Fundamental Processes in Ecology

An Earth Systems Approach

David M. Wilkinson

Winner of The Marsh Ecology Book of the Year Award 2006
Integrates Earth System Science with ecology, by focusing on fundamental ecological processes including energy flow, carbon sequestration and photosynthesis
Provides an alternative process-based classification of ecology, and proposes a new approach to the teaching of undergraduate ecology
Suggests how the idea of fundamental processes can be developed at the systems level
Ideal graduate seminar course material

Fundamental Processes in Ecology

An Earth Systems Approach

David M. Wilkinson

Description

Fundamental Processes in Ecology presents a way to study ecosystems that is not yet available in ecology textbooks but is resonant with current thinking in the emerging fields of geobiology and Earth System Science. It provides an alternative, process-based classification of ecology and proposes a truly planetary view of ecological science. To achieve this, it asks (and endeavours to answer) the question, "what are the fundamental ecological processes which would be found on any planet with Earth-like, carbon based, life?"

The author demonstrates how the idea of fundamental ecological processes can be developed at the systems level, specifically their involvement in control and feedback mechanisms. This approach allows us to reconsider basic ecological ideas such as energy flow, guilds, trade-offs, carbon cycling and photosynthesis; and to put these in a global context. In doing so, the book puts a much stronger emphasis on microorganisms than has traditionally been the case.

The integration of Earth System Science with ecology is vitally important if ecological science is to successfully contribute to the massive problems and future challenges associated with global change. Although the approach is heavily influenced by Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, this is not a popular science book about Gaian theory. Instead it is written as an accessible text for graduate student seminar courses and researchers in the fields of ecology, earth system science, evolutionary biology, palaeontology, history of life, astrobiology, geology and physical geography.

Fundamental Processes in Ecology

An Earth Systems Approach

David M. Wilkinson

Preface
Part I. Introduction
1:Introducing the thought experiment
Part II. The Fundamental processes
2:Energy Flow
3:Multiple guilds
4:Tradeoffs and biodiversity
5:Ecological hypercycles - covering a planet with life
6:Merging of organismal and ecological physiology
7:Photosynthesis
8:Carbon sequestration
Part III. Emerging systems
9:Nutrient cycling as an emergent property
10:Historical contingency and the development of planetary ecosystems
11:From processes to systems
Glossary
References

Fundamental Processes in Ecology

An Earth Systems Approach

David M. Wilkinson

Author Information

David M. Wilkinson, School of Biological and Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Fundamental Processes in Ecology

An Earth Systems Approach

David M. Wilkinson

Reviews and Awards

Winner of The Marsh Ecology Book of the Year Award 2007

Review from previous edition This is a remarkabe book at many levels...Put simply, this should be seen as a key text in any undergraduate ecology/environment course. It's one of the most interesting texts published for some time - a must-buy for the library. - Ecological and Environmental Education, The Teaching Ecology Group, 2007, Dr Paul Ganderton

Wilkinson has succeeded in writing an extraordinarily readable and accessible book that examines some of the very basic questions underlying ecology in its widest sense. There are relatively few books that encourage the reader to shake free from the shackles of conventional thinking and move along new and illuminating paths. Wilkinson has achieved this, and his book deserves to be read, assimilated, and argued over by all those interested in ecology, from undergraduates to senior academics. - British Ecological Society Bulletin, May 2006.

In this lucidly written book, Dave Wilkinson introduces the ecological building blocks needed for life to thrive on a planet and explains how a self-regulating 'Gaia' system can emerge from them. - Tim Lenton

This is a broad and wide ranging yet scrupulously scientific book on ecology. It is just what is needed for the understanding of the fast unfolding disaster of global climate change. I unhesitatingly recommend it to all concerned biologists and climate scientists. - James Lovelock

Fundamental Processes in Ecology is an intriguing but iconoclastic introduction...[it] provides a novel and thought-provoking organizational framework for ecology... - TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution, March 2007, J.A. Jones

The unconventional theoretical perspective of this clearly written, concise volume will shed fresh light on areas of one's own interest. Readers will find his or her own surprises and illuminations. For me, the exclamation point was Wilkinson's list of fundamental guilds: autotrophs, decomposers, and parasites. - Joel E. Cohen, Rockefeller University and Columbia University, New York, New York. The Quarterly Review of Biology, Volume 82, No.2, June 2007

Wilkinson does a fine job explaining fundamental ecological processes such as energy flow, multiple guilds, carbon sequestration, etc... - Journal of Sedimentary Research, David Wilkins, Boise State University, USA