Ecosystems of disturbed ground

L.R. Walker0444824200, 9780444824202, 0444417028, 9780444417022

As the human population inexorably grows, its cumulative impact on the Earth’s resources is hard to ignore. The ability of the Earth to support more humans is dependent on the ability of humans to manage natural resources wisely. Because disturbance alters resource levels, effective management requires understanding of the ecology of disturbance.
This book is the first to take a global approach to the description of both natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes that physically impact the ground. Natural disturbances such as erosion, volcanoes, wind, herbivory, flooding and drought plus anthropogenic disturbances such as foresty, grazing, mining, urbanization and military actions are considered. Both disturbance impacts and the biotic recovery are addressed as well as the interactions of different types of disturbance. Other chapters cover processes that are important to the understanding of disturbance of all types including soil processes, nutrient cycles, primary productivity, succession, animal behaviour and competition. Humans react to disturbances by avoiding, exacerbating, or restoring them or by passing environmental legislation. All of these issues are covered in this book.
Managers need better predictive models and robust data-collections that help determine both site-specfic and generalized responses to disturbance. Multiple disturbances have a complex effect on both physical and biotic processes as they interact. This book provides a wealth of detail about the process of disturbance and recovery as well as a synthesis of the current state of knowledge about disturbance theory, with extensive documentation.

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Table of contents :
0444824200……Page 1
Copyright Page……Page 5
CONTENTS……Page 12
PREFACE……Page 6
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS……Page 8
CHAPTER 1. AN INTRODUCTION TO TERRESTRIAL DISTURBANCES……Page 14
CHAPTER 2. DISTURBANCE REGIMES AND ECOSYSTEM RESPONSE ON RECENTLY-DEGLACIATED SUBSTRATES……Page 30
CHAPTER 3. STRESS AND DISTURBANCE IN COLD REGION ECOSYSTEMS……Page 52
CHAPTER 4. ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EROSION……Page 136
CHAPTER 5. VOLCANIC DISTURBANCES AND ECOSYSTEM RECOVERY……Page 150
CHAPTER 6. BOREAL FOREST DISTURBANCES……Page 174
CHAPTER 7. DISTURBANCE BY WIND IN TEMPERATEZONE FORESTS……Page 200
CHAPTER 8. BACKGROUND CANOPY GAP AND CATASTROPHIC WIND DISTURBANCES IN TROPICAL FORESTS……Page 236
CHAPTER 9. FOREST HERBIVORY: INSECTS……Page 266
CHAPTER 10. DISTURBANCE IN MEDITERRANEAN-CLIMATE SHRUBLANDS AND WOODLANDS……Page 284
CHAPTER 11. GRAZING, FIRE, AND CLIMATE EFFECTS ON PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY OF GRASSLANDS AND SAVANNAS……Page 300
CHAPTER 12. DISTURBANCE IN DESERTS……Page 320
CHAPTER 13. DISTURBANCE REGIMES IN NORTH AMERICAN WETLANDS……Page 344
CHAPTER 14. MINING……Page 378
CHAPTER 15. DISTURBANCE ASSOCIATED WITH MILITARY EXERCISES……Page 398
CHAPTER 16. DISTURBANCE IN URBAN ECOSYSTEMS……Page 410
CHAPTER 17. DISTURBANCE AND BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS: DIRECT EFFECTS AND FEEDBACKS……Page 426
CHAPTER 18. DISTURBANCE IN TEMPERATE FORESTS OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE……Page 466
CHAPTER 19. ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCE AND TROPICAL FORESTRY: IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT……Page 480
CHAPTER 20. SUCCESSIONAL CHANGES IN AGROECOSYSTEMS OF THE ROLLING PAMPA……Page 500
CHAPTER 21. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SOILS OF DISTURBED GROUND……Page 516
CHAPTER 22. SOIL MICROORGANISMS……Page 534
CHAPTER 23. RESPONSES OF CARBON AND NITROGEN CYCLES TO DISTURBANCE IN FORESTS AND RANGELANDS……Page 558
CHAPTER 24. DISTURBANCE AND PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS……Page 584
CHAPTER 25. PATTERNS AND PROCESSES IN PRIMARY SUCCESSION……Page 598
CHAPTER 26. PLANT INTERACTIONS DURING SECONDARY SUCCESSION……Page 624
CHAPTER 27. THE RESPONSE OF ANIMALS TO DISTURBANCE AND THEIR ROLES IN PATCH GENERATION……Page 646
CHAPTER 28. HOW HUMANS RESPOND TO NATURAL OR ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCE……Page 672
CHAPTER 29. RESTORATION OF DISTURBED ECOSYSTEMS……Page 686
CHAPTER 30. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES AS INCENTIVES AND DISINCENTIVES TO LAND DISTURBANCE……Page 702
CHAPTER 31. PATCH DYNAMICS AND THE ECOLOGY OF DISTURBED GROUND: A FRAMEWORK FOR SYNTHESIS……Page 720
CHAPTER 32. ECONOMIC GROWTH, HUMAN DISTURBANCE TO ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, AND SUSTAINABILITY……Page 736
CHAPTER 33. DISTURBANCE IN TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS: SALIENT THEMES, SYNTHESIS, AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS……Page 760
GLOSSARY……Page 782
SYSTEMATIC LIST OF GENERA……Page 786
AUTHOR INDEX……Page 790
SYSTEMATIC INDEX……Page 834
GENERAL INDEX……Page 846