Body Size: The Structure and Function of Aquatic Ecosystems

Description

Ecologists have long struggled to predict features of ecological systems, such as the numbers and diversity of organisms. The wide range of body sizes in ecological communities, from tiny microbes to large animals and plants, is emerging as the key to prediction. Based on the relationship between body size and features such as biological rates, the physics of water and the amount of habitat available, we may be able to understand patterns of abundance and diversity, biogeography, interactions in food webs and the impact of fishing, adding up to a potential 'periodic table' for ecology. Remarkable progress on the unravelling, describing and modelling of aquatic food webs, revealing the fundamental role of body size, makes a book emphasising marine and freshwater ecosystems particularly apt. In this 2007 book, the importance of body size is examined at a range of scales that will be of interest to professional ecologists, from students to senior researchers.

Alan Hildrew is Professor in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London. Dave Raffaelli is Professor at the University of York. Ronni Edmonds-Brown is a senior lecturer in Environmental Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire.

'I can recommend this book to a wide audience. Not only students but experienced researchers also will find many stimulating chapters and a comprehensive list of the literature related to body size at the end of each chapter. The latter turns this book into an invaluable literature resource. ...readers of this book will gain motivation to explore the importance and the limitations of body-size-related approaches to ecology in further studies.' Basic and Applied Ecology 'The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) is a promising, upcoming conceptual framework which should be followed attentively in its future development and applications ... this book will be interesting for anyone working with large databases and on the look for new applications and tests. Also, biology students wishing to be briefed on the state of the art of ecological analysis, will find this volume quite inspiring.' Zentralblatt fur Geologie und Palaontologie