About the Book
The purpose of this book is to review and assess our current understanding of invertebrates in terrestrial and terrestrially-dominated (i.e. lower-order stream) ecosystems. It emphasises the centrality of the activity of invertebrates, which influence ecosystem function far out of proportion to their physical mass in a wide range of situations, particularly at the interface between land and air (litter/soil), water and land (sediments) and in tree canopies and root/soil systems. Consisting of 16 chapters by authors from the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia, the book is essential reading for ecologists and invertebrate biologists.
Table of Contents:
1: Webmaster Functions in Ecosystems 2: Foodweb Functioning and Ecosystem Processes: Problems and Perceptions of Scaling, JM Anderson, University of Exeter, UK 3: Keystone Arthropods as Webmasters in Desert Ecosystems, WG Whitford, USDA/ARS Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico State University, USA 4: Responses of Grassland Soil Invertebrates to Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbances, JM Blair, TC Todd, and MA Callaham, Jr., Kansas State University, USA 5: Effects of Invertebrates in Lotic Ecosystem Processes, JB Wallace and JJ Hutchens, Jr., University of Georgia, USA 6: Webmasters in Feedback Interactions and Food Webs 7: Insects as Regulators of Ecosystem Development, TD Schowalter, Oregon State University, USA 8: Herbivores, Biochemical Messengers and Plants: Aspects of Intertrophic Transduction, MI Dyer, University of Georgia, USA 9: Soil Invertebrate Controls and Microbial Interactions in Nutrient and Organic Matter Dynamics in Natural and Agroecosystems, CA Edwards, The Ohio State University, USA 10: Invertebrates in Detrital Food Webs along Gradients of Productivity, JC Moore, University of Northern Colorado,USA and PC de Ruiter, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands 11: Webmasters and Ecosystem Diversity 12: Biodiversity of Oribatid Mites (Acari: Oribatida) in Tree Canopies and Litter, V Behan-Pelletier, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada and DE Walter, University of Queensland, Australia 13: Diversity in the Decomposing Landscape, RA Hansen, University of South Carolina, USA 14: The Pervasive Effects of Invasive Species: Exotic and Native Fire Ants, CR Carroll and CA Hoffman, University of Georgia, USA 15: Soil Invertebrate Species Diversity in Natural and Disturbed Environments, J Rusek, Institute of Soil Biology, Czech Republic 16: Webmasters in Regional and Global Contexts 17: Invertebrates and Nutrient Cycling in Coniferous Forest Ecosystems: Spatial Heterogeneity and Conditionality, TM Bolger, University College Dublin, Ireland, LJ Heneghan, DePaul University, USA and P Neville, University College Dublin, Ireland 18: Impacts of Insects on Human-dominated and Natural Forest Landscapes, RN Coulson and DF Wunneburger, Texas A&M University, USA 19: Soil Fauna and Controls of Carbon Dynamics: Comparisons of Rangelands and Forests Across Latitudinal Gradients,TR Seastedt, University of Colorado, USA 20: Soil Processes and Global Change: Will Invertebrates Make a Difference?, PM Groffman and CG Jones, Institute of Ecosystem Studies, New York, USA
