000 01109nam a22001457a 4500
020 _a0387240896
041 _aEnglish
082 _a577.5
_bECO/GA
100 _aGary M. Lovett, Clive G. Jones, Monica G. Turner, Kathleen C. Weathers
245 _aEcosystem Function in Heterogeneous Landscapes
260 _aNew York
_bSpringer
_c2005
365 _aEuro 184.99
_b13874.25
500 _aThe ecosystem concept has been a powerful tool in ecology, as it allows the use of the quantitative and rigorous laws of conservation of mass and energy in the analysis of entire ecological systems.These laws require delimiting an ecosystem by specifying its boundaries; however, we know that these boundaries are porous and that all ecosystems are open systems that exchange matter, energy, information, and organisms with their surroundings. This openness means that ecosystems defined as spatially separate are in fact interconnected parts of a larger landscape. Once we begin to ask about the source of the inputs or the fate of the outputs, we need to consider the ecosystem in its landscape context.
942 _cREF
999 _c307870
_d307870