Nature

Volume 20 of this series deals with a variety of plant and animal ecology topics.**Despite much recent work on herbivory, little attention has been given to insect herbivores active below ground. Brown and Gange describe the ecological adaptations of insects to this abundant but poor quality food resource, and the responses of plants to this potentially very damaging grazing pressure.**Plants living at high altitude must be able to cope with extreme climatic conditions, low carbon dioxide levels, and high radiation doses. Friend and Woodward describe these adaptations and discuss the degree to which they are genetically determined or merely the product of physiological plasticity.**Thomas presents a modular concept of ecology in which modules contain a resource and its associated consumers, and goes on to examine the general principles which may reflect the various mutualisms between organisms in some example fresh water modular systems.**Finally, West examines the microphytic soil crusts of arid and semi-arid soils. Although information on them is currently limited, they are likely to be important in some ecosystems. more...

Price: $185.00

This volume contains five papers dealing with a wide range of plant, animal, and soil biological topics. Gray and his colleagues describe the origin and spread of the salt marsh grass Spartina anglica. The result of a hybridization at the close of the last century, this genetically uniform species has been extremely successful in its particular niche and has a fascinating biology. Smith stresses the importance of gene-environment interactions in life-history theory in contrast to the resource constraint emphasis of the optimization approach. Experimental approaches to the subject are also discussed. Chanway and his colleagues examine the evidence for the importance of interactions between plants and micro-organisms in the rhizosphere in determining the outcome of plant competition and the establishment of community structure. Despite scarce evidence, real effects meriting further research do seem to exist. Brundrett also deals with an aspect of ecology in the soil. Most plants seem to have mycorrhizal associates and their importance is now widely appreciated. Much has been learned but more research is needed to determine the beneficial or after effects of mycorrhizae in natural systems. Richter and Babar review the diversity of tropical soils. They are in fact much more variable than is often thought, perhaps because too few ecologists are specialists in soils. Clearly, a proper knowledge and understanding of the many soil types is vital to conservation and development work in the tropics. more...

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This volume contains papers highlighting the diverse interests of modern ecologists. Areas covered range from modeling terrestrial carbon exchange and storage to the relationship between animal abundance and body size. Other papers address the free-air carbon dioxide enrichment in global change research; generalist predators, interaction strength, and food web stability; delays, demography, and cycles; and spatial root segregation. This volume is essential for all ecologists. more...

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Advances in the Study of Behavior presents its first thematic volume, focusing on the physiological and behavioral mechanisms underlying parental care. The book discusses parental care both within and across taxa, with coverage of invertebrates and early vertebrates, fishes, amphibia, reptiles, mammals, birds, and nonhuman primates. A running theme throughout the chapters shows that parental care is anchored to the ecology, reproductive physiology, and embryonic development of a species. Coverage also includes mechanisms of parental care, including analysis of the stimuli that parents respond to and how parental care is initiated, maintained, and terminated. Individual differences within species are also explored, examining stable differences in maternal style, how they arise, and the consequences for both mother and infant. more...

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1. Natural Sciences at the End of the Twentieth Century 2. The World War II Generation 3. The Silent Generation of the 1950s 4. The Sputnik Generation: The 1960s 5. The Last of the Golden Years: The 1970s 6. The Lean Years: The 1980s 7. Natural Sciences at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century Index more...

Price: $17.95