HANDBOOK OF ECOLOGICAL MODELLING AND INFORMATICS, W/CD

Ecological modeling has made enormous progress in the last year, which is probably the result of the rapidly increasing use of ecological models in environmental management and ecological research. This book is an up-to-date overview of the possibilities ecological modeling offers today.

The book also presents briefly the history of ecological modeling and ecological informatics and the themes that these two ecological subfields cover today and discusses the use of mediated or institutionalized modeling in environmental management. It presents 12 model types and network calculation available today for environmental management and ecological research: steady-state models, stochastic models, deterministic models, biogeochemical dynamic models, individual-based models, fuzzy models, population dynamic models, artificial neural network, structurally dynamic models, cellular automata, ecotoxicological models, ecotoxicological behavioral models, spatial models, rule-based models and coupling of ecological models with hydrodynamic models. One chapter of the book presents three recently developed software packages that are particularly appropriate for the development of mediated models. Finally, one chapter covers the very important topic of data mining and its use in ecological modeling.

All the model types are illustrated by examples, either on the enclosed CD or by download from Internet, making it possible for the reader to get a clear idea of what each different model type can offer in applicability and their advantages and disadvantages.

Sven Jorgensen is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Pharmaceutics and Analytical Chemistry in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His research interests include Systems ecology, Ecological modeling, Ecological engineering, Environmental science, and Environmental management of aquatic systems. He is the author of Eco-Exergy as Sustainability (published by WIT Press in 2006) and has written or co-authored numerous papers in his field. He has also served as Editor in chief for the Encyclopedia of Ecology (2004), as Editor-in-Chief of Ecological Modelling (1974), and as Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ohio State University (1991). Tae-Soo Chon (Ph.D., University of Hawaii at Manoa) is professor of Ecology and Behavior Systems in the Division of Biological Sciences at Pusan National University, Korea. He is the co-author of numerous research papers on Ecological modeling and mathematical biology applied to behavior and ecology; Ecological informatics in data analysis; Community dynamics of benthic macro-invertebrates in streams; Water quality evaluation and quantification of ecosystem quality; Spatially explicit models in population dispersal; Computational behaviors in response to disturbances; and In-situ behavioral biomonitoring. He is Associate Editor of International Journal of Ecological Informatics , co-editor of International Journal of Ecodynamics and services on the Editorial boards of Ecological Modelling, The ScientificWorld, International Journal of Limnology, Ecological Research, and Encyclopedia of Ecology. Friedrich A. Recknagel is an associate professor in the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology in the School of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Adelaide in Australia where he serves as course coordinator for Freshwater Ecology, Integrated Catchment Management , and Ecosystem Modelling. His research interests include Lake Eutrophication and Algal Blooms, Catchment Management by Constructed Wetlands, Ecosystem Ecology, Ecosystem Modelling, and Ecological Informatics. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Ecological Informatics, a member of the Editorial Board of the international journal Ecological Modelling, a member of the CRC for Water Quality and Treatment, and a member of the Water Research Cluster and the Research Institute for Climate Change at the University of Adelaide