The Balance of Nature?

Ecological Issues in the Conservation of Species and Communities

By: Stuart L. Pimm

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Paperback | 1 February 1992 | Edition Number 1

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448 Pages

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2.29 x 1.53 x 0.25

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Ecologists, although they acknowledge the problems involved, generally conduct their research on too few species, in too small an area, over too short a period of time. In The Balance of Nature?, a work sure to stir controversy, the distinguished theoretical ecologist Stuart L. Pimm argues that ecology therefore fails in many ways to address the enormous ecological problems now facing our planet.

Ecologists describing phenomena on larger scales often use terms like "stability," "balance of nature," and "fragility," and Pimm begins by considering the various specific meanings of these terms. He addresses five kinds of ecological stability--stability in the strict sense, resilience, variability, persistence, and resistance--and shows how they provide ways of comparing natural populations and communities as well as theories about them. Each type of stability depends on characteristics of the species studied and also on the structure of the food web in which the species is embedded and the physical features of the environment.

The Balance of Nature? provides theoretical ecology with a rich array of questions--questions that also underpin pressing problems in practical conservation biology. Pimm calls for nothing less than new approaches to ecology and a new alliance between theoretical and empirical studies.

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Science Biology, Life Sciences Life Sciences in General Ecological Science Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning The Environment Applied Ecology Nature & The Natural World Earth Sciences

Preface
Why ""The Balance of Nature""?
What Ecology Is About and What Ecologists Study
The Problems of Scaling Up What Is the ""Balance of Nature""?
Beginnings: Elton and MacArthur
The Last of the Old Meetings
A Theoretical Basis Heresies Are Theoretical and Empirical Studies Incompatible?
How This Book Is Organized
Resilience What Is It and How Do We Measure It?
Resilience and the Life-History Characteristics of Individual Species Food-Web Effects on Resilience Ecosystem Effects on Resilience Summary an
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

The Balance of Nature?

Ecological Issues in the Conservation of Species and Communities

At a Glance

Paperback

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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