01546nam a22001697a 4500 52533 52533 9780198777755 577.82 Petraitis, Peter Multiple Stable States in Natural Ecosystems Peter Petraitis 1st Oxford Oxford University Press 2016 xii, 188 Pages 23X16 cm PB Include Illustrations, Tables, References and Index Many natural systems such as coral reefs and tropical forests are undergoing rapid changes that appear without warning and seem irreversible. This book presents a clear and concise overview of the ecological theory that has been developed to explain these sudden changes and provides a number of compelling examples. One of the most interesting and vexing problems in ecology is how distinctly different communities of plants and animals can occur in the same ecosystem. The theory of these systems, known as multiple stable states, is well understood, but whether multiple stable states actually exist in nature has remained a hotly-debated subject. Multiple Stable States in Natural Ecosystems provides a broad and synthetic critique of recent advances in theory and new experimental evidence. Modern models of systems with multiple stable states are placed in historical context. Current theories are covered in a rigourous fashion with the specific goal of identifying testable predictions about multiple stable states. Biotic communities Biodiversity conservation Species diversity BK 0 0 0 577_820000000000000_P477M_2016 0 NFIC 51083 GPL GPL GEN 2018-11-24 CRV/GPLM/Oxford/60/2018 2631.00 577.82 P477M 2016 58220 2018-11-24 2018-11-24 BK