Chapter 19 Suggested Readings
Augustine, D. J. and D. A. Frank. 2001. Effects of migratory grazers on spatial
heterogeneity of soil nitrogen properties in a grassland ecosystem. Ecology 82:
3149–62.
This study demonstrates the influence of native grazers on the distribution of soil
nitrogen at small to large scales.
Childers, D. L., J. Corman, M. Edwards, and J. J. Elser. 2011. Sustainability challenges
of phosphorus and food: solutions from closing the human phosphorus cycle.
BioScience 61:117-124.
The authors examine a potential crisis, along with solutions, in the availability of a
nutrient on which high levels of food production depend.
Fisk, M. C., D. R. Zak, and T. R. Crow. 2002. Nitrogen storage and cycling in old- and
second-growth hardwood forests. Ecology 83: 73–87.
A detailed comparison of nitrogen fluxes in second-growth and old-growth temperate
deciduous forests which reveals a great deal of complexity and no simple contrast
between forests of different ages.
Grimm, N. B., S. H. Faeth, N. E. Golubiewski, C. L. Redman, J. Wu, X. Bai, and J. M.
Briggs. 2008. Global change and the ecology of cities. Science 319: 756-760.
The ecology of cities, a rapidly growing human-dominated “biome”, is explored in this
paper within the context of global change.
Hattenschwiler, S., A. V. Tiunov, and S. Scheu. 2005. Biodiversity and litter
decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and
Systematics 36:191–218.
This comprehensive review outlines what is known concerning the complex relationship
between biodiversity and decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems.
Jonsson, M. and B. Malmqvist. 2003. Mechanisms behind positive diversity effects on
ecosystem functioning: testing the facilitation and interference hypotheses. Oecologia
134:554–59.
This experimental study demonstrates the mechanisms underlying the positive
relationship between diversity of detritivores and leaf processing rates.
Likens, G. E. and F. H. Bormann. 1995. Biogeochemistry of a Forested Ecosystem. 2d ed.
New York: Springer-Verlag.
A 32-year record of the structure and dynamics of the Hubbard Brook ecosystem—a
worthwhile companion and update to the original papers reporting on the Hubbard
Brook experiment.
Likens, G. E. 2004. Some perspectives on long-term biogeochemical research from the
Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study. Ecology 85:2355-2362.
The paper is an update on biogeochemistry of the Hubbard Brook ecosystem provided by
one of the founders of ecosystem research at Hubbard Brook and one of the pioneers in
long-term, large scale ecological experiments.
McCulley, R. L., I. C. Burke, J. A. Nelson, W. K. Lauenroth, A. K. Knapp, and E. F.
Kelly. 2005. Regional patterns in carbon cycling across the Great Plains of North
America. Ecosystems 8:106–21.
A detailed study of carbon flux across the Great Plains that examines how precipitation
influences decomposition rates along with aboveground net primary production, below
ground net primary production, and soil respiration.
Milton, Y. and M. Kaspari. 2007. Bottom-up and top-down regulation of decomposition
in a tropical forest. Oecologia 153:163–72.
Detailed exploration of the interactions of top-down (consumers) and bottom-up
(nutrients) influences of rate of decomposition in a tropical forest in Panama.
Perakis, S. S. and L. O. Hedin. 2001. Fluxes and fates of nitrogen in soil of an unpolluted
old-growth temperate forest, southern Chile. Ecology 82:2245–60.
Fascinating work on one of the rarest ecosystem types on earth: an unpolluted, oldgrowth temperate forest. The work documents the exceptional retentiveness of old-growth
temperate forests.
Raich, J. W., A. E. Russell, K. Kitayama, W. J. Parton, and P. M. Vitousek. 2006.
Temperature influences carbon accumulation in moist tropical forests. Ecology
87:76–87.
The authors explore the relationship between temperature, net primary production,
decomposition, and carbon storage in moist tropical forests on three continents, finding
consistent patterns that will be relevant to global carbon management in a warming
climate.
Schimel, J. P. and J. Bennett. 2004. Nitrogen mineralization: challenges of a changing
paradigm. Ecology 85: 591-602.
Schimel and Bennett explore the evolution of ideas and understanding of nitrogen cycling
in terrestrial ecosystems.
Stephens, B. B., K. R. Gurney, P. P. Tans, C. Sweeney, W. Peters, L. Bruhwiler, P. Ciais,
M. Ramonet, P. Bousquet, T. Nakazawa, S. Aoki, T. Machida, G. Inoue, N.
Vinnichenko, J. Lloyd, A. Jordan, M. Heimann, O. Shibistova, R. L. Langenfelds, L.
P. Steele, R. J. Francey, A. S. Denning. 2007. Weak northern and strong tropical land
carbon uptake from vertical profiles of atmospheric CO2. Science 316:1732–35.
A major discovery indicating that tropical forests may play a much greater role in the
case of the missing carbon sink than previously thought. Clearly there is much yet to
learn about carbon cycling.
Vanni, M. L. 2002. Nutrient cycling by animals in freshwater ecosystems. Annual Review
of Ecology and Systematics 33:341-370.
In this review article, Vanni explores the important role of animals in the cycling of
nutrients in freshwater ecosystems.