"Each chapter is technical and well referenced, and makes good use of figures and tables to clarify points. An excellent reference book that also meets its goal as a guide for future research in trophic interactions." Northeastern Naturalist

"Well written and edited...a powerful guide for the next generation of food web studies, in both pure and applied ecology. This book is an interesting, updated review opening many questions about the role of complexity in food webs and I recommend its reading to both graduate students and researchers interested in the ecology and evolution of biotic interactions." Ecoscience

The multitrophic level approach to ecology addresses the complexity of food webs much more realistically than the traditional focus on simple systems and interactions. Only in the last few decades have ecologists become interested in the nature of more complex systems including tritrophic interactions between plants, herbivores and natural enemies. Plants may directly influence the behaviour of their herbivores' natural enemies, ecological interactions between two species are often indirectly mediated by a third species, landscape structure directly affects local tritrophic interactions and below-ground food webs are vital to above-ground organisms. The relative importance of top-down effects (control by predators) and bottom-up effects (control by resources) must also be determined. These interactions are explored in this exciting volume by expert researchers from a variety of ecological fields. This book provides a much-needed synthesis of multitrophic level interactions and serves as a guide for future research for ecologists of all descriptions.
Les mer
1. Multitrophic level interactions - an introduction T. Tscharntke and B. A. Hawkins; 2. Plant genetic variation in tritrophic interactions J. D. Hare; 3. Multitrophic/multi-species mutualistic interactions: the role of non-mutualists in shaping and mediating mutualisms J. L. Bronstein and P. Barbosa; 4. Tritrophic interactions in tropical and temperate communities L. A. Dyer and P. D. Coley; 5. Endophytic fungi and interactions amongst host plant, herbivores and natural enemies S. H. Faeth and T. L. Bultman; 6. Multitrophic interactions in space: metacommunity dynamics in fragmented landscapes S. van Nouhuys and I. Hanski; 7. The chemical ecology of plant-caterpillar-parasitoid interactions T. C. J. Turlings, S. Gouinguené, T. Degan and M. E. Fritzsche-Hoballah; 8. Canopy architecture and multitrophic interactions J. Casas and I. Djemai; 9. Tritrophic below- and above-ground interactions in succession V. K. Brown and A. C. Gange; 10. Multitrophic interactions in decomposer food webs S. Scheu and H. Setälä; Index.
Les mer
This book explores the complex interactions between plants, their herbivores and natural enemies.

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780521084185
Publisert
2008-10-14
Utgiver
Cambridge University Press
Vekt
430 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Dybde
16 mm
Aldersnivå
P, UP, 06, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
288

Biografisk notat

Teja Tscharntke is Professor of Agroecology at the University of Göttingen, Germany. His research focus is on plant-herbivore-enemy interactions including parasitism, predation and pollination, insect communities and food webs on a landscape scale and temperate-tropical comparisons. He is editor-in-chief of Basic and Applied Ecology and a member of the editorial board of Oecologia. Bradford A. Hawkins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. His research focus is on the biology and ecology of insect parasitoids, insect community ecology, food webs and energy-diversity theory. He is the author of Pattern and Process in Host-Parasitoid Interactions (Cambridge University Press, 1994), and editor of Parasitoid Community Ecology (1994, with William Sheenan) and Theoretical Approaches to Biological Control (Cambridge University Press, 1999, with Howard V. Cornell).