All life is chemical. This fact supports the evolving field of ecological ecological characteristics, the study of the balance of chemical elements in environmental reactions.

This long-awaited book brings this field to itself as a unified force in ecology and evolution. By compiling a wide range of knowledge, Robert Steerner and C.

Secret explain how understanding the biological chemical diffusion of elements in organisms from microbes to metazoa provides the key to understanding aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems alike. After summing up the chemistry of the elements and their relative abundance in the Earth's environment, the authors go along a growing line of complexity and size of molecules to cells, individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems.

The book examines the basic chemical constraints on ecological phenomena such as competition, herbs, synergy, energy flow in food webs, and isolation of organic matter. In accessible scattering and with clear mathematical models, the authors show how mathematical chemistry can shed diverse areas of study, from metabolism to global change.

A balanced ecosystem is to be established in this area, an indispensable resource for researchers, teachers, environmentalists, evolutionists, physiologists and biochemists. From the introduction of Peter Vitusik: "His book is a landmark in the history of the environment ...

I love him or argue with him - and I do both - most ecologists will be influenced by the framework developed in this book ... There are points to question here, and many others to test it ...

Lucky and good, this questioning and testing will raise our field beyond the level achieved in this book.

I want that book.