The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson

Author:Edward O. Wilson [Wilson, Edward O.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2002-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

When observation and theory collide, scientists turn to carefully designed experiments for resolution. Their motivation is especially high in the case of biological systems, which are typically far too complex to be grasped by observation and theory alone. The best procedure, as in the rest of science, is first to simplify the system, then to hold it more or less constant while varying the important parameters one or two at a time to see what happens. In the 1990s a team of British ecologists, in an attempt to approach these ideal conditions, devised the ecotron, a growth chamber in which artificially simple ecosystems can be assembled as desired, species by species. Using multiple ecotrons, they found that productivity, measured by the increase of plant bulk, rose with an increase in species numbers. Simultaneously, ecologists monitoring patches of Minnesota grassland—outdoor equivalents of ecotrons—during a period of drought found that patches higher in species diversity declined less in productivity and recovered more quickly than did patches with lower diversity.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.