Ecological Mechanics: Principles of Life's Physical Interactions

Abstract

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1 ECOLOGICAL MECHANICS An Introduction -- Mechanics and Ecology Combined: Coral Reefs -- Response Functions -- Transport Phenomena -- What's in a Name? -- What's Left Out -- A Road Map -- Online Supplements -- A Note on Notation -- Part I Basic Concepts -- Chapter 2 BASIC PHYSICS AND MATH -- Location -- Dimensions and Units of Measure -- Converting Units -- Trigonometry -- Translation -- Translational Velocity -- Translational Acceleration -- Rotation -- Force and Translational Acceleration -- Moment and Rotational Acceleration -- Momentum -- Pressure -- Buoyancy -- Energy -- Conservation of Energy -- Friction -- Power -- Summary -- Chapter 3 RESPONSE FUNCTIONS -- Concepts and Terminology -- Monotonic Functions -- Peaks and Valleys: Unimodal Response Functions -- Complications -- Jensen's Inequality: The Fallacy of the Average -- Linear versus Nonlinear -- The Effects of Nonlinearity -- Concepts and Conclusions -- Part II The Mechanics of Transport -- Chapter 4 DIFFUSION Random Motion and its Consequences -- Rules of a Random Walk -- Average Position -- Dispersion: The Variance of Position -- The Diffusion Coefficient -- What Drives Random Walks? -- Fick's Equation -- The Maximum Size of Phytoplankton -- Concepts and Conclusions -- Chapter 5 AN INTRODUCTION TO FLUID MECHANICS -- Shear -- What Is a Fluid? -- Liquids and Gases -- Dynamic Viscosity -- Viscous Friction -- Reynolds Number -- Conservation of Mass and Volume -- Streamlines -- Conservation of Energy: Bernoulli's Principle -- Concepts, Conclusions, and Caveats -- Chapter 6 BOUNDARY LAYERS I Equilibrium Layers -- Basic Concepts -- Laminar Boundary Layers: An Introduction -- Moment and Rotation -- Turbulent Boundary Layers: An Introduction.