Bücher der Reihe Ecological Studies

This is the first truly ecosystem-oriented book on peatlands. It adopts an ecosystems approach to understanding the world's boreal peatlands. A recurring theme is the legacy of boreal peatlands as impressive accumulators of carbon as peat over millennia.

This is the first integrative book on the functioning and ecologically oriented use of floodplain forests in the tropics and sub-tropics. It provides fundamental knowledge for professionals and students on their distribution, evolution and phytogeography.

Global warming is expected to change fire regimes, likely increasing the severity and extent of wildfires in many ecosystems around the world.

This book discusses the water and carbon cycle system in the permafrost region of eastern Siberia, Providing vitalin sights into how climate change has affected the permafrost environment in recent decades.

Global warming is expected to change fire regimes, likely increasing the severity and extent of wildfires in many ecosystems around the world.

Domestic and wild large mammalian herbivores occur on every continent except Antarctica. Through their browsing and grazing, they affect the structure and distribution not only of vegetation, but also of associated fauna. Consequently, the interactions between management practices and herbivore populations influence the biodiversity, structure and dynamics of ecosystems across vast expanses around the globe: signs of human activity that will be detectable for epochs to come.As a follow-up work to The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing, published in 2008, this new volume presents cutting-edge research on the behaviour, distribution, movement, and direct and indirect impacts of domestic and wild herbivores on terrestrial ecosystems. The respective chapters highlight strategic and applied research on cross-cutting issues in palaeontology and ecology, and provide concrete recommendations on the management of large herbivores to integrate production and conservation in terrestrial systems. Given its scope, the book will appeal to students, researchers and anyone interested in understanding these fascinating wild animals and how they shape the natural world.

Drawing on a diverse pool of global expertise, the authors present diverse approaches that span a range of scales and levels of complexity. The respective chapters provide in-depth information on the current state of research, and outline future prospects in the field of aboveground-belowground community ecology.

Cave organisms are the 'monsters' of the underground world and studying them invariably raises interesting questions about the ways evolution has equipped them to survive in permanent darkness and low-energy environments.

Dendroecologists apply the principles and methods of tree-ring science to address ecological questions and resolve problems related to global environmental change. In this fast-growing field, tree rings are used to investigate forest development and succession, disturbance regimes, ecotone and treeline dynamics and forest decline. This book of global scope highlights state-of-the-science dendroecological contributions to paradigm-shifts in our understanding of ecophysiology, stand dynamics, disturbance interactions, forest decline and ecosystem resilience to global environmental change and is fundamental to better managing our forested ecosystems for the full range of ecosystem goods and services that they provide.

Big-Leaf Mahogany is the most important commercial timber species of the tropics. This book reports on vital research on the ecology of big-leaf mahogany, including genetic variations, regeneration, natural distribution patterns and the silvicutural and trade implications for the tree.

In this book, coastal dune specialists from tropical and temperate latitudes cover a wide set of topics, including: geomorphology, community dynamics, ecophysiology, biotic interactions and environmental problems and conservation.

A fascinating work that provides a wealth of information on one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems. They performed ecosystem analyses following two gradients: an altitudinal gradient and a gradient of land use intensity and ecosystem regeneration following human use.

This richly illustrated book presents the most recent up-to-date knowledge on Clusia with a wealth of data in tables and figures and comprehensive referencing. Covering all aspects of tree biology, this richly illustrated volume is an invaluable source of information for any plant scientist.

This book provides an up-to-date review of the effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide on agroecosystems, forests, and grasslands. It summarizes the main findings from 13 experiments with annual crops, permanent pastures and plantation forests at 11 sites throughout the world during the past ten years.

Big-Leaf Mahogany is the most important commercial timber species of the tropics. This book reports on vital research on the ecology of big-leaf mahogany, including genetic variations, regeneration, natural distribution patterns and the silvicutural and trade implications for the tree.

This is the first integrative book on the functioning and ecologically oriented use of floodplain forests in the tropics and sub-tropics. It provides fundamental knowledge for professionals and students on their distribution, evolution and phytogeography.

This is a thorough study of photosynthetic mechanisms from cells to leaves, crown, and canopy. The authors question whether photosynthetic adaptations take place primarily at the metabolic and biochemical level or through changes in structure and form, or both.

Synthesizing 40 years of ongoing ecological research, this book examines the structure, function, and dynamics of the Lamto humid savanna.

This book offers a timely overview and synthesis of biogeographic patterns of plants and fungi and their mycorrhizal associations across geographic scales.

The topics range from macrophytes as fish food to macrophytes as mollusc and microbe habitat, making this of interest to aquatic ecologists as well as limnologists, ecosystem ecologists, microbial ecologists, fish biologists, and environmental managers.

A study of all aspects of aquatic humic substances, from their origin and chemical properties, their effects on light and nutrient regimes and biogeochemical cycling, to their role regarding organisms, productivity and food web organization from bacteria to fish.

Finally, shortly before arriving at the Indian Ocean, one encounters the Eastern Arc Mountains, a series of isolated and geologically ancient mountains, which due to their height and proximity to the Indian Ocean intercept sufficient precipitation to support, in many areas, moist tropical forest.

This richly illustrated book presents the most recent up-to-date knowledge on Clusia with a wealth of data in tables and figures and comprehensive referencing. Covering all aspects of tree biology, this richly illustrated volume is an invaluable source of information for any plant scientist.

This book provides a broad and well-integrated overview of recent major scientific results in wetland science and their applications in natural resource management issues.

This book gives a broad and well-integrated overview of recent major scientific results in wetland science and their applications in natural resource management. The coverage is divided into three sections: Functioning of Plants and Animals in Wetlands; Conservation and Management of Wetlands; and Wetland Restoration and Creation.

Regional intercomparisons between ecosystems on different continents can be a powerful tool to better understand the ways in which ecosystems respond to global change.

During recent decades, large-scale effects of pollution on marine estuaries and even entire enclosed coastal seas have become apparent. One of the first regions where this was observed is the Baltic Sea, whereby the appearance of anoxic deep basins, extensive algal blooms and elimination of top predators like eagles and seals indicated effects of both increased nutrient inputs and toxic substances.This book describes the physical, biochemical and ecological processes that govern inputs, distribution and ecological effects of nutrients and toxic substances in the Baltic Sea. Extensive reviews are supplemented by budgets and dynamic simulation models.This book is highly interdisciplinary and uses a systems approach for analyzing and describing a marine ecosystem. It gives an overview of the Baltic Sea, but is useful for any marine scientist studying large marine ecosystems.

This volume gives a current overview of theoretical considerations and empirical findings of activity patterns in small mammals, a group in which the energetic and ecological constraints are particularly severe and the diversity of activity patterns is particularly high.