Applying Ecology

This book follows a conventional development of ecological theory, running from the individual, through populations to the community. Contents include: measuring organisms' response to stress; exploiting variability; managing populations; establishing ecosystems; modelling ecosystems; and assessing ecological change.

Part 1 Applying ecology: thinking about ecology; ecological methodologies; ecological stability; stress; theory and application. Part 2 Measuring the effects of pollution: the nature of pollution; adaptation to the environment; allocating energy; the accumulation of pollutants in individuals; meausring toxicity; biological monitoring; measuring toxic effects in soil communities; biochemical measures of stress in while organisms; scope for growth and protein turnover; biological monitoring. Part 3 Exploiting variability: variation and adaptation; specialization and generalization; using tolerance as a pollution indicator; metal tolerance in plants; the use of tolerant micro-organisms in soil remediation; the use of GEMs in bioremediation; recombinant technology and the release of GEMs. Part 4 Managing populations: population growth; the limits to population growth; determinants of stability; exploiting a population; managing forest for maximum sustainable yield; conserving populations; loss of genetic varioation. Part 5 Managing pests: defining the pest; the functional response of a predator; the numerical response of a predator; the use of models in biological control; finding natural enemies; the ecology of the pest; other forms of biological control; chemical control and integrated pest management. Part 6 Conserving communities: the distribution of rare species; fragmentation and insularization; species-area relationships; insularization and reserve design; insularization and species composition; selecting nature reserves; reserve management. Part 7 Establishing ecosystems: succession and disturbance; the principles of reclamation and restoration; reclamation; restoration and soil erosion; the restoration of semi-natural habitats. Part 8 modelling ecosystems: principles of modelling; hubbard brook; nutrient cycling and the imapct of pollutants; eutrophication in freshwater ecosystems; microcosms as experimental models of larger systems; bioaccumulation. Part 9 Exploiting ecosystems: simple process control; sewage treatment; sludge disposal; alternative methods of treating sewage; landfill ecology; composting. Part 10 Assessing large-scale ecological change: extending ecological theory to the larger scales; ecosystem stability; stability and diversity; regional diversity; landscape and regional ecology; evaluating global ecological change.