species can collaborate in mutualistic interactions ... 319
Ecologists in the Field: Predator avoidance and growth performance in frog larvae. ... 313
Ecologists in the Field: Acacias house and feed the ants that protect them from herbivores. ... 320
Chapter 15: Dynamics of Consumer–Resource Interactions ... 324
Consumers can limit resource populations ... 326
Many predator and prey populations increase and decrease in regular cycles ... 329
Simple mathematical modelscan reproduce cyclic predator–prey interactions ... 334
Pathogen–host dynamics can be described by the S-I-R model ... 337
The Lotka–Volterra model can bestabilized by predator satiation ... 340
A number of factors can reduce oscillations in predator–prey models ... 343
Consumer–resource systems can have more than one stable state ... 343
Ecologists in the Field: Huffaker’s experiments on mite populations. ... 332
Ecologists in the Field: Testing a prediction of the Lotka–Volterra model. ... 337
Ecologists in the Field: The chytrid fungus and the global decline of amphibians. ... 339
Data Analysis Module 4: Maximum Sustainable Yield: Applying Basic Ecological Conceptsto Fisheries Management ... 346
Chapter 16: Competition ... 350
Consumers compete for resources ... 352
Failure of species to coexist in laboratory cultures led to the competitive exclusion principle ... 355
The theory of competition and coexistence is an extension of logistic growth models ... 356
Asymmetric competition can occur when different factors limit the populations of competitors ... 358
Habitat productivity can influence competition between plant species ... 359
Competition may occur through direct interference ... 360
Consumers can influence the outcome of competition ... 362
Ecologists in the Field: Apparent competition between corals and algae mediated by microbes. ... 364
Chapter 17: Evolution of Species Interactions ... 368
Adaptations in response to predation demonstrate selection by biological agents ... 371
Antagonists evolve in response to each other ... 373
Coevolution in plant–pathogen systems reveals genotype–genotype interactions ... 376
Consumer and resource populations can achieve an evolutionary steady state ... 377
Competitive ability responds to selection ... 378
Coevolution involves mutual evolutionary responses by interacting populations ... 382
Global Change: Invasive plant species and the role of herbivores ... 386
Ecologists in the Field: Evolution in houseflies and their parasitoids. ... 374
Ecologists in the Field: Back from the brink of extermination. ... 379
Ecologists in the Field: A counterattack for every defense. ... 383
Chapter 18: Community Structure ... 391
A biological community is an association of interacting populations ... 393
Measures of community structure include numbers of species and trophic levels ... 398
Feeding relationships organize communities in food webs ... 399
Food web structure influences the stability of communities ... 402
Communities can switch between alternative stable states ... 405
Trophic levels are influenced from above by predation and from below by production ... 407
Ecologists in the Field: Does species diversity help communities bounce back from disturbance? ... 404
Ecologists in the Field: Mimicking the effects of ice scouring on the rocky coast of Maine. ... 406
Ecologists in the Field: A trophic cascade from fish to flowers. ... 410
Chapter 19: Ecological Succession and Community Development ... 414
The concept of the sere includes all the stages of successional change ... 416
Succession ensues as colonists alter environmental conditions ... 422
Succession becomes self-limiting as it approaches the climax ... 426
Ecologists in the Field: Gap size influences succession on marine hard substrata. ... 419
Ecologists in the Field: Plant life histories influence old-field succession. ... 423
Chapter 20: Biodiversity ... 433
Variation in the relative abundance of species influences concepts of biodiversity ... 435
The number of species increases with the area sampled ... 436
Large-scale patterns of diversity reflectlatitude, environmental heterogeneity, and productivity ... 438
Diversity has both regional andlocal components ... 441
Diversity can be understood in termsof niche relationships ... 445
Equilibrium theories of diversity balance factors that add and remove species ... 448
Explanations for high tree species richness in the tropics focus on forest dynamics ... 451
Ecologists in the Field: Species sorting in wetland plant communities. ... 444
Data Analysis Module 5: Quantifying Biodiversity ... 457
Chapter 21: History, Biogeography, and Biodiversity ... 462
Life has unfolded over millions of years of geologic time ... 465
Continental drift influences the geography of evolution ... 466
