Description
Book SynopsisFor long-term studies, the holological approach has special advantages, since the general patterns and tentative hypotheses that are first worked out help direct attention to the components of the system which need to be studied in greater detail.
Table of ContentsEcosystem Structure and function.- 1. Ecology of Salt Marshes: An Introduction.- 1.1. Salt Marsh Ecology on Sapelo Island.- 1.2. Development of Salt Marshes.- 1.3. Ecological Processes in the Marsh.- 1.4. Carbon Mass Balance and Modeling.- 2. The Physical and Chemical Environment.- 2.1. Geomorphology.- 2.2. Physical Conditions.- 2.3. Water Chemistry.- 2.4. Hydrology and the Flux of Materials.- Salt Marsh Populations.- 3. Primary Production.- 3.1. The Community of Higher Plants.- 3.2. The Epibenthic Algal Community.- 3.3. Phytoplankton.- 3.4. Total Plant Production.- 4. Aquatic Macroconsumers.- 4.1. Foods and Feeding Categories.- 4.2. Impact of Macroconsumers on Salt Marsh Metabolism.- 4.3. Regulation of Salt Marsh Macroconsumers.- 5. Grazers on Spartina and Their Predators.- 5.1. Vertebrate Herbivory.- 5.2. Primary Production and Herbivory in Grasslands.- 5.3. Effects of Herbivory.- 5.4. Arthropod Primary Consumers.- 5.5. Vertebrate Predators.- 5.6. Arthropod Predators.- 5.7. Tidal Influences.- 5.8. Spatial and Seasonal Influences.- 6. Aerobic Microbes and Meiofauna.- 6.1. Microbial Standing Stocks.- 6.2. Aerobic Utilization of Organic Matter.- 6.3. Regulation of Microbial Communities.- 7. Anaerobic Respiration and Fermentation.- 7.1. Processes.- 7.2. Controls and Interactions.- The Salt Marsh Ecosystem.- 8. The Cycles of Nitrogen and Phosphorus.- 8.1. Phosphorus.- 8.2. Nitrogen.- 8.3. Net Flux of Phosphorus and Nitrogen.- 9. A Model View of the Marsh.- 9.1. What is a Model?.- 9.2. The Salt Marsh Model.- 9.3. First Generation Models.- 9.4. A Man-Environment Model.- 9.5. A Successional Model.- 9.6. Future Directions.- 10. The Salt-Marsh Ecosystem: A Synthesis.- 10.1. Diversity and Stability.- 10.2. Transport of Materials.- 10.3. Assimilation of Wastes.- 10.4. Aesthetics.- References.
