Ecological Investigations

Ecological Investigations PDF

Author: Adam C. Konopka

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-08-21

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1351403729

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These investigations identify and clarify some basic assumptions and methodological principles involved in ecological explanations of plant associations. How are plants geographically distributed into characteristic groups? What are the basic conditions that organize groups of interspecific plant populations that are characteristic of particular kinds of habitats? Answers to these questions concerning the geographical distribution of plants in late 19th century European plant geography and early 20th century American plant ecology can be distinguished according to differing logical assumptions concerning the habitats of plant associations. Through an analysis of several significant case studies in the early history of plant ecology, Konopka distinguishes a logic of habitats that conceives of plant associations in an analogy to individual organisms with a logic that conceives of plant associations in a reciprocal relation to habitat physiography. He argues that a phenomenological conception of the logical attributes of habitats can philosophically complement the physiographic tradition in early plant ecology and provide an attractive alternative to standard reductionism and holism debates that persist today. This wide ranging and original analysis will be valuable for readers interested in the history and philosophy of ecology.

Long-Term Ecological Research

Long-Term Ecological Research PDF

Author: Felix Müller

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-06-21

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 9048187826

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Ecosystems change on a multitude of spatial and temporal scales. While analyses of ecosystem dynamics in short timespans have received much attention, the impacts of changes in the long term have, to a great extent, been neglected, provoking a lack of information and methodological know-how in this area. This book fills this gap by focusing on studies dealing with the investigation of complex, long-term ecological processes with regard to global change, the development of early warning systems, and the acquisition of a scientific basis for strategic conservation management and the sustainable use of ecosystems. Within this book, theoretical ecological questions of long-term processes, as well as an international dimension of long-term monitoring, observations and research are brought together. The outcome is an overview on different aspects of long-term ecological research. Aquatic, as well as terrestrial ecosystems are represented.

Trends in Ecological Research for the 1980s

Trends in Ecological Research for the 1980s PDF

Author: June H. Cooley

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-13

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1468448986

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Is ecology at a crossroad? After three decades of rapid, though somewhat anarchic development, many ecologists now are beginning to ask this question. They have the feeling of no longer belonging to a unified and mature scientific discipline. Many of them claim to be mere empiricists, whereas others are proud to be considered theoreticians. Each side has its own journals and holds its own specialists' meetings, tending to disregard the achievements of the other. The communication gap between the two schools is quickly widening, to the detriment of both. To make things worse, the word "ecology" now has a different meaning for the professional biologists and the general public. Ecology is still considered as a creditable (though rather "soft") scientific discipline by the former, whereas it is perceived as a new, non-conformist political philosophy by the latter. Empirical ecologists are fundamentally naturalists who enjoy the immense complexity of the natural world and devote their lifetimes to the description of the many adaptive characteristics--morpholog ical, biological, or behavioral--of the hundreds of thousands of species sharing the earth with us. They generally are ignorant of, if not allergic to, the use of any mathematical representation of living phenomena. They' feel that ecological theory is rapidly becoming a mathematical game that has lost any contact with the "realities of life.

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