Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems

Ricard Solé, Jordi Bascompte - Collection Monographs in population biology

372 pages, parution le 01/04/2006

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Résumé

Can physics be an appropriate framework for the understanding of ecological science? Most ecologists would probably agree that there is little relation between the complexity of natural ecosystems and the simplicity of any example derived from Newtonian physics. Though ecologists have long been interested in concepts originally developed by statistical physicists and later applied to explain everything from why stock markets crash to why rivers develop particular branching patterns, applying such concepts to ecosystems has remained a challenge.

Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems is the first book to clearly synthesize what we have learned about the usefulness of tools from statistical physics in ecology. Ricard Solé and Jordi Bascompte provide a comprehensive introduction to complex systems theory, and ask: do universal laws shape the structure of ecosystems, at least at some scales? They offer the most compelling array of theoretical evidence to date of the potential of nonlinear ecological interactions to generate nonrandom, self-organized patterns at all levels.

Tackling classic ecological questions--from population dynamics to biodiversity to macroevolution--the book's novel presentation of theories and data shows the power of statistical physics and complexity in ecology. Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems will be a staple resource for years to come for ecologists interested in complex systems theory as well as mathematicians and physicists interested in ecology.

L'auteur - Ricard Solé

Ricard V. Solé is Professor of Research at the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies in Spain, head of the Complex Systems Lab at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Senior Member of the NASA-Associate Center of Astrobiology. His recent books include Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology.

L'auteur - Jordi Bascompte

Jordi Bascompte is Associate Professor of Research at the Spanish Research Council, and a Visiting Scientist at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was awarded a European Young Investigator Award, and is coeditor of Modeling Spatiotemporal Dynamics in Ecology.

Sommaire

List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Complexity in Ecological Systems
Nonlinear Dynamics
Spatial Self-Organization: From Pattern to Process
Scaling and Fractals in Ecology
Habitat Loss and Extinction Thresholds
Complex Ecosystems: From Species to Networks
Complexity in Macroevolution
Appendix 1: Lyapunov Exponents for ID Maps
Appendix 2: Renormalization Group Analysis
Appendix 3: Stochastic Multispecies Model
References
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Princeton University Press
Auteur(s)	Ricard Solé, Jordi Bascompte
Collection	Monographs in population biology
Parution	01/04/2006
Nb. de pages	372
Format	15,5 x 23,5
Couverture	Broché
Poids	544g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780691070407
ISBN13	978-0-691-07040-7