The Fundamental Processes in Ecology: Life and the Earth System

The book provides an alternative process-based approach to studying ecosystems, placing a stronger emphasis on microorganisms and demonstrating how fundamental ecological processes can be developed at the systems level. It has gained traction due to growing societal concern about environmental sustainability and is an accessible text for researchers in various fields.

Format: Hardback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 05 September 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

This captivating book presents a novel approach to studying ecosystems that aligns with the prevailing perspectives in earth system science, geobiology, and planetology. Instead of organizing the subject around a hierarchical classification of entities such as genes, individuals, populations, species, communities, and the biosphere, the book offers an alternative process-based framework and advocates for a truly planetary perspective in ecological science. Through its demonstration of how fundamental ecological processes can be cultivated at the systems level, particularly in their involvement in control and feedback mechanisms, the book empowers readers to reexamine core ecological concepts such as energy flow, guilds, trade-offs, carbon cycling, and photosynthesis. By contextualizing these processes within a global and even planetary framework, the book underscores the significance of microorganisms, placing a heightened emphasis on their role in ecological systems.

Since its initial publication in 2006, the book has witnessed a steady rise in societal concern regarding environmental sustainability, which has contributed to the growing adoption of the earth system science/Gaian approach. The integration of ecology with this perspective is now more crucial than ever if ecological science is to effectively address the formidable challenges and future predicaments associated with global environmental change.

The Fundamental Processes in Ecology serves as an accessible text for advanced undergraduates, graduate student seminar courses, and researchers specializing in ecology, environmental sustainability, earth system science, evolutionary biology, paleontology, history of life, astrobiology, planetology, climatology, geology, and physical geography.

Weight: 548g
Dimension: 254 x 194 x 10 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192884640
Edition number: 2 Revised edition