What do human economies, large islands and forest fragments reveal about the factors limiting ecosystem evolution?
J Evol Biol
; 22(1): 1-12, 2009 Jan.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19120809
What factors limit ecosystem evolution? Like human economies, ecosystems are arenas where agents compete for locally limiting resources. Like economies, but unlike genes, ecosystems are not units of selection. In both economies and ecosystems, productivity, diversity of occupations or species and intensity of competition presuppose interdependence among many different agents. In both, competitive dominants need abundant, varied resources, and many agents' products or services, to support the activity and responsiveness needed to maintain dominance. Comparing different-sized land masses suggests that productivity is lower on islands whose area is too small to maintain some of the interdependences that maintain diversity, productivity and competitiveness in mainland ecosystems. Islands lacking the rare, metabolically active dominants that make competition so intense in mainland ecosystems are more easily invaded by introduced exotics. Studies of islets in reservoirs identify mechanisms generating these phenomena. These phenomena suggest how continued fragmentation will affect future 'natural' ecosystems.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Árvores
/
Ecossistema
/
Economia
/
Evolução Biológica
/
Geografia
Tipo de estudo:
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Prognostic_studies
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Evol Biol
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2009
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Panamá
País de publicação:
Suíça