 Ecosystem dynamicsSimon A. Levin and Stephen W. Pacala Chapter 02 in Handbook of Environmental Economics, 2003, vol. 1, pp 61-95 from Elsevier Abstract: From ecosystems we derive food and fiber, fuel and pharmaceuticals. Ecosystems mediate local and regional climates, stabilize soils, purify water, and in general provide a nearly endless list of services essential to life as we know it. To understand how to manage these services it is essential to understand how ecological communities are organized and how to measure the biological diversity they contain. Ecological communities are comprised of many species, which are in turn made up of large numbers of individuals, each with their own separate ecological and evolutionary agendas. Not all species are equal as regards their role in maintaining the functioning of ecosystems or their resiliency in the face of stress. This chapter explains how ecosystems evolve and function as complex adaptive systems. It examines ecological systems at scales from the small to the large, from the individual to the collective to the community, from the leaf to the plant to the biosphere (including the global carbon cycle). It reviews theoretical and empirical models of ecosystem dynamics, which are highly nonlinear and contain the potential for qualitative and irreversible shifts. It considers applications to forests, fisheries, grasslands, and freshwater lakes. JEL-codes: Q50 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:envchp:1-02 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Handbook of Environmental Economics from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.