Note: Intro -- Preface to the Second Edition -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Complexity and Ecology -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 What Is Complexity? -- 1.2.1 Variety and Form -- 1.2.2 The Chicken and the Egg -- 1.3 What Makes Ecosystems Complex? -- 1.3.1 Measuring Diversity -- 1.3.2 The Origins of Complexity -- 1.4 Why Study Ecological Complexity? -- 1.5 The Complexity Paradigm -- 1.5.1 Scientific Paradigms -- 1.5.2 A New Ecology for a New Age? -- References -- Chapter 2: Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Emergent Order in Growth and Behaviour -- 2.1 Plant Growth and Form -- 2.1.1 Factors Influencing Growth -- 2.1.2 Branches and Leaves -- 2.1.3 Overall Plant Form -- 2.1.4 Self-Organisation Versus Constrained Growth -- 2.2 Animal Behaviour -- 2.2.1 Searching for Food -- 2.2.2 Territory -- 2.2.3 Social Networks -- 2.2.4 Animal Intelligence -- 2.3 Multiagent Systems -- 2.3.1 Turtle Geometry -- 2.3.2 From Turtles to Agents -- 2.3.3 The Boids and the Bees -- References -- Chapter 3: Complexity in Landscapes -- 3.1 The Eye of the Beholder -- 3.1.1 Geographic Information Systems -- 3.1.2 The Game of Life -- 3.1.3 Cellular Automata Models of Landscapes -- 3.2 Sampling and Scale -- 3.3 Complexity in Spatial Processes -- 3.4 Complexity in Spatial Patterns -- 3.4.1 Fractal Dimensions -- 3.4.2 Fractals in Nature -- 3.4.3 Measuring Landscape Complexity -- 3.5 Are Landscapes Connected? -- 3.5.1 Connectivity in a Grid -- 3.5.2 Why Is a Starfish Like an Atomic Bomb? -- References -- Chapter 4: Oh, What a Tangled Web … Complex Networks in Ecology -- 4.1 The Roots of Complexity Theory -- 4.2 The Network Model -- 4.2.1 Interactions and Connectivity -- 4.2.2 Networks -- 4.2.3 Networks Are Everywhere -- 4.2.4 The Connectivity Avalanche -- 4.2.5 Phase Changes and Criticality -- 4.2.6 The Order of Things -- 4.3 Self-Organisation -- 4.3.1 Emergent Properties -- 4.3.2 Modules and Motifs. , 4.3.3 The Shape of Complexity -- 4.4 Networks of Networks -- References -- Chapter 5: The Imbalance of Nature … Feedback and Stability in Ecosystems -- 5.1 Feedback -- 5.1.1 Negative Feedback Promotes Stability -- 5.1.2 Positive Feedback Promotes Self-Organization -- 5.2 The Big Get Bigger -- 5.3 Who Eats Whom? -- 5.3.1 Equilibrium and Stability -- 5.3.2 Transients and Attractors -- 5.3.3 Sensitivity to Initial Conditions -- 5.3.4 The Onset of Chaos -- 5.3.5 Fractals -- 5.4 Is There a Balance of Nature? -- 5.4.1 Succession -- 5.4.2 Ecosystems in Balance? -- 5.4.3 Does a Balance Really Exist? -- References -- Chapter 6: Populations in Landscapes -- 6.1 One Population or Many? -- 6.2 Spatial Distributions -- 6.3 Patches, Edges and Zones -- 6.3.1 Salt of the Earth -- 6.4 To See the World in a Grain of Pollen -- 6.5 Galloping Trees? -- 6.6 Phylogeography -- References -- Chapter 7: Living with the Neighbours: Competition and Stability in Communities -- 7.1 Invasions and Persistence -- 7.2 Disturbance and Competition -- 7.3 Ecological Communities -- 7.3.1 Do Ecological Communities Exist? -- 7.4 Networks of Interactions -- 7.4.1 Food Webs -- 7.4.2 Networks -- 7.4.3 The Paradox of Stability -- 7.4.4 Stability and Food Webs -- 7.4.5 Resilience -- References -- Chapter 8: Adaptation in Landscapes -- 8.1 Genes and Selection -- 8.1.1 Evolutionary Trade-Off -- 8.2 Genetics in Heterogeneous Landscapes -- 8.2.1 Adaptation on a Gradient -- 8.2.2 Fragmentation and Drift -- 8.2.3 Friends and Relations -- 8.3 Catastrophes, Criticality and Macroevolution -- 8.3.1 Mass Extinctions -- 8.3.2 Landscape Phases and the Origin of Species -- References -- Chapter 9: Virtual Worlds: The Role of Simulation in Ecology -- 9.1 Virtual Experiments -- 9.1.1 From Landscapes to Virtual Worlds -- 9.1.2 The Need for Simulation -- 9.1.3 A World Inside a Computer?. , 9.1.4 The Limits to Growth Model -- 9.1.5 Just So Stories? -- 9.2 What Is Artificial Life? -- 9.2.1 Tierra -- 9.2.2 Daisyworld -- 9.3 From Virtual to Real -- 9.3.1 Swarm -- 9.3.2 SmartForest -- 9.3.3 NetLogo -- 9.3.4 Computer Games -- 9.4 Virtual Reality -- References -- Chapter 10: Digital Ecology: New Technologies Are Revolutionizing Ecology -- 10.1 Information and Complexity -- 10.2 From Field Work to Ecotechnology -- 10.2.1 Traditional Ecology -- 10.2.2 New Sources of Data -- 10.2.3 Monitoring -- 10.3 Sharing Ecological Information -- 10.3.1 Data Warehouses and Repositories -- 10.3.2 From Informatics to e-Ecology -- 10.3.3 Many Hands Make Light Work -- 10.3.4 Quality not Quantity -- 10.3.5 Crowd Projects -- 10.4 Coping with Complex Ecological Information -- 10.4.1 Putting IT to Work -- 10.4.2 Applying Geographic Information -- 10.4.3 Complexity in Land-Use Planning -- 10.4.4 Serendipity -- 10.4.5 Modelling Species Distributions -- 10.5 Biodiversity Information -- References -- Chapter 11: The Global Picture: Limits to Growth Versus Growth Without Limits -- 11.1 Humans and the Global Environment -- 11.1.1 The Fall of Civilisations -- 11.1.2 Were the Elders Wise? -- 11.2 Global Climate Change -- 11.2.1 The Runaway Greenhouse -- 11.2.2 Climate Change and Denial -- 11.2.3 Ecological Effects of Global Warming -- 11.3 An Environmental Crisis -- 11.4 Globalisation -- 11.5 The Changing Nature of Conservation -- 11.6 The Future -- 11.6.1 The Challenge of Economics -- 11.6.2 Some Final Lessons -- References -- Index.