Real world ecology: large-scale and long-term case studies and methods

Ecological and environmental research has increased in scope and complexity in the last few decades, from simple systems with a few managed variables to complex ecosystems with many uncontrolled variables. These issues encompass problems that are inadequately addressed using the types of carefully controlled experiments that dominate past ecological research. Contemporary challenges facing ecologists include whole ecosystem responses to planned restoration activities and ecosystem modifications, as well as unplanned catastrophic events such as biological invasions, natural disasters, and global climate changes. Major perturbations implicated in large-scale ecological alterations share important characteristics that challenge traditional experimental design and statistical analyses. These include: - Lack of randomization, replication and independence; - Multiple scales of spatial and temporal variability; - Complex interactions and system feedbacks. Addresses specific research methods needed for large-scale studies, which have become increasingly important Links environmentaland ecological issues to experimental design, analysis, and interpretation Appropriate for use in ecological methods and natural resource management courses, and as a companion to statistical textbooks Useful for academic scientists,government employees, and those in the private sector who conduct biological assessments and environmental impact statements INDICE: Foreword.- Introduction.- Structural Equation Modeling and Ecological Experiments.- Approaches to Predicting Broad-scale Regime Shifts Using Changing Pattern-process Relationship Across Scales.- Integrating Multiple Spatial Controls and Temporal Sampling Schemes to Explore Short- and Long-term Ecosystem Response to Fire in an Everglades Wetland.- Assessing and Monitoring FireEffects in Western Forests: Statistical Challenges and Opportunities.- Bayesian Hierarchical/Multilevel Models for Inference and Prediction Using Cross-Sectional Lake Data.- Avian Spatial Responses to Forest Spatial Heterogeneity at the Landscape Level: Conceptual and Statistical Challenges.- The Role of Paleoecology in Whole-Ecosystem Experiments.- Identifying Pre-Impacted Reference Conditions from Multiple Spatial and Temporal Sources.- A Spatially-Explicit, Mass-Balance Analysis of Watershed-Scale Controls on Lake Chemistry.- Gradual Global Environmental Change in the Real World and Step Manipulative Experiments in Laboratory and Field: The Necessity of Inverse Analysis.- Ecology in Real World: The Way Forward.

• ISBN: 978-0-387-77941-6
• Editorial: Springer
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 290
• Fecha Publicación: 01/12/2008
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés