Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Soils and Sediments

by Diana H. Wall (Editor)

Overview

Sustaining Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Soils and Sediments brings together the world's leading ecologists, systematists, and evolutionary biologists to present scientific information that integrates soil and sediment disciplines across terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. It offers a framework for a new discipline, one that will allow future scientists to consider the linkages of biodiversity below-surface, and how biota interact to provide the essential ecosystemservices needed for sustainable soils and sediments.

Contributors consider key-questions regarding soils and sediments and the relationship between soil- and sediment- dwelling organisms and overall ecosystem functioning. The book is an important new synthesis for scientists and researchers studying a range of topics, including global sustainability, conservation biology, taxonomy, erosion, extreme systems, food production, and related fields. In addition, it provides new insight and understanding for managers, policymakers, and others concerned with global environmental sustainability and global change issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781559637602
Publisher:	Island Press
Publication date:	11/19/2004
Series:	Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) Series , #64
Edition description:	1
Pages:	275
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Dr. Diana Wall is Professor and Director of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, an international ecosystem research center at Colorado State University. Dr. Wall has authored numerous scientific papers, articles and reports, and served on several editorial boards. Dr. Wall presents invited lectures on topics such as the Antarctic ecosystems, survival of organisms in extreme environments, the integration of agriculture and ecology, the underground biological world, women in science, and science education. Her research has been widely featured in newspapers, magazines, radio and television, for instance, The New York Times, National Geographic magazine, and PBS TV shows such as Horizons and Discovery.

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1. The Need for Understanding How Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Affect Ecosystem Services in Soils and Sediments
 
PART I. Ecosystem Processes and the Sustainable Delivery of Goods and Services
Chapter 2. The Sustainable Delivery of Goods and Services Provided by Soil Biota
Chapter 3. Ecosystem Services Provided by Freshwater Benthos
Chapter 4. Marine Sedimentary Biota as Providers of Ecosystem Goods and Services
 
PART II. Assessment of the Vulnerability of Critical Below-Surface Habitats, Functions, and Taxa
Chapter 5. Vulnerability to Global Change of Ecosystem Goods and Services Driven by Soil Biota
Chapter 6. Vulnerability and Management of Ecological Services in Freshwater Systems
Chapter 7. Vulnerability of Marine Sedimentary Ecosystem Services to Human Activities
 
PART III. Connections Between Soils and Sediments: Implications for Sustaining Ecosystem
Chaper 8. Connecting Soil and Sediment Biodiversity: The Role of Scale and Implications for Management
Chapter 9. Cascading Effects of Deforestation on Ecosystem Services Across Soils and Freshwater and Marine Sediments
Chapter 10. Understanding the Functions of Biodiversity in Soils and Sediments Will Enhance Global Ecosystem Sustainability and Societal Well-Being
 
SCOPE Series List
SCOPE Soil and Sediment Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (SSBEF)
Committee Publications
SCOPE Executive Committee 2001-2004
Index

Editorial Reviews

"A path-breaking book that provides a remarkable cross-disciplinary synthesis of the state of science in this field and compelling evidence for the need to better understand these systems is we are to successfully manage ecosystem services."

director, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment - Walter Reid