Ecological heterogeneity can impact how energy flows from the base of the food web to top predators. In aquatic systems, apex predators are often highly mobile piscivorous fishes with the ability to respond to environmental change by modifying resource use to exploit multiple energy pathways. Further, the exploitation of pathways may be different among individuals, leading to intraspecific variation. I first tested for the presence of intraspecific variation in the apex fish predator, Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush, in a 390 ha oligotrophic lake with two distinct basins. Differences in stomach contents, stable isotope niche space, and growth rates indicated that there is intraspecific variation across three habitats in this system; the upper basin pelagic, lower basin pelagic, and lower basin benthic habitats. I tested the effects of incorporating this variation and corresponding ecological heterogeneity (e.g., different temperatures, habitat-specific population sizes) on consumption estimates of kokanee (lacustrine Sockeye Salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka) derived from bioenergetics models. I assessed two bioenergetics modeling approaches; one lake-wide model, and one ecologically partitioned model that accounted for differences in Lake Trout diet compositions, growth, and population sizes across habitats. The ecologically partitioned model produced kokanee consumption estimates 30% lower than the lake-wide, unpartitioned model, which produced an estimate that exceeded the number of kokanee stocked in the system. Incorporating ecological heterogeneity and intraspecific variation into these bioenergetic models yielded valuable insights on the foraging patterns of a top predator across habitats. This more nuanced understanding of foraging dynamics could provide critical information to guide multispecies fisheries management by clarifying how managed species interact and in which habitats those interactions create management challenges.

As researchers try to predict the effects of human modification at all trophic levels and mediate the impact of rapid environmental change, it has become clear it is no longer a matter of agreeing that both bottom-up and top-down forces play important roles in diverse ecosystems. Rather, the question is: how do these forces interact across aquatic and terrestrial systems? Written by leading experts in the field, this book presents a unique synthesis of trophic relationships within and across ecosystems that is a valuable foundation for the development of cross-system, multidisciplinary research. It also provides new insights into population biology and community ecology and examines the interactive effects of bottom-up and top-down forces on biodiversity at each trophic level. A one-stop resource for learning about bottom-up and top-down interactions, this book encourages discussion and collaboration among researchers to identify similarities and differences in trophic interactions across aquatic and terrestrial systems.

Understanding the functioning of ecosystems requires the understanding of the interactions between consumer species and their resources. How do these interactions affect the variations of population abundances? How do population abundances determine the impact of predators on their prey? The view defended in this book is that the "null model" that most ecologists tend to use is inappropriate because it assumes that the amount of prey consumed by each predator is insensitive to the number of conspecifics. The authors argue that the amount of prey available per predator, rather than the absolute abundance of prey, is the basic determinant of the dynamics of predation. This so-called ratio dependence is shown to be a much more reasonable "null model."

This book is a bridge between ecological paradigms – organismal/community approaches to food web dynamics and ecosystem-level approaches to production. The unification of organismal, community, and ecosystem approaches in ecology is emerging due to the growing availability of new techniques for assessing trophic interactions and their implications for ecosystems. Trophic Ecology is a formal text for both newcomers to the discipline as well as seasoned professionals looking for new ideas and refreshers on old topics. A wide range of topics are explained including autotrophy, heterotrophy, omnivory, decomposition, foraging behavior and theory, trophic cascades, bioenergetics, and production. The audience is upper-level undergraduate students and entry-level graduate students interested in autecological, organismal approaches to ecology, community and ecosystem ecology. It is also a reference text for instructors teaching upper-division courses, providing examples from the literature, quantitative approaches to teach, and new hypotheses yet to be fully tested by ecologists.

Trait-based ecology is rapidly expanding. This comprehensive and accessible guide covers the main concepts and tools in functional ecology.

Community ecology has undergone a transformation in recent years, from a discipline largely focused on processes occurring within a local area to a discipline encompassing a much richer domain of study, including the linkages between communities separated in space (metacommunity dynamics), niche and neutral theory, the interplay between ecology and evolution (eco-evolutionary dynamics), and the influence of historical and regional processes in shaping patterns of biodiversity. To fully understand these new developments, however, students continue to need a strong foundation in the study of species interactions and how these interactions are assembled into food webs and other ecological networks. This new edition fulfils the book's original aims, both as a much-needed up-to-date and accessible introduction to modern community ecology, and in identifying the important questions that are yet to be answered. This research-driven textbook introduces state-of-the-art community ecology to a new generation of students, adopting reasoned and balanced perspectives on as-yet-unresolved issues. Community Ecology is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers seeking a broad, up-to-date coverage of ecological concepts at the community level.

Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, Five Volume Set presents a currency-based, global synthesis cataloguing the impact of humanity’s global ecological footprint. Covering a multitude of aspects related to Climate Change, Biodiversity, Contaminants, Geological, Energy and Ethics, leading scientists provide foundational essays that enable researchers to define and scrutinize information, ideas, relationships, meanings and ideas within the Anthropocene concept. Questions widely debated among scientists, humanists, conservationists, politicians and others are included, providing discussion on when the Anthropocene began, what to call it, whether it should be considered an official geological epoch, whether it can be contained in time, and how it will affect future generations. Although the idea that humanity has driven the planet into a new geological epoch has been around since the dawn of the 20th century, the term ‘Anthropocene’ was only first used by ecologist Eugene Stoermer in the 1980s, and hence popularized in its current meaning by atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen in 2000. Presents comprehensive and systematic coverage of topics related to the Anthropocene, with a focus on the Geosciences and Environmental science Includes point-counterpoint articles debating key aspects of the Anthropocene, giving users an even-handed navigation of this complex area Provides historic, seminal papers and essays from leading scientists and philosophers who demonstrate changes in the Anthropocene concept over time