An ecosystem's complexity develops from the vast numbers of species
interacting in ecological communities. The nature of these interactions,
in turn, depends on environmental context. How do these components
together influence an ecosystem's behavior as a whole? Can ecologists
resolve an ecosystem's complexity in order to predict its response to
disturbances? Resolving Ecosystem Complexity develops a framework for
anticipating the ways environmental context determines the functioning
of ecosystems.
Oswald Schmitz addresses the critical questions of contemporary ecology:
How should an ecosystem be conceptualized to blend its biotic and
biophysical components? How should evolutionary ecological principles be
used to derive an operational understanding of complex, adaptive
ecosystems? How should the relationship between the functional biotic
diversity of ecosystems and their properties be understood? Schmitz
begins with the universal concept that ecosystems are comprised of
species that consume resources and which are then resources for other
consumers. From this, he deduces a fundamental rule or evolutionary
ecological mechanism for explaining context dependency: individuals
within a species trade off foraging gains against the risk of being
consumed by predators. Through empirical examples, Schmitz illustrates
how species use evolutionary ecological strategies to negotiate a
predator-eat-predator world, and he suggests that the implications of
species trade-offs are critical to making ecology a predictive science.
Bridging the traditional divides between individuals, populations, and
communities in ecology, Resolving Ecosystem Complexity builds a
systematic foundation for thinking about natural systems.
