Quaternary Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography
Quaternary Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography

Author: Valentí Rull

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2020-03-06

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0128204737

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Quaternary Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography offers an introduction to the study of the ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped our present biosphere under the influence of glacial-interglacial cycles. Written by an ecologist with paleoecological expertise, this book reviews the climactic changes that have occurred during the last 2.6 million years, along with the responses of organisms and ecosystems. It offers an understanding of the evolutionary origin of extant biodiversity, its biogeographical patterns, and the composition of modern ecological communities. In addition, it explores human evolution and the influence of our activities on the biosphere, especially in the last millennia.This book offers the latest information on how studying the past can contribute to our understanding of present climate issues for a better future, and is an ideal resource for researchers and students in the natural sciences.

Quaternary Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography
Quaternary Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography

Author: Valentí Rull

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2020-03-05

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0128204745

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Quaternary Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography offers an introduction to the study of the ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped our present biosphere under the influence of glacial-interglacial cycles. Written by an ecologist with paleoecological expertise, this book reviews the climactic changes that have occurred during the last 2.6 million years, along with the responses of organisms and ecosystems. It offers an understanding of the evolutionary origin of extant biodiversity, its biogeographical patterns, and the composition of modern ecological communities. In addition, it explores human evolution and the influence of our activities on the biosphere, especially in the last millennia.This book offers the latest information on how studying the past can contribute to our understanding of present climate issues for a better future, and is an ideal resource for researchers and students in the natural sciences. - Includes the latest developments in genomics and their relevance within Quaternary evolution - Offers a holistic view of the origin of biodiversity patterns and community assembly - Discusses the role of climate on human evolution and the ecological consequences for natural systems

Quaternary Ecology
Quaternary Ecology

Author: Hazel R. Delcourt

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1991-07-31

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

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The increasing interest during recent years in vegetation history, long-term climatic changes and the development of biotic communities has resulted in a growth of the literature in this field and has provided an incentive for scientists to use palaeo-ecology concepts to clarify contemporary ecological issues. Quaternary ecology offers the perspective of time, in using natural experiments of the past to evaluate the responses of population, communities and ecosystems to climatic and environmental changes on a time scale extending back over the past two million years of the quaternary period. Examples from the palaeo-ecological literature demonstrate how quaternary ecology interfaces with other branches of ecology, including plant demography, ecological genetics, limnology and landscape ecology.

Wetland Ecology
Wetland Ecology

Author: Paul A. Keddy

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2023-09-30

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 1009288636

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Richly illustrated in colour and packed with examples from every major continent and wetland type, this third edition has been completely rewritten to provide undergraduates with a thoroughly accessible introduction to the basic principles. It divides the world's wetlands into six principal types and presents six major causal environmental factors, arranged by importance and illustrated with clear examples, making it easy for instructors to plan tailored lectures and field trips and avoid overwhelming students with unnecessary detail. It retains its rigor for more advanced students with sections on research methods and experiments, and over a thousand classic and contemporary references. Each chapter ends with questions that review the content covered and encourage further investigation. With expanded sections on topical issues such as sea level rise, eutrophication, facilitation and the latest approaches to restoration and conservation, the new edition of this prize-winning textbook is a vital resource for wetland ecology courses.

Evolutionary Community Ecology, Volume 58
Evolutionary Community Ecology, Volume 58

Author: Mark A. McPeek

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-08-29

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1400888212

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Evolutionary Community Ecology develops a unified framework for understanding the structure of ecological communities and the dynamics of natural selection that shape the evolution of the species inhabiting them. All species engage in interactions with many other species, and these interactions regulate their abundance, define their trajectories of natural selection, and shape their movement decisions. Mark McPeek synthesizes the ecological and evolutionary dynamics generated by species interactions that structure local biological communities and regional metacommunities. McPeek explores the ecological performance characteristics needed for invasibility and coexistence of species in complex networks of species interactions. This species interaction framework is then extended to examine the ecological dynamics of natural selection that drive coevolution of interacting species in these complex interaction networks. The models of natural selection resulting from species interactions are used to evaluate the ecological conditions that foster diversification at multiple trophic levels. Analyses show that diversification depends on the ecological context in which species interactions occur and the types of traits that define the mechanisms of those species interactions. Lastly, looking at the mechanisms of speciation that affect species richness and diversity at various spatial scales and the consequences of past climate change over the Quaternary period, McPeek considers how metacommunity structure is shaped at regional and biogeographic scales. Integrating evolutionary theory into the study of community ecology, Evolutionary Community Ecology provides a new framework for predicting how communities are organized and how they may change over time.

