Nutrient Cycling and Limitation

2018-06-26
 |  Science
Nutrient Cycling and Limitation

Author: Peter M. Vitousek

Publisher: Princeton University Press

ISBN: 9780691190341

Category: Science

Page:

View: 566

Get eBOOK →
The availability or lack of nutrients shapes ecosystems in fundamental ways. From forest productivity to soil fertility, from the diversity of animals to the composition of microbial communities, nutrient cycling and limitation are the basic mechanisms underlying ecosystem ecology. In this book, Peter Vitousek builds on over twenty years of research in Hawai'i to evaluate the controls and consequences of variation in nutrient availability and limitation. Integrating research from geochemistry, pedology, atmospheric chemistry, ecophysiology, and ecology, Vitousek addresses fundamental questions: How do the cycles of different elements interact? How do biological processes operating in minutes or hours interact with geochemical processes operating over millions of years? How does biological diversity interact with nutrient cycling and limitation in ecosystems? The Hawaiian Islands provide the author with an excellent model system for answering these questions as he integrates across levels of biological organization. He evaluates the connections between plant nutrient use efficiency, nutrient cycling and limitation within ecosystems, and nutrient input-output budgets of ecosystems. This book makes use of the Hawaiian ecosystems to explore the mechanisms that shape productivity and diversity in ecosystems throughout the world. It will be essential reading for all ecologists and environmental scientists.

Nutrient Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems

2007-05-01
 |  Science
Nutrient Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems

Author: Petra Marschner

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

ISBN: 9783540680277

Category: Science

Page: 397

View: 410

Get eBOOK →
This book presents a comprehensive overview of nutrient cycling processes and their importance for plant growth and ecosystem sustainability. The book combines fundamental scientific studies and devised practical approaches. It contains contributions of leading international authorities from various disciplines resulting in multidisciplinary approaches, and all chapters have been carefully reviewed. This volume will support scientists and practitioners alike.

Nutrient Cycling and Limitation

2004
 |  Science
Nutrient Cycling and Limitation

Author: Peter Morrison Vitousek

Publisher:

ISBN: 0691115796

Category: Science

Page: 223

View: 259

Get eBOOK →
The availability or lack of nutrients shapes ecosystems in fundamental ways. From forest productivity to soil fertility, from the diversity of animals to the composition of microbial communities, nutrient cycling and limitation are the basic mechanisms underlying ecosystem ecology. In this book, Peter Vitousek builds on over twenty years of research in Hawai'i to evaluate the controls and consequences of variation in nutrient availability and limitation. Integrating research from geochemistry, pedology, atmospheric chemistry, ecophysiology, and ecology, Vitousek addresses fundamental questions: How do the cycles of different elements interact? How do biological processes operating in minutes or hours interact with geochemical processes operating over millions of years? How does biological diversity interact with nutrient cycling and limitation in ecosystems? The Hawaiian Islands provide the author with an excellent model system for answering these questions as he integrates across levels of biological organization. He evaluates the connections between plant nutrient use efficiency, nutrient cycling and limitation within ecosystems, and nutrient input-output budgets of ecosystems. This book makes use of the Hawaiian ecosystems to explore the mechanisms that shape productivity and diversity in ecosystems throughout the world. It will be essential reading for all ecologists and environmental scientists.

Nutrient Cycling in Forest Ecosystems

2020-12-03
 |  Science
Nutrient Cycling in Forest Ecosystems

Author: Robert G. Qualls

Publisher: MDPI

ISBN: 9783039368006

Category: Science

Page: 218

View: 299

Get eBOOK →
The long-term productivity of forest ecosystems depends on the cycling of nutrients. The effect of carbon dioxide fertilization on forest productivity may ultimately be limited by the rate of nutrient cycling. Contemporary and future disturbances such as climatic warming, N-deposition, deforestation, short rotation sylviculture, fire (both wild and controlled), and the invasion of exotic species all place strains on the integrity of ecosystem nutrient cycling. Global differences in climate, soils, and species make it difficult to extrapolate even a single important study worldwide. Despite advances in the understanding of nutrient cycling and carbon production in forests, many questions remain. The chapters in this volume reflect many contemporary research priorities. The thirteen studies in this volume are arranged in the following subject groups: • N and P resorption from foliage worldwide, along chronosequences and along elevation gradients; • Litter production and decomposition; • N and P stoichiometry as affected by N deposition, geographic gradients, species changes, and ecosystem restoration; • Effects of N and P addition on understory biomass, litter, and soil; • Effects of burning on soil nutrients; • Effects of N addition on soil fauna.

