PART I – INTRODUCTION. The ecosystem as an object for research. Conservation principles. Energy dissipation. A perspective from information and systems theory. Ecological Processes: An Overview. PART II – PHYSICAL PROCESSES. Space and time. Mass transport. Energetic factors. PART III – CHEMICAL PROCESSES. Chemical reactions. Chemical lysis. Phase partition. PART IV – BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES. Biogeochemical cycles. Photosynthesis. Growth. Primary production. Production of upper trophic levels. Microbial processes. Ecotoxicological Processes. Biological Interactions. PART V – LANDSCAPE PROCESSES. Aquatic ecosystems. Terrestrial Ecosystems. Landscapes and Urban Ecosystems. The Atmosphere. REFERENCES. THE AUTHORS.

"... presents an overview of the multi-faceted reality of ecosystems. However, far from being a simple collection of particular aspects of the environment, the book presents a comprehensive vision of ecosystems based on thermodynamics, viewed as a unifying principle which every evolutionary system must obey."––Stefano Marsili Libelli, Department of Information Engineering, University of Florence, Italy"… the authors take the reader on a comprehensive journey through the key processes that help one understand ecology—particularly for the application of environmental management. … The authors bring many years of expertise and experience to this topic, which is evident in the broad, synthetic treatment of the material. This Handbook would be a valuable resource …" —Brian D. Fath, Towson University