[...]... considerably for this edition Professor Bendoricchio, who is co-author of this third edition, used the second edition of the book in his course on environmental and ecological modelling at Padova University, but found that a more comprehensive presentation of most of the basic equations applied in modelling was needed This textbook has certainly gained in value by this expansion of the overview of the applied... behaviour of protons and neutrons has given inspiration to models of their composition of smaller particles, the so-called quarks These models have been used to make predictions of the results of planned cyclotron experiments, which have often given inspiration to further changes of the model The idea behind the use of models as scientific tools, may be described as an iterative development of a pattern... number of interconnections between components in the system and functional complexity, defined as the number of distinct functions carried out by the system 1.6 Outline of the Book The third edition of this book presented a few models in all details while a number of models were just mentioned briefly An overview of existing models was included in several chapters During the last decade, the number of. .. ecosystems and ecological processes The modellers therefore became more critical in their acceptance of models; they realized that a profound knowledge of the ecosystem, the problem and the ecological components were the necessary basis for the development of sound ecological models A result of this period is all the recommendations given in the next chapter: 9 follow strictly all the steps of the procedure,... structurally dynamic models which consider one of the core properties of ecosystems: adaptation by change of the properties of the biological components or by a shift to other better-fitted species This development is considered of utmost importance, because the aim of the application of models in environmental management is to be able to predict the effect of a given change in the impact on the ecosystem... number of subsystems to be included in the model for an acceptable level of accuracy defined by the scope of the model Due to lack of data, it will often become necessary at a later stage to accept a lower number than intended at the start or to provide additional data for improvement of the model It has often been argued that a more complex model should account more accurately for the reactions of a... mathematical equations The most relevant physical (Part A), chemical (Part B) and biological (ecological) (Part C), including ecotoxicological processes are covered in this chapter These are the building blocks of ecological models A useful ecological model consists of the right combination of buildings blocks Conceptualization of the model is an important step in model development The ideas about how the ecosystem... presented, an illustrative detailed example is discussed It is a model of the Lagoon of Venice by application of the steady-state software ECOPATH Response models are also presented The Vollenweider model for temperate lakes is used as an illustration of this type of model Chapter 6 covers population dynamic models After a short presentation of a few simple classical models, some illustrative examples are... zooplankton grazes on phytoplankton, 9 the processes often formulated as mathematical equations which have been proved valid generally, and 9 the importance of the processes with reference to the problem, to mention a few examples of knowledge which may often be incorporated in an ecological model This implies that a model can offer a deeper understanding of the system than a statistical analysis and can... previous flaws Figure 1.4 gives an overview of the development in ecological modelling The non-linear time axis gives approximate information on the year in which the various Fig 1.4 The development of ecological and environmental models is shown schematically The Development of Ecological and Environmental Models 15 development steps took place The first models of the oxygen balance in a stream (the Streeter-Phelps . this edition. Professor Bendoricchio, who is co-author of this third edition, used the second edition of the book in his course on environmental and ecological. Outline of the Book 11 The Development of Ecological and Environmental Models 14 State of the Art in the Application of Models 16 2. Concepts of Modelling