A Hierarchical Concept of Ecosystems / Edition 1

by Robert V. O'Neill, Donald Lee Deangelis, J. B. Waide, Timothy F.H. Allen

Overview

"Ecosystem" is an intuitively appealing concept to most ecologists, but, in spite of its widespread use, the term remains diffuse and ambiguous. The authors of this book argue that previous attempts to define the concept have been derived from particular viewpoints to the exclusion of others equally possible. They offer instead a more general line of thought based on hierarchy theory. Their contribution should help to counteract the present separation of subdisciplines in ecology and to bring functional and population/community ecologists closer to a common approach.


Developed as a way of understanding highly complex organized systems, hierarchy theory has at its center the idea that organization results from differences in process rates. To the authors the theory suggests an objective way of decomposing ecosystems into their component parts. The results thus obtained offer a rewarding method for integrating various schools of ecology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691084374
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/21/1986
Series:	Monographs in Population Biology , #23
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	vii
Part I.	The Concept of an Ecosystem	1
1.	Fundamental Ambiguities in the Ecosystem Concept	3
2.	A Historical Perspective on How Ecologists Have Viewed Ecosystems	20
Part II.	Preliminary Considerations	35
3.	The Ecosystem as a System	37
4.	The Concept of Hierarchy and Its Typical Application	55
Part III.	A Proposal for a Theory	73
5.	Some Elements of Hierarchy Theory	75
6.	Hierarchical Structure as the Consequence of Evolution in Open, Dissipative Systems	101
Part IV.	Applications of the Theory to Ecological Systems	123
7.	Ecosystems as Hierarchies of Species	125
8.	Ecosystems as Hierarchies of Processes	159
9.	Ecosystems as Dual Hierarchies	186
	Literature Cited	213
	Author Index	247
	Subject Index	251