Essentials of Ecology

Colin R. Townsend is the Director of the Ecology, Conservation and Biodiversity Research Group at the University of Otago. He has published over 150 ecology papers and books, including the best-selling and award-winning Ecology, 4th Edition, with co-authors Michael Begon and John L. Harper. He is also co-editor of the international journal Freshwater Biology. Michael Begon is Professor of Ecology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool. He has authored several books in addition to Ecology and around 150 research articles. His current research interests are focused on the population ecology of pathogens in wildlife populations. Robert Howarth chairs the International SCOPE Biofuels Project, directs the Agriculture, Energy & the Environment Program (AEEP, formerly AEP) at Cornell University, and represents the State of New York on the science and technical advisory committee of the Chesapeake Bay Program. He is the Founding Editor of the journal "Biogeochemistry" (Editor-in-Chief from 1983 to 2004). He has worked extensively on environmental issues related to human-induced changes in the sulphur, nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon cycles, the impacts of global climate change, and interaction of energy systems and the environment.

Part I Introduction 1 Ecology and how to do it 2 Ecologys evolutionary backdrop Part II Conditions and Resources 3 Physical conditions and the availability of resources 4 Climate and the worlds biomes Part III Individuals and Populations, Communities and Ecosystems 5 Birth, death and movement 6 Interspecific competition 7 Predation, grazing and disease 8 Molecular and evolutionary ecology Part IV Communities and Ecosystems 9 From populations to communities 10 Patterns in species richness 11 The flux of energy and matter through ecosystems Part V Applied Issues in Ecology 12 Global biogeochemical cycles and their alteration by humans 13 Conservation ecology 14 The ecology of human population growth, disease, and food supply