Community ecology is often perceived as a mess, given the seemingly vast number of
processes that can underlie the many patterns of interest, and the apparent uniqueness of …

Island biogeography is the study of the spatio‐temporal distribution of species, communities,
assemblages or ecosystems on islands and other isolated habitats. Island diversity is …

Much confusion exists in the English‐language literature on plant invasions concerning the
terms 'naturalized'and 'invasive'and their associated concepts. Several authors have used …

Grasslands, in particular managed pastures and rangelands, are widespread, covering
approximately 40%(52 million km²) of the Earth's land surface. They are dominated by …

This volume provides the first comprehensive summary of how plant, animal, and microbial
communities develop under the harsh conditions following dramatic natural disturbances …

The use of semi‐isolated habitats such as oceanic islands, lakes and mountain summits as
model systems has played a crucial role in the development of evolutionary and ecological …

Our knowledge of the ecology of tropical rain-forest trees is limited, with detailed information
available for perhaps only a few hundred of the many thousand of species that occur. Yet a …

I Principles 1 1 Models of Systems 3 1. 1 Systems. Models. and Modeling.................... 3 1. 2
Uses of Scientific Models........................ 4 1. 3 Example: Island Biogeography..................... 6 1 …

Over time scales of thousands to millions of years, and in the absence of rejuvenating
disturbances that initiate primary or early secondary succession, ecosystem properties such …

The damage to soil and vegetation caused by mining, unless prevented by careful planning,
is usually extreme, because the original ecosystems have had to be grossly disturbed or …