Download or read book Populations in a Seasonal Environment written by Stephen D. Fretwell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1972-07-21 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most organisms live in a seasonal environment. During their life cycles, some species face seasons of cold and heat, aridity and abundant rainfall, migration and stable residence, breeding and nonbreeding. Populations grow and decline as supplies of materials essential to their survival wax and wane. Such qualitative truths as these flow obviously from field observations. In this original monograph, Stephen Fretwell analyzes the highly complex interaction between a population and a regularly varying environment in an attempt to define and measure seasonality as a critical parameter in the general theory of population regulation. Concerned primarily with the size and the habitat distribution of populations, Professor Fretwell develops simple models that, when applied to specific populations, usually of birds, demonstrate the effect of seasonal variations on the regulation of populations. He maintains that seasonality, as a concept, is essential to a full understanding of environmental interaction. During the course of his exposition, the author offers several new hypotheses, including theories affecting the breeding, numbers, distribution, and diversity of wintering birds, and a theory affecting the body size of sparrows.
Download or read book Competitive Coexistence in a Seasonally Fluctuating Environment written by Toshiyuki Namba and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Competition in a Seasonal Environment written by Shixi Simon Hu and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Evolution s Wedge written by David Pfennig and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolutionary biology has long sought to explain how new traits and new species arise. Darwin maintained that competition is key to understanding this biodiversity and held that selection acting to minimize competition causes competitors to become increasingly different, thereby promoting new traits and new species. Despite Darwin’s emphasis, competition’s role in diversification remains controversial and largely underappreciated. In their synthetic and provocative book, evolutionary ecologists David and Karin Pfennig explore competition's role in generating and maintaining biodiversity. The authors discuss how selection can lessen resource competition or costly reproductive interactions by promoting trait evolution through a process known as character displacement. They further describe character displacement’s underlying genetic and developmental mechanisms. The authors then consider character displacement’s myriad downstream effects, ranging from shaping ecological communities to promoting new traits and new species and even fueling large-scale evolutionary trends. Drawing on numerous studies from natural populations, and written for a broad audience, Evolution’s Wedge seeks to inspire future research into character displacement’s many implications for ecology and evolution.
Download or read book Competition and Coexistence written by Ulrich Sommer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question "Why are there so many species?" has puzzled ecologist for a long time. Initially, an academic question, it has gained practical interest by the recent awareness of global biodiversity loss. Species diversity in local ecosystems has always been discussed in relation to the problem of competi tive exclusion and the apparent contradiction between the competitive exclu sion principle and the overwhelming richness of species found in nature. Competition as a mechanism structuring ecological communities has never been uncontroversial. Not only its importance but even its existence have been debated. On the one extreme, some ecologists have taken competi tion for granted and have used it as an explanation by default if the distribu tion of a species was more restricted than could be explained by physiology and dispersal history. For decades, competition has been a core mechanism behind popular concepts like ecological niche, succession, limiting similarity, and character displacement, among others. For some, competition has almost become synonymous with the Darwinian "struggle for existence", although simple plausibility should tell us that organisms have to struggle against much more than competitors, e.g. predators, parasites, pathogens, and envi ronmental harshness.
Download or read book National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Plant Competition in a Changing World written by Judy Simon and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2017-06-22 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Competitiveness describes a key ability important for plants to grow and survive abiotic and biotic stresses. Under optimal, but particularly under non-optimal conditions, plants compete for resources including nutrients, light, water, space, pollinators and other. Competition occurs above- and belowground. In resource-poor habitats, competition is generally considered to be more pronounced than in resource-rich habitats. Although competition occurs between different players within an ecosystem such as between plants and soil microorganisms, our topic focusses on plant-plant interactions and includes inter-specific competition between different species of similar and different life forms and intra-specific competition. Strategies for securing resources via spatial or temporal separation and different resource needs generally reduce competition. Increasingly important is the effect of invasive plants and subsequent decline in biodiversity and ecosystem function. Current knowledge and future climate predictions suggest that in some situations competition will be intensified with occurrence of increased abiotic (e.g. water and nutrient limitations) and biotic stresses (e.g. mass outbreak of insects), but competition might also decrease in situations where plant productivity and survival declines (e.g. habitats with degraded soils). Changing interactions, climate change and biological invasions place new challenges on ecosystems. Understanding processes and mechanisms that underlie the interactions between plants and environmental factors will aid predictions and intervention. There is much need to develop strategies to secure ecosystem services via primary productivity and to prevent the continued loss of biodiversity. This Research Topic provides an up-to-date account of knowledge on plant-plant interactions with a focus on identifying the mechanisms underpinning competitive ability. The Research Topic aims to showcase knowledge that links ecological relevance with physiological processes to better understanding plant and ecosystem function.
Download or read book Biological Invasions in Marine Ecosystems written by Gil Rilov and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-11-12 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biological invasions are considered to be one of the greatest threats to the integrity of most ecosystems on earth. This volume explores the current state of marine bioinvasions, which have been growing at an exponential rate over recent decades. Focusing on the ecological aspects of biological invasions, it elucidates the different stages of an invasion process, starting with uptake and transport, through inoculation, establishment and finally integration into new ecosystems. Basic ecological concepts - all in the context of bioinvasions - are covered, such as propagule pressure, species interactions, phenotypic plasticity, and the importance of biodiversity. The authors approach bioinvasions as hazards to the integrity of natural communities, but also as a tool for better understanding fundamental ecological processes. Important aspects of managing marine bioinvasions are also discussed, as are many informative case studies from around the world.
