One of the most interesting and vexing problems in ecology is how distinctly different communities of plants and animals can occur in the same ecosystem. The theory of these systems, known as multiple stable states, is well understood, but whether multiple stable states actually exist in nature has remained a hotly debated subject. Multiple Stable States in Natural Ecosystems provides a broad and synthetic critique of recent advances in theory and new experimental evidence. Modern models o...

What are plant galls and how are they caused? This book introduces the Australian native insects that induce galls on plants and the plant species that host them. It explores the ways the insects have adapted to living part of their lives in the confined spaces of galls, and describes the strategies employed by different insect groups to find a suitable site to induce a gall, obtain food, mate and escape the gall. Life in a Gall also looks at the predators, parasitoids, inquilines, kleptopara...

This book provides a convincing argument for the view that whole cells and whole plants growing in competitive wild conditions show aspects of plant behaviour that can be accurately described as 'intelligent'. Trewavas argues that behaviour, like intelligence, must be assessed within the constraints of the anatomical and physiological framework of the organism in question. The fact that plants do not have centralized nervous systems for example, does not exclude intelligent behaviour. Outs...

The major objective of this book is to highlight the significance of phytonematodes in horticulture. Detailed and latest information on major aspects of phytonematodes associated exclusively with horticultural crops, which is the need of the day, is lacking. Hence, the book has been written mainly with the objective of providing its readers, comprehensive information on the advanced aspects related to phytonematodes associated with horticultural crops. It also provides basic information on...

No other single volume reference to the Jehol site and its fossils exists and nowhere is there such a collection of fine photos of the fossils concerned. This book has pieced together the most up-to-date information on the Jehol Biota, a place that has shown the world some of the most astonishing fossil finds including the first complete skeleton of Archaeopteryx in 1861, four-winged dinosaurs- many feathered ones, the first beaked bird, the first plants with flowers and fruits, and thousa...

This book presents 19 selected contributions to the 20th Evolutionary Biology Meeting in Marseille, which took place in September 2016. They are grouped under the following major themes:· Self/Nonself Evolution· Species Evolution and Evolution of Complex Traits· Methods and ConceptsThe aims of the annual meetings in Marseille – which bring together leading evolutionary biologists and other scientists using evolutionary biology concepts, e.g. for medical rese...

Fossils document the existence of trees and wood-associated organisms from almost 400 million years ago, and today there are between 400,000 and 1 million wood-inhabiting species in the world. This is the first book to synthesise the natural history and conservation needs of wood-inhabiting organisms. Presenting a thorough introduction to biodiversity in decaying wood, the book studies the rich diversity of fungi, insects and vertebrates that depend upon dead wood. It describes the functio...

This book presents a revised history of early biogeography and investigates the split in taxonomic practice, between the classification of taxa and the classification of vegetation. It moves beyond the traditional belief that biogeography is born from a synthesis of Darwin and Wallace and focuses on the important pioneering work of earlier practitioners such as Zimmermann, Stromeyer, de Candolle and Humboldt.Tracing the academic history of biogeography over the decades and centurie...

Human activities impact the environment and modify the cycles of important elements such as carbon and nitrogen from local to global scales. In order to maintain long-term and sustainable use of the world's natural resources it is important that we understand how and why ecosystems respond to such changes. This book explains the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, using examples ranging from the Arctic to the tropics to demonstrate how they react under differing conditions...

Life history theory seeks to explain the evolution of the major features of life cycles by analyzing the ecological factors that shape age-specific schedules of growth, reproduction, and survival and by investigating the trade-offs that constrain the evolution of these traits. Although life history theory has made enormous progress in explaining the diversity of life history strategies among species, it traditionally ignores the underlying proximate mechanisms. This novel book argues that ...

Booderee National Park at Jervis Bay, 200km south of Sydney, attracts over 450 000 visitors each year. The park has many special features, including dramatic wave cut platforms and sea caves, some of the whitest beach sands in Australia, and very high densities of native predators such as the Powerful Owl and the Diamond Python. This book outlines the biology and ecology of Booderee National Park. Booderee packs an extraordinary level of biodiversity into a small area (roughly 6500 hectares),...

"So long as a person is capable of self renewal they are a living being. " -Amiel Cereals have been the source of life to the human race, providing nutritional and ma terial needs since the dawn of civilization. As with all dynamic industries, the Cereal in dustry has renewed itself in the past; as the millennium approaches, it is on the brink of another renewal, in which the versatility and providence of cereals are being rediscovered, but in new and exciting ways. Cereals are richly dive...