Ostracoda as Proxies for Quaternary Climate Change
Ostracoda as Proxies for Quaternary Climate Change

Author:

Publisher: Newnes

Published: 2012-12-31

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 044453637X

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Ostracod crustaceans, common microfossils in marine and freshwater sedimentary records, supply evidence of past climatic conditions via indicator species, transfer function and mutual climatic range approaches as well as the trace element and stable isotope geochemistry of their shells. As methods of using ostracods as Quaternary palaeoclimate proxies have developed, so too has a critical awareness of their complexities, potential and limitations. This book combines up-to-date reviews (covering previous work and summarising the state of the art) with presentations of new, cutting-edge science (data and interpretations as well as methodological developments) to form a major reference work that will constitute a durable bench-mark in the science of Ostracoda and Quaternary climate change. - In-depth and focused treatment of palaeoclimate applications - Provides durable benchmark and guide for all future work on ostracods - Presents new, cutting-edge science

Encyclopedia of Environmental Change
Encyclopedia of Environmental Change

Author: John A Matthews

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2013-12-13

Total Pages: 3225

ISBN-13: 1473928192

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Accessibly written by a team of international authors, the Encyclopedia of Environmental Change provides a gateway to the complex facts, concepts, techniques, methodology and philosophy of environmental change. This three-volume set illustrates and examines topics within this dynamic and rapidly changing interdisciplinary field. The encyclopedia includes all of the following aspects of environmental change: Diverse evidence of environmental change, including climate change and changes on land and in the oceans Underlying natural and anthropogenic causes and mechanisms Wide-ranging local, regional and global impacts from the polar regions to the tropics Responses of geo-ecosystems and human-environmental systems in the face of past, present and future environmental change Approaches, methodologies and techniques used for reconstructing, dating, monitoring, modelling, projecting and predicting change Social, economic and political dimensions of environmental issues, environmental conservation and management and environmental policy Over 4,000 entries explore the following key themes and more: Conservation Demographic change Environmental management Environmental policy Environmental security Food security Glaciation Green Revolution Human impact on environment Industrialization Landuse change Military impacts on environment Mining and mining impacts Nuclear energy Pollution Renewable resources Solar energy Sustainability Tourism Trade Water resources Water security Wildlife conservation The comprehensive coverage of terminology includes layers of entries ranging from one-line definitions to short essays, making this an invaluable companion for any student of physical geography, environmental geography or environmental sciences.

Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments
Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments

Author: John P. Smol

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-04-11

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0306476711

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Paleolimnology is a rapidly developing science that is now being used to study a suite of environmental and ecological problems. This volume is the fourth handbook in the Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research book series. The first volume (Last & Smol, 2001a) examined the acquisition and archiving of sediment cores, chronological techniques, and large-scale basin analysis methods. Volume 2 (Last & Smol, 2001b) focused on physical and chemical methods. Volume 3 (Smol et al. , 2001), along with this book, summarize the many biological methods and techniques that are available to study long-term environmental changeusing information preserved in sedimentary profiles. A subsequent volume (Birks et al. , in preparation) will deal with statistical and data handling procedures. It is our intent that these books will provide sufficient detail and breadth to be useful handbooks for both seasoned practitioners as well as newcomers to the area of paleolimnology. These books will also hopefully be useful to non-paleolimnologists (e. g. , limnologists, archeologists, palynologists, geographers, geologists, etc. ) who continue to hear and read about pal- limnology, but have little chance to explore the vast and sometimes difficult to access journal-based reference material for this rapidly expanding field. Although the chapters in these volumes target mainly lacustrine settings, many of the techniques described can also be readily applied to fluvial, glacial, marine, estuarine, and peatland environments. This current volume focuses on zoological indicators preserved in lake sediments, whilst Volume 3 focused on terrestrial, algal, and siliceous indicators.

Environmental Change
Environmental Change

Author: Richard Huggett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 1134760027

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Environmental Change explores the nature, causes, rates and directions of environmental change throughout earth history. Huggett introduces the interdependent parts of the natural environment - cosmic, ecological, geological - and the dynamic nature of the environmental system. Integrating a wealth of examples and illustrations from around the world, the book examines evidence and causes of change in life, climate (air and water), soils, sediments and landforms, and the impacts of human-environment interaction.