Download or read book Size Structured Populations written by Bo Ebenman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At last both ecology and evolution are covered in this study on the dynamics of size-structured populations. How does natural selection shape growth patterns and life cycles of individuals, and hence the size-structure of populations? This book will stimulate biologists to look into some important and interesting biological problems from a new angle of approach, concerning: - life history evolution, - intraspecific competition and niche theory, - structure and dynamics of ecological communities.
Download or read book Antelope Conservation written by Jakob Bro-Jorgensen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-06-08 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Antelopes constitute a fundamental part of ecosystems throughout Africa and Asia where they act as habitat architects, dispersers of seeds, and prey for large carnivores. The fascication they hold in the human mind is evident from prehistoric rock paintings and ancient Egyptian art to today's wildlife documentaries and popularity in zoos. In recent years, however, the spectacular herds of the past have been decimated or extripated over wide areas in the wilds, and urgent conservation action is needed to preserve this world heritage for generations to come. As the first book dedicated to antelope conservation, this volume sets out to diagnose the causes of the drastic declines in antelope biodiversity and on this basis identify the most effective points of action. In doing so, the book covers central issues in the current conservation debate, especially related to the management of overexploitation, habitat fragmentation, disease transmission, climate change, populations genetics, and reintroductions. The contributions are authored by world-leading experts in the field, and the book is a useful resource to conservation scientists and practitioners, researchers, and students in related disciplines as well as interested lay people.
Download or read book Ecology of Climate Change written by Eric Post and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-11 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rising temperatures are affecting organisms in all of Earth's biomes, but the complexity of ecological responses to climate change has hampered the development of a conceptually unified treatment of them. In a remarkably comprehensive synthesis, this book presents past, ongoing, and future ecological responses to climate change in the context of two simplifying hypotheses, facilitation and interference, arguing that biotic interactions may be the primary driver of ecological responses to climate change across all levels of biological organization. Eric Post's synthesis and analyses of ecological consequences of climate change extend from the Late Pleistocene to the present, and through the next century of projected warming. His investigation is grounded in classic themes of enduring interest in ecology, but developed around novel conceptual and mathematical models of observed and predicted dynamics. Using stability theory as a recurring theme, Post argues that the magnitude of climatic variability may be just as important as the magnitude and direction of change in determining whether populations, communities, and species persist. He urges a more refined consideration of species interactions, emphasizing important distinctions between lateral and vertical interactions and their disparate roles in shaping responses of populations, communities, and ecosystems to climate change.
Download or read book Destination Competitiveness the Environment and Sustainability written by Andres Artal-Tur and published by CABI. This book was released on 2015-12-09 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Destination competitiveness and sustainability are important issues for many stakeholders within the tourism industry. In recent years, destinations have faced some challenges with respect to maintaining sustainability; they must be cleaner, greener and safer in order to safeguard the life quality of holidaymakers and local residents. Providing an invaluable review of the latests research on the topic, global case studies provide a perspective of the worldwide challenges and solutions arising in the management of tourism destinations. The analysis presents an interdisciplinary approach, including contributions of economists, geographers, managers and marketing professionals.
Download or read book Ecological Issues in a Changing World written by Sun-Kee Hong and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-11-05 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers selected contributions to the 8th International Congress of Ecology to illuminate large-scale ecological problems and discuss how these can be managed through a variety of planning processes. From mathematical approaches to improve understanding of complex ecosystems, to monitoring activity and human impact, this book covers a truly global range of issues. The book concludes with a summary of the Congress, and a discussion of possible future directions.
Download or read book Chaos in Ecology written by J. M. Cushing and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2003 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chaos in Ecology is a convincing demonstration of chaos in a biological population. The book synthesizes an ecologically focused interdisciplinary blend of non-linear dynamics theory, statistics, and experimentation yielding results of uncommon clarity and rigor. Topics include fundamental issues that are of general and widespread importance to population biology and ecology. Detailed descriptions are included of the mathematical, statistical, and experimental steps they used to explore nonlinear dynamics in ecology. Beginning with a brief overview of chaos theory and its implications for ecology. The book continues by deriving and rigorously testing a mathematical model that is closely wedded to biological mechanisms of their research organism. Therefrom were generated a variety of predictions that are fundamental to chaos theory and experiments were designed and analyzed to test those predictions. Discussion of patterns in chaos and how they can be investigated using real data follows and book ends with a discussion of the salient lessons learned from this research program Book jacket.
Download or read book Competition for California Water written by Ernest A. Engelbert and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2022-03-25 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: California’s water is at the center of an intense economic and political struggle. A balance between supply and demand must be reached, but it is far from certain that all Californians will get as much water as they want at a price they feel is right. Competition for California Water presents essential information on key issues, including: Costs: What would be the yields and what would be the costs, in dollars as well as less tangible values, of developing new sources of water? Cost-sharing: How much of the cost of water development and distribution should be borne by the general public, and how much by water users and other beneficiaries? Environmental protection: To what extent should environmental values be protected? Conservation: To what extent can the need for new water development be offset by conservation and more efficient use of water? Institutional reform: Can changes in the laws and institutions of California produce a more efficient system of water supply and management? Agriculture: How much increase in cost and/or loss of water can California agriculture bear and still remain competitive? Thirty-one experts on all aspects of this topic project alternative futures for California’s water supply. Written in nontechnical language, Competition for California Water is an invaluable source of information for Californians concerned with the future of their state. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.
Download or read book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster written by Bill Gates and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
Download or read book Impacts of Seasonal Variation in Environmental Conditions on Interspecific Competition of Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus written by Paul A. O'Neal and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
