Body Size: The Structure and Function of Aquatic Ecosystems

This 2007 book is an authoritative work written by leading experts unravelling the fundamental role of body size.

Alan G. Hildrew (Edited by), David G. Raffaelli (Edited by), Ronni Edmonds-Brown (Edited by)

9780521679671, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 12 July 2007

356 pages, 102 b/w illus. 20 tables
24.4 x 17 x 1.9 cm, 0.57 kg

'The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) is a promising, upcoming conceptual framework which should be followed attentively in its future development and applications … this book will be interesting for anyone working with large databases and on the look for new applications and tests. Also, biology students wishing to be briefed on the state of the art of ecological analysis, will find this volume quite inspiring.' Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie

Ecologists have long struggled to predict features of ecological systems, such as the numbers and diversity of organisms. The wide range of body sizes in ecological communities, from tiny microbes to large animals and plants, is emerging as the key to prediction. Based on the relationship between body size and features such as biological rates, the physics of water and the amount of habitat available, we may be able to understand patterns of abundance and diversity, biogeography, interactions in food webs and the impact of fishing, adding up to a potential 'periodic table' for ecology. Remarkable progress on the unravelling, describing and modelling of aquatic food webs, revealing the fundamental role of body size, makes a book emphasising marine and freshwater ecosystems particularly apt. In this 2007 book, the importance of body size is examined at a range of scales that will be of interest to professional ecologists, from students to senior researchers.

1. The metabolic theory of ecology and the role of body size in marine and freshwater ecosystems James H. Brown, Andrew P. Allen and James F. Gillooly
2. Body size and suspension feeding Stuart Humphries
3. Life histories and body size David Atkinson and Andrew G. Hirst
4. Relationship between biomass turnover and body size for stream communities Alexander D. Huryn and Arthur C. Benke
5. Body size in streams: macroinvertebrate community size composition along natural and human-induced environmental gradients Colin R. Townsend and Ross M. Thompson
6. Body size and predatory interactions in fresh waters: scaling from individuals to communities Guy Woodward and Philip Warren
7. Body size and trophic cascades in lakes J. Iwan Jones and Erik Jeppesen
8. Body-size and scale-invariance: multifractals in invertebrate communities Peter E. Schmid and Jenny M. Schmid-Araya
9. Body size and biogeography B. J. Finlay and G. F. Esteban
10. By wind, wings or water: body size, dispersal and range size in aquatic invertebrates Simon D. Rundle, David T. Bilton and Andrew Foggo
11. Body size and diversity in marine systems Richard M. Warwick
12. Interplay between individual growth and population feed backs shapes body size distributions Lennart Persson and André M. De Roos
13. The consequences of body-size in model microbial ecosystems Owen L. Petchey, Zachary T. Long and Peter J. Morin
14. Body size, exploitation and conservation of marine organisms Simon Jennings and John D. Reynolds
15. How body size mediates the role of animals in nutrient cycling in aquatic ecosystems Robert O. Hall, Jr., Benjamin J. Koch, Michael C. Marshall, Brad W. Taylor and Lusha M. Tronstad
16. Body sizes in food chains of animal predators and parasites Joel E. Cohen
17. Body size in aquatic ecology: important, but not the whole story Alan G. Hildrew, David G. Raffaelli and Ronni Edmonds-Brown.

Subject Areas: Animal ecology [PSVS], Plant ecology [PSTS], Freshwater biology [PSPF]