New Perspectives on Nitrogen Cycling in the Temperate and Tropical Americas

2012-12-06
 |  Science
New Perspectives on Nitrogen Cycling in the Temperate and Tropical Americas

Author: Alan R. Townsend

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

ISBN: 9789401146456

Category: Science

Page: 293

View: 713

Get eBOOK →
Inputs of nitrogen to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have increased several-fold over the last one hundred and fifty years, with the steepest increases during the last four decades. The expansion of fertilizer manu facture and use, the increase in fossil fuel combustion, the intensification of animal husbandry, and widespread cultivation of N2 fixing crops have all contributed to the dramatic increase in N inputs. The increase has been most rapid in Northern Hemisphere (NH) temperate ecosystems, but presently subtropical and tropical regions of Asia are also experiencing an explosive increase in N inputs to terrestrial ecosystems (W. Chameides, pers. comm. ; Galloway et al. 1996). Projected increases in N deposition for these trop ical and subtropical regions, with a high natural background of N inputs, exceed increases projected for temperate and arctic regions (Cleveland et al. submitted; Galloway et al. 1994; Holland & Lamarque 1997a). Compared to biological N fixation, N deposition is becoming a proportionately greater source of N to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems worldwide (Vitousek et al. 1997). 6 The nitrogen contained in the atmosphere as N , 3. 9 * 10 Tg (Tg = 2 12 10 g), is the largest reservoir of N in the Earth system (Warneck 1988). However, this paper focuses on the nitrogen emissions and deposition that have been transformed from N2 into reactive forms that are biologically avail able (e. g. Vitousek et al. 1997).

Ecology of Desert Systems

2002-03-25
 |  Science
Ecology of Desert Systems

Author: Walter G. Whitford

Publisher: Elsevier

ISBN: 9780080504995

Category: Science

Page: 343

View: 989

Get eBOOK →
Conventional wisdom considers deserts stark, harsh regions that support few living things. Most people also believe that water alone makes the desert bloom. Ecology of Desert Systems challenges these conventional views. This volume explores a broad range of topics of interest to ecosystem, population, community, and physiological ecologists. Climate, weather patterns, geomorphology, and wind and water processes are examined as variables that affect the distribution of biota through fundamental ecosystem processes. Descriptions of morphological, behavioral, and physiological adaptations of desert biota illuminate, through the lens of patch dynamics, principles for understanding observed patterns of primary production, nutrient cycling, and the effects of consumers. Desertification, and the techniques for monitoring and quantifying it, is examined within the framework of desert ecosystem patterns and processes. * Focuses on the interactions of climate, soil, and biota along a spectrum of spatial and temporal scales * Details the role of animals in desert ecosystems and landscape processes * Examines watershed scale processes, the ecology of ephemeral lakes, and the ecological changes identified with desertification * Outlines the fundamental concepts relevant to sustainable development of arid lands

Dynamics of Nutrient Cycling and Food Webs

2012-12-06
 |  Science
Dynamics of Nutrient Cycling and Food Webs

Author: Donald L. DeAngelis

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

ISBN: 9789401123426

Category: Science

Page: 288

View: 167

Get eBOOK →
In all fields of science today, data are collected and theories are developed and published faster than scientists can keep up with, let alone thoroughly digest. In ecology the fact that practitioners tend to be divided between such subdisciplines as aquatic and terrestrial ecology, as well as between popula tion, community, and ecosystem ecology, makes it even harder for them to keep up with all relevant research. Ecologists specializing in one sub discipline are not always aware of progress in another subdiscipline that relates to their own. Syntheses are frequently needed that pull together large bodies of information and organize them in ways that makes them more coherent, and thus more understandable. I have tried to perform this task of integration for the subject area that encompasses the interrelationships between the dynamics of ecological food webs and the cycling of nutrients. I believe this area cuts across many of the subdisciplines of ecology and is pivotal to our progress in understanding ecosystems and in dealing with human impacts on the environment. Many current ecological problems involve human disturbances of both food webs and the nutrients that cycle through them. Little progress can be made towards elucidating the complex feedback relations inherent in the study of nutrient cycles in ecological systems without the tools of mathematics and computer modelling. These tools are therefore liberally used throughout the book.

