• Preface; 1. The importance of understanding ecosystem change; 2. The omnipresence of change; 3. Temporal scale, spatial scale and the ecosystem; 4. An introduction to ecological modelling; 5. Niche theory; 6. Vegetation and environment relations; 7. The mosaic theory of natural landscapes; 8. Individual-based models; 9. Consequences of gap models; 10. Landscape models; 11. Mosaic landscape models; 12. Spatially interactive landscapes; 13. Homogeneous landscape models; 14. Global change; References; Index.

'In his book, Shugart provides both an excellent and a readable background to the development of the new ecology of environmental change, as well as clear descriptions of the range of models applied by ecologists. In short, this book is a stimulating read that many ecologists will find valuable and also will want to recommend their students … this is also a book that I should want to recommend to students reading courses on conservation, as well as many practising conservationists.' Brian Huntley, Trends in Ecology and Evolution