Landscape and Regional Biogeochemistry: Approaches

Abstract

Ecosystem science is a relatively new field of ecology dealing with all of the organisms in an area and their relationships with the physical environment. It includes plants, animals, and microorganisms and studies the interactions among them and with the soil, water, and the atmosphere. This book contains 26 separately authored and indexed chapters which review the methods most commonly used in ecosystem science and which assess their advantages and disadvantages. The work is divided into 4 parts: carbon and energy dynamics; nutrient and water dynamics; manipulative ecosystem experiments; and synthesis and conclusions. Diagrams, graphs, line-drawings, charts, color plates, maps, and photographs illustrate the text and an index is provided.