Publisher Description

Scientists rely on food webs—complex networks that trace the flow of nutrients and energy between species and through ecosystems—to understand the infrastructure of ecological communities.

But given the complexities of food webs—think of following the flow of nutrients through the microbes, fungi, roots, worms, ants, and birds that pass over or through a single cubic meter of prairie soil—it's not difficult to see why most experiments on food-web dynamics focus on small, local habitats. Yet as this book convincingly shows, important insights come when scientists expand the temporal and spatial scope of their research to look at the ways energy, organisms, nutrients, and pollutants flow not just at the local level, but across whole landscapes—between and among food webs in a wide variety of habitats.

Paying special attention to the fertile boundaries between terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, Food Webs at the Landscape Level not only shows what this new methodology means for ecology, conservation, and agriculture but also serves as a fitting tribute to Gary Polis and his major contributions to the field.

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Scientists rely on food webs--complex networks that trace the flow of nutrients and energy between species and through ecosystems--to understand the infrastructure of ecological communities. But given the complexities of food webs--think of following the flow of nutrients through the microbes, fungi, roots, worms, ants, and birds that pass over or through a single cubic meter of prairie soil--it's not difficult to see why most experiments on food-web dynamics focus on small, local habitats. Yet as this book convincingly shows, important insights come when scientists expand the temporal and spatial scope of their research to look at the ways energy, organisms, nutrients, and pollutants flow not just at the local level, but across whole landscapes--between and among food webs in a wide variety of habitats. Paying special attention to the fertile boundaries between terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, Food Webs at the Landscape Level not only shows what this new methodology means for ecology, conservation, and agriculture but also serves as a fitting tribute to Gary Polis and his major contributions to the field.

Author Biography

Gary A. Polis was a professor in and chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy at the University of California, Davis, at the time of his death in 2000. Mary E. Power is a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Gary R. Huxel is an assistant professor of biology at the University of South Florida.

Table of Contents

Preface Part I. Fluxes of Nutrients and Detritus across Habitats 1. Overview: Cross-Habitat Flux of Nutrients and Detritus Michael J. Vanni, Donald L. DeAngelis, Daniel E. Schindler, and Gary R. Huxel 2. Dynamic Consequences of Allochthonous Nutrient Input to Freshwater Systems Donald L. DeAngelis and Patrick J. Mulholland 3. Using Stable Isotopes to Quantify Material Transport in Food Webs Daniel E. Schindler and Susan C. Lubetkin 4. Cross-Habitat Transport of Nutrients by Omnivorous Fish along a Productivity Gradient: Integrating Watersheds and Reservoir Food Webs Michael J. Vanni and Jenifer L. Headworth 5. Bottom-Up/Top-Down Determination of Rocky Intertidal Shorescape Dynamics Bruce A. Menge 6. Allochthonous Nutrient and Food Inputs: Consequences for Temporal Stability Wendy B. Anderson and Gary A. Polis 7. Implications of System Openness for Local Community Structure and Ecosystem Function Robert D. Holt 8. Migratory Neotropical Fishes Subsidize Food Webs of Oligotrophic Blackwater Rivers Kirk O. Winemiller and David B. Jepsen 9. Benthic-Pelagic Linkages in Subtidal Communities: Influence of Food Subsidy by Internal Waves Jon D. Witman, Mark R. Patterson, and Salvatore J. Genovese 10. Effect of Landscape Boundaries on the Flux of Nutrients, Detritus, and Organisms M. L. Cadenasso, S. T. A. Pickett, and K. C. Weathers 11. The Variation of Lake Food Webs across the Landscape and Its Effect on Contaminant Dynamics Joseph B. Rasmussen and M. Jake Vander Zanden Part II. Food Web Dynamics across the Land-Water Interface 12. Food Web Subsidies at the Land-Water Ecotone M. Jake Vander Zanden and Diane M. Sanzone 13. Subsidized Predation along River Shores Affects Terrestrial Herbivore and Plant Success Joh R. Henschel 14. Trophic Flows from Water to Land: Marine Input Affects Food Webs of Islands and Coastal Ecosystems Worldwide Gary A. Polis, Francisco S

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