Invertebrates as Webmasters in Ecosystems

Invertebrates as webmasters in ecosystems
Coleman, David C. & Hendrix, Paul F 
1st edition
336 pages
ISBN-13: 9780851993942
ISBN-10: 085199394X

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 emphasizes 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

Preface ix

Part I: Webmaster Functions in Ecosystems 1
1 Food Web Functioning and Ecosystem Processes: Problems and Perceptions of Scaling 3
2 Keystone Arthropods as Webmasters in Desert Ecosystems 25
3 Responses of Grassland Soil Invertebrates to Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbances 43
4 Effects of Invertebrates in Lotic Ecosystem Processes 73

Part II. Webmasters in Feedback Interactions and Food Webs 97
5 Insects as Regulators of Ecosystem Development 99
6 Herbivores, Biochemical Messengers and Plants: Aspects of Intertrophic Transduction 115
7 Soil Invertebrate Controls and Microbial Interactions in Nutrient and Organic Matter Dynamics in Natural and Agroecosystems 141
8 Invertebrates in Detrital Food Webs along Gradients of Productivity 161

Part III. Webmasters and Ecosystem Diversity 185
9 Biodiversity of Oribatid Mites (Acari: Oribatida) in Tree Canopies and Litter 187
10 Diversity in the Decomposing Landscape 203
11 The Pervasive Ecological Effects of Invasive Species: Exotic and Native Fire Ants 221
12 Soil Invertebrate Species Diversity in Natural and Disturbed Environments 233

PartIV. Webmasters in Regional and Global Contexts 253
13 Invertebrates and Nutrient Cycling in Coniferous Forest Ecosystems: Spatial Heterogeneity and Conditionality 255
14 Impacts of Insects on Human-dominated and Natural Forest Landscapes 271
15 Soil Fauna and Controls of Carbon Dynamics: Comparisons of Rangelands and Forests across Latitudinal Gradients 293
16 Soil Processes and Global Change: Will Invertebrates Make a Difference? 313

Index 327