Phytoplankton and Equilibrium Concept: The Ecology of Steady-State Assemblages: Proceedings of the 13th Workshop of the International Association of Phytoplankton Taxonomy and Ecology (IAP), held in Castelbuono, Italy, 1-8 September 2002

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

This volume summarises the outcome of the 13th Workshop of the International Association of Phytoplankton Taxonomy and Ecology (IAP) on if, and if so under what conditions phytoplankton assemblages reach equilibrium in natural environments. Quite a number of ecological concepts use terms such as: ecological equilibrium, stability, steady-state, climax, stable state, etc. However, these ecological concepts often have been translations of scientific theories developed in physics or chemistry but they almost always lack scientific corroboration, the problem being that often these concepts remain vague and they are not formally defined. Here an attempt to formally recognize what equilibrium is in phytoplankton ecology is traced. The book also contains papers by leading scientists on the taxonomy of two selected key groups: cryptomonads and filamentous cyanoprokaryotes. This volume is addressed to all those involved in phytoplankton taxonomy and ecology and in ecology itself.