Biogeographic regions reflect long-term evolutionary isolation ... 467
Climate change influences the distributions of organisms ... 469
Organisms in similar environments tend to converge in form and function ... 472
Closely related species show both convergence and divergence in ecological distributions ... 473
Species richness in similar environments often fails to converge between different regions ... 475
Processes on large geographic and temporal scales influence biodiversity ... 478
Ecologists in the Field: Why are there so many more temperate tree species in Asia? ... 476
Chapter 22: Energy in the Ecosystem ... 485
Ecosystem function obeys thermodynamic principles ... 486
Primary production provides energy to the ecosystem ... 488
Many factors influenceprimary production ... 491
Primary production variesamong ecosystems ... 494
Only 5%–20% of assimilated energy passes between trophic levels ... 496
Energy moves through ecosystems at different rates ... 499
Ecosystem energetics summarizes the movement of energy ... 500
Chapter 23: Pathways of Elements in Ecosystems ... 504
Energy transformations and element cycling are intimately linked ... 505
Ecosystems can be modeled as a series of linked compartments ... 506
Water provides a physical model of element cycling in ecosystems ... 508
The carbon cycle is closely tied to the flux of energy through the biosphere ... 509
Nitrogen assumes many oxidationstates in its cycling through ecosystems ... 515
Global Change: Rising carbon dioxide concentrations and the productivity of grasslands ... 514
Ecologists in the Field: What caused the rapid decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide during the Devonian? ... 513
Ecologistsin the Field: The fate of soil nitrate in a temperate forest. ... 518
The phosphorus cycle is chemically uncomplicated ... 519
Sulfur exists in many oxidized and reduced forms ... 522
Microorganisms assume diverse roles in element cycles ... 523
Chapter 24: Nutrient Regeneration in Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems ... 527
Weathering makes nutrients available in terrestrial ecosystems ... 529
Nutrient regeneration in terrestrial ecosystems occurs in the soil ... 530
Mycorrhizal associations of fungi and plant roots promote nutrient uptake ... 531
Nutrient regeneration can follow many paths ... 533
Climate affects pathways and rates of nutrient regeneration ... 534
In aquatic ecosystems, nutrients are regenerated slowly in deep water and sediments ... 538
Stratification hinders nutrient cycling in aquatic ecosystems ... 540
Oxygen depletion facilitates regeneration of nutrients in deep waters ... 541
Nutrient inputs control productionin fresh water and shallow-water marine ecosystems ... 542
Nutrients limit production in the oceans ... 544
Ecologistsin the Field: Will global warming speed thede composition of organic matter in boreal forest soils? ... 537
Ecologistsin the Field: Does iron limit marine productivity? ... 546
Chapter 25: Landscape Ecology ... 550
Landscape mosaics reflect both natural and human influences ... 552
Landscape mosaics can be quantified using remote sensing, GPS, and GIS ... 554
Habitat fragmentation can affect species abundance and species richness ... 557
Habitat corridors and stepping stones can off set the effects of habitat fragmentation ... 559
Landscape ecology explicitly considers the quality of the matrix between habitat fragments ... 560
Different species perceive the landscape at different scales ... 562
Organisms depend on different landscape scales for different activities and at different life history stages ... 564
Ecologistsin the Field: Quantifying the habitat preferences of butterflies in Switzerland. ... 555
Chapter 26: Biodiversity, Extinction, and Conservation ... 567
Biological diversity has many components ... 569
The value of biodiversity arises from social, economic, and ecological considerations ... 571
Extinction is natural but its present rate is not ... 575
Human activities have accelerated the rate of extinction ... 577
Reserve designs for individual species must guarantee a self-sustaining population ... 584
Some critically endangered species have been rescued from the brink of extinction ... 588
Ecologists in the Field: Identifying biodiversity hot spots for conservation. ... 570
Chapter 27: Economic Development and Global Ecology ... 592
Ecological processes hold the key to environmental policy ... 594
Human activities threaten local ecological processes ... 595
Toxins impose local and global environmental risks ... 601
Atmospheric pollution threatens the environment on a global scale ... 604
Human ecology is the ultimate challenge ... 607
Ecologists in the Field: Assessing the earth’s carrying capacity for humankind. ... 607
Glossary ... 611
Index ... 627