A Biogeoscience Approach to Ecosystems

Biogeoscience is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that aims to bring together biological and geophysical processes. This book builds an enhanced understanding of ecosystems by focusing on the integrative connections between ecological processes and the geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. Each chapter provides studies by researchers who have contributed to the biogeoscience synthesis, presenting the latest research on the relationships between ecological processes, such as conservation laws and heat and transport processes, and geophysical processes, such as hillslope, fluvial and aeolian geomorphology, and hydrology. Highlighting the value of biogeoscience as an approach to understand ecosystems, this is an ideal resource for researchers and students in both ecology and the physical sciences.

1. Introduction Edward A. Johnson and Yvonne E. Martin; Part I. Connecting Ecosystem and Geoscience Processes: 2. Toward a general scaling theory for linking traits, stoichiometry, and body size to ecosystem function Brian J. Enquist, Sean T. Michaletz and Andrew J. Kerkhoff; Part II. Transport Processes and Conservation Budgets in Biogeoscience: 3. Heat balances in ecological contexts Warren P. Porter; 4. Water budgets in ecosystems John W. Pomeroy, Matthew K. MacDonald, Pablo F. Dornes and Robert Armstrong; Part III. Coupling Hillslope Geomorphology, Soils, Hydrology, and Ecosystems: 5. Landscape evolution models and ecohydrologic processes Erkan Istanbulluoglu; 6. Soil mantled hillslopes: intersections of geomorphology, soil science, and ecology Kyungsoo Yoo and Nic Jelinski; 7. Interactions between precipitation and vegetation canopies Alexandra G. Ponette-González, Holly A. Ewing and Kathleen C. Weathers; 8. Constraints on nutrient dynamics in terrestrial vegetation David Robinson; 9. Evapotranspiration T. Andrew Black and Rachhpal S. Jassal; Part IV. Coupling Fluvial and Aeolian Geomorphology, Hydrology/Hydraulics, and Ecosystems: 10. Mechanisms of flow and sediment transport in fluvial ecosystems: physical and ecological consequences Brett Eaton and Jordan Rosenfeld; 11. Measuring the hydraulic landscapes of stream-dwelling invertebrates for ecological research Jill Lancaster; 12. Salt marsh ecosystems: tidal flow, vegetation, and carbon dynamics Simon M. Mudd and Sergio Fagherazzi; 13. Coastal dunes and vegetation dynamics Edward A. Johnson and Yvonne E. Martin; 14. Biological control on geomorphology: a functional classification Dov Corenblit, Bruno Corbara and Johannes Steiger.

Edward A. Johnson is Professor of Ecology and Director of the Biogeosciences Institute at the University of Calgary. He has published extensively on the couplings between physical and ecological systems, with a particular focus on the effects of wildfires, hillslope and fluvial geomorphic processes, climate and land use on tree populations.
Yvonne E. Martin is Associate Professor in Geography and Associate Director of the Biogeosciences Institute at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on drainage-basin geomorphology and its interconnections with ecology, climatology and hydrology.