Meta-Ecosystem Dynamics

The book "Meta-Ecosystem Dynamics" offers a comprehensive analysis of current meta-ecosystem models and their derivation from classical ecosystem and metapopulation theories. It highlights recent modeling approaches that emphasize the role of nonlinear dynamics in spatial and food web networks. These approaches are examined in the context of spatial synchrony and ecological stoichiometry. The work suggests that recent advances allow for a generalization of meta-ecosystem theories regarding spatial material flows, which have both trophic and non-trophic effects on species. The dynamics of ecosystems refer to the cycle of matter and energy through ecological compartments, while spatial dynamics have their roots in metapopulation theories and scale local ecological processes through the limited movement of individuals and matter. Over the past 15 years, theories that integrate ecosystem and spatial dynamics have rapidly evolved into the meta-ecosystem theories that are the focus of this book. It is aimed at students and researchers interested in the synthesis of ecosystem and spatial dynamics.