Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I. Physical environment. The envelope: physical parameters and energy state -- Substrate: the active role of rock, mud, and sand -- Water composition: management of salinity, hardness, and evaporation -- The input of solar energy: lighting requirements -- The input of organic energy: particulates and feeding -- Part II. Biochemical environment. Metabolism: respiration, photosynthesis, and biological loading -- Organisms and gas exchange: oxygen, carbon dioxide, pH, and alkalinity -- The primary nutrients -- nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica: limitation and eutrophication -- Biominerlization and calcification: a key to biosphere and ecosystem function -- Control of the biochemical environment: filters, bacteria, and the algal turf scrubber -- Part III. Biological structure. Community structure: biodiversity in model ecosystems -- Trophic structure: ecosystems and the dynamics of food chains -- Primary producers: plants that grow on the bottom -- Herbivors: predators of plants -- Carnivores: predators of animals -- Plankton and planktivores: floating plants and animals and their predators -- Detritus and detritivores: the dynamics of muddy bottoms -- Symbionts and other feeders -- Part IV. Ecological systems in microcosms, mesocosms, and aquaria. Models of coral reef ecosystems -- A subarctic shore: the Maine coast -- Estuaries: ecosystem modeling where fresh and salt waters interact -- Freshwater ecosystem models -- Part V. The environment and ecological engineering. The culturing of organisms and communities for the aquarium hobby -- Controlled ecosystems and wastewater management -- Part VI. Summary. Microcoms, mesocosms, and aquaria as ecosystem models: a synthesis -- Index.
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