The effects of large herbivores on biodiversity and ecosystem processes are at present heavily debated in many regions of the world. The problems vary from region to region, as in some areas the herbivore populations are 'over-dense' causing serious implication for forestry, agriculture and biodiversity, whereas in other areas they are approaching extinction. There are thus many urgent management and conservation problems connected to the large herbivores and summaries of existing knowledge are fundamental for progress towards practical solutions, which this book deals with.
The effects of large herbivores on biodiversity and ecosystem processes are at present heavily debated in many regions of the world. The problems vary from region to region, as in some areas the herbivore populations are 'over-dense' causing serious implication for forestry, agriculture and biodiversity, whereas in other areas they are approaching extinction. There are thus many urgent management and conservation problems connected to the large herbivores and summaries of existing knowledge are fundamental for progress towards practical solutions, which this book deals with.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preface; Introduction; 1. Large herbivores across biomes Hervé Fritz and Anne Loison; 2. Living in a seasonal environment Jon Moen, Reidar Andersen and Andrew W. Illius; 3. Linking functional responses and foraging behaviour to population dynamics Andrew W. Illius; 4. Impacts of large herbivores on plant community structure and dynamics Alison J. Hester, Margareta Bergman, Glenn R. Iason and Jon Moen; 5. Long-term effects of herbivory on plant diversity and functional types in arid ecosystems David Ward; 6. The influence of large herbivores on tree recruitment and forest dynamics Robin Gill; 7. Large herbivores: missing partners of western-European light-demanding tree and shrub species? Frans W. M. Vera, Elisabeth S. Bakker and Han Olff; 8. Frugivory in large mammalian herbivores Richard Bodmer and David Ward; 9. Large herbivores as sources of disturbance in ecosystems N. Thompson Hobbs; 10. The roles of large herbivores in ecosystem nutrient cycles John P. Pastor, Yosef Cohen and N. Thompson Hobbs; 11. Large herbivores in heterogeneous grassland ecosystems Douglas A. Frank; 12. Modelling of large herbivore - vegetation interactions in a landscape context Peter J. Weisberg, Michael B. Coughenour and Harald Bugmann; 13. Effects of large herbivores on other fauna Otso Suominen and Kjell Danell; 14. The future role of large carnivores on terrestrial trophic interactions: the northern temperate view Reidar Andersen, John D. C. Linnell and Erling J. Solberg; 15. Restoring the functions of grazed ecosystems Ian J. Gordon; 16. Themes and future directions in herbivore-ecosystem interactions and conservation John Pastor, Kjell Danell, Roger Bergström and Patrick Duncan; References; Index.
