Ecology

Knowledge of ecosystem processes and functions is an essential component of ecosystem management. This knowledge improves the ability of managers to balance the array of demands on natural systems while maintaining ecosystem productivity and integrity.  Several important ecosystem processes circulate, transform, and accumulate energy and matter. These processes include biogeochemical cycling, primary productivity, respiration, food-web interactions, and succession. At the heart of these ecological processes are individual species that serve to purify water, build soils, and recycle nutrients.  Natural disturbances continuously disrupt these ecosystem processes and maintain most systems in a constant state of biotic and environmental change.  This section reviews research knowledge on common disturbance types in the southern Appalachians, successional processes, biogeochemical cycling, aquatic ecology, and species ecology of selected species.