As the human population inexorably grows, its cumulative
impacts on the earth’s resources are hard to ignore.
The ability of the earth to support more humans is
dependent on the ability of humans to manage natural
resources wisely. Because disturbance alters resource
levels, effective management requires understanding of
the ecology of disturbance. Editorship of this book was
undertaken with several goals in mind. First, I wanted
to present an organized summary of the many types
of disturbances that impact the earth, with as global
a focus as the existing literature allowed. The book
is organized into chapters that deal primarily with
natural disturbances (Chapters 2–13), anthropogenic
disturbances (Chapters 14–20), overviews of natural
processes that occur across disturbance types (Chapters
21–27), and human interactions with and responses
to disturbance (Chapters 28–30). Chapter 31 explores a
hierarchical view of disturbance; Chapter 32 examines
the concept that the consequences of growth of the
human population themselves represent the ultimate
disturbance, and suggests ways to ameliorate human
impacts. “Natural” and “anthropogenic” disturbances
generally are interrelated. The focus of this book is
on disturbances that have a direct physical impact
on terrestrial systems, excluding primarily atmospheric
phenomena such as acid rain or increases in carbon
dioxide and decreases in ozone (but not wind), and
primarily aquatic phenomena such as cultural eutrophication
or chemical, thermal, and bacterial pollution of
waterways.