Foreword
The ecosystem is the first (or lowest) unit in the molecule-to-ecosphere levelsof-organization hierarchy that is complete, that is, has all of the components,
biological and physical, necessary for survival. Accordingly, it is the basic unit
around which to organize both theory and practice in ecology. As the shortcomings of the "piecemeal" short-term technological and economic approaches to
dealing with complex environmental problems become ever more evident with
each passing year, ecosystem management emerges as the challenge for the present and future.
As ecologists and resource managers move up from the species and population
levels to the ecosystem level, the biological ecologist needs the help of the physical scientist when it comes to methods, as is evident in the layout of this book
on ecosystem methods. About half of the 51 authors of the 26 chapters are chemists, hydrologists, limnologists, soil scientists, and others associated with ecology
and environmental and resource sciences departments and schools rather than
biology departments. Many of these are not current members of the Ecological
Society of America.
Chapters are about evenly divided between aquatic and terrestrial environments
in the four sections: 1, energetics (ten chapters); 2, nutrient and water cycling
(eight chapters); 3, experimental approaches (six chapters); and 4, modeling (two
chapters). Measurement of organic production is a special focus. Primary production is easier to measure by gaseous exchange in water than on land. Gross
production is very difficult to measure on land, especially in large biomass ecosystems such as forests, so attention is focused on net primary production (four
chapters). Estimating productivity at the biome and global levels by satellite remote sensing is very promising, but such estimates have to be ultimately calibrated by "ground truth" measurement.
In this era of multiauthored books, we can say that this one has a very high
author diversity! The message is that measurements at the ecosystem and landscape levels require a lot of team effort.
Eugene P. Odum
Institute of Ecology
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
USA
v
The ecosystem is the first (or lowest) unit in the molecule-to-ecosphere levelsof-organization hierarchy that is complete, that is, has all of the components,
biological and physical, necessary for survival. Accordingly, it is the basic unit
around which to organize both theory and practice in ecology. As the shortcomings of the "piecemeal" short-term technological and economic approaches to
dealing with complex environmental problems become ever more evident with
each passing year, ecosystem management emerges as the challenge for the present and future.
As ecologists and resource managers move up from the species and population
levels to the ecosystem level, the biological ecologist needs the help of the physical scientist when it comes to methods, as is evident in the layout of this book
on ecosystem methods. About half of the 51 authors of the 26 chapters are chemists, hydrologists, limnologists, soil scientists, and others associated with ecology
and environmental and resource sciences departments and schools rather than
biology departments. Many of these are not current members of the Ecological
Society of America.
Chapters are about evenly divided between aquatic and terrestrial environments
in the four sections: 1, energetics (ten chapters); 2, nutrient and water cycling
(eight chapters); 3, experimental approaches (six chapters); and 4, modeling (two
chapters). Measurement of organic production is a special focus. Primary production is easier to measure by gaseous exchange in water than on land. Gross
production is very difficult to measure on land, especially in large biomass ecosystems such as forests, so attention is focused on net primary production (four
chapters). Estimating productivity at the biome and global levels by satellite remote sensing is very promising, but such estimates have to be ultimately calibrated by "ground truth" measurement.
In this era of multiauthored books, we can say that this one has a very high
author diversity! The message is that measurements at the ecosystem and landscape levels require a lot of team effort.
Eugene P. Odum
Institute of Ecology
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
USA
v