Geoecology

Animals, plants and soils interact with one another. They also interact with the terrestrial spheres - the atmosphere, hydrosphere, toposphere, and lithoshpere - and with the rest of the Cosmos. On land, this rich interaction creates landscape systems or geoecosystems. Geoecology investigates the structure and function of geoecosystems. Part one introduces geoecological systems, their nature, hierarchial structure, and ideas about their interdependence and integrity. A simple dynamic systems model, referred to as the `brash' equation, is developed to provide an analytical and conceptual framework for the book. Part two explores internal or `ecological' interactions between geoecosystems and their near-surface environment, with individual chapters looking at the influence of climate, altitude, topography, insularity, and substrate. Part three prospects the role of external factors, both geological and cosmic, as agencies disturbing the dynamics of the geoecosystems. A new `evolutionary' view emerges of geoecological systems, and the animals, plants, and soils comprising them, emerges: geoecosystems are seen as dynamic entities, organized on an hierarchical basis, that perpetually re