Tropical Montane Cloud Forests

2011-01-06
 |  Science
Tropical Montane Cloud Forests

Author: L. A. Bruijnzeel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 9781139494557

Category: Science

Page:

View: 826

Get eBOOK →
This volume represents a uniquely comprehensive overview of our current knowledge on tropical montane cloud forests. 72 chapters cover a wide spectrum of topics including cloud forest distribution, climate, soils, biodiversity, hydrological processes, hydrochemistry and water quality, climate change impacts, and cloud forest conservation, management, and restoration. The final chapter presents a major synthesis by some of the world's leading cloud forest researchers, which summarizes our current knowledge and considers the sustainability of these forests in an ever-changing world. This book presents state-of-the-art knowledge concerning cloud forest occurrence and status, as well as the biological and hydrological value of these unique forests. The presentation is academic but with a firm practical emphasis. It will serve as a core reference for academic researchers and students of environmental science and ecology, as well as practitioners (natural resources management, forest conservation) and decision makers at local, national, and international levels.

Estuarine Nutrient Cycling: The Influence of Primary Producers

2007-11-03
 |  Science
Estuarine Nutrient Cycling: The Influence of Primary Producers

Author: Søren Laurentius Nielsen

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

ISBN: 9781402030215

Category: Science

Page: 303

View: 682

Get eBOOK →
It is a well-known fact that eutrophication of coastal waters causes significant changes in the species composition of the primary producers. Usually a shift from an ecosystem dominated by sea grasses or large brown algae to an ecosystem dominated by fast-growing green algae or phytoplankton is observed. While this shift has been documented in a number of research papers and books, the consequences of this shift are less well known. This book focuses on the consequences of such changes for nutrient cycling. The aim is to investigate how different types of primary producers influence nutrient cycling in coastal marine waters, and how nutrient cycling changes qualitatively and quantitatively as a consequence of the changes in the primary producer community caused by eutrophication. The various chapters address specific ecological processes such as grazing, decomposition, burial and export of biomass from the ecosystem. The book is intended for researchers and professionals working in the field of coastal marine ecology and estuarine ecology and for advanced students in this field.

The effect of harvesting and flooding on nutrient cycling and retention in Cyperus papyrus wetlands

2021-11-18
 |  Science
The effect of harvesting and flooding on nutrient cycling and retention in Cyperus papyrus wetlands

Author: Edwin M.A. Hes

Publisher: CRC Press

ISBN: 9781000530858

Category: Science

Page: 206

View: 897

Get eBOOK →
African papyrus (Cyperus papyrus L.) wetlands provide water, food and materials to millions of people, and perform important landscape functions such as water and nutrient storage, habitat provision for fish, birds and other wildlife. They are also an integral part of the culture of African wetland communities. With an increasing demand for food, papyrus wetlands are at risk of conversion to agriculture and losing these ecosystem services. Combining increased agricultural production with wetland conservation is urgently needed. The research presented in this book consisted of two parts. First, field experiments investigated nitrogen and phosphorus retention, showing that papyrus grows faster with disturbance from human activities or flooding, but produces less biomass and stores less nutrients. Then, a dynamic simulation model (Papyrus Simulator) based on the hydrological and ecological wetland processes showed that assimilation, mortality, decay, re-translocation, nutrient inflow and soil porosity were the most influential factors. The model demonstrated that controlled harvesting can increase nutrient retention by up to 40%, but overharvesting leads to the release of nutrients. These findings can help determining optimum harvesting strategies for constructed and natural wetlands, and contribute to the quantification of ecosystem services and an evidence-based adaptive management approach for African wetland landscapes.

Truelove Lowland, Devon Island, Canada

1987
 |  Nature
Truelove Lowland, Devon Island, Canada

Author: Lawrence C. Bliss

Publisher: University of Alberta

ISBN: 0888641214

Category: Nature

Page: 740

View: 728

Get eBOOK →
A summary of 33 research projects conducted under the auspices of the International Biological Programme, the most northerly of the eight comprehensive interdisciplinary projects undertaken in Canada.