Download or read book The Dynamics of Competition and Predation written by Michael Patrick Hassell and published by Hodder Education. This book was released on 1976 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Population Dynamics and Laboratory Ecology written by Robert Desharnais and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2005-08-04 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Population Dynamics and Laboratory Ecology highlights the contributions laboratory studies are making to our understanding of the dynamics of ecological and evolutionary systems. Chapters address the scientific rationale for laboratory ecology, its historical role within the broader discipline, and recent advances in research. The book presents results from a wide range of laboratory systems including insects, mites, plankton, protists, and microbes. A common theme throughout the book is the value of microcosm studies in advancing our knowledge of ecological and evolutionary principles. Each chapter is authored by scientists who are leading experts in their fields. The book addresses fundamental questions that are of interest to biologists whether they work in the laboratory or field or whether they are primarily empiricists or theorists. Details a scientific rationale for laboratory systems in ecological and evolutionary studies Offers a view on historical role of laboratory studies Includes examples of recent research advances in ecology and evolution using laboratory systems, ranging from insects to microbes Integrates mathematics, statistics and experimental studies
Download or read book Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities MPB 26 Volume 26 written by David Tilman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although ecologists have long considered morphology and life history to be important determinants of the distribution, abundance, and dynamics of plants in nature, this book contains the first theory to predict explicitly both the evolution of plant traits and the effects of these traits on plant community structure and dynamics. David Tilman focuses on the universal requirement of terrestrial plants for both below-ground and above-ground resources. The physical separation of these resources means that plants face an unavoidable tradeoff. To obtain a higher proportion of one resource, a plant must allocate more of its growth to the structures involved in its acquisition, and thus necessarily obtain a lower proportion of another resource. Professor Tilman presents a simple theory that includes this constraint and tradeoff, and uses the theory to explore the evolution of plant life histories and morphologies along productivity and disturbance gradients. The book shows that relative growth rate, which is predicted to be strongly influenced by a plant's proportional allocation to leaves, is a major determinant of the transient dynamics of competition. These dynamics may explain the differences between successions on poor versus rich soils and suggest that most field experiments performed to date have been of too short a duration to allow unambiguous interpretation of their results.
Download or read book Subject Catalog written by Library of Congress and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 1024 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Dynamics of Arthopod Predator Prey Systems MPB 13 Volume 13 written by Michael Patrick Hassell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study of arthropod predador-prey systems Michael Hassell shows how many of the components of predation may be simply modeled in order to reveal their effects on the overall dynamics of the interacting populations. Arthropods, particularly insects, make ideal subjects for such a study because their generation times are characteristically short and many have relatively discrete generations, inviting the use of difference equation models to describe population changes. Using analytical models framed in difference equations, Dr. Hassell is able to show how the detailed biological processes of insect predator-prey (including host-parasitoid) interactions may be understood. Emphasizing the development and subsequent stability analysis of general models, the author considers in detail several crucial components of predator-prey models: the prey's rate of increase as a function of density, non-random search, mutual interference, and the predator's rate of increase as a function of predator survival and fecundity. Drawing on the correspondence between the models and field and laboratory data, Dr. Hassell then discusses the practical implications for biological pest control and suggests how such models may help to formulate a theoretical basis for biological control practices.
Download or read book Theoretical Ecology written by Robert May and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2007-02-15 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert May's seminal book has played a central role in the development of ecological science. Originally published in 1976, this influential text has overseen the transition of ecology from an observational and descriptive subject to one with a solid conceptual core. Indeed, it is a testament to its influence that a great deal of the novel material presented in the earlier editions has now been incorporated into standard undergraduate textbooks. It is now a quarter of a century since the publication of the second edition, and a thorough revision is timely. Theoretical Ecology provides a succinct, up-to-date overview of the field set in the context of applications, thereby bridging the traditional division of theory and practice. It describes the recent advances in our understanding of how interacting populations of plants and animals change over time and space, in response to natural or human-created disturbance. In an integrated way, initial chapters give an account of the basic principles governing the structure, function, and temporal and spatial dynamics of populations and communities of plants and animals. Later chapters outline applications of these ideas to practical issues including fisheries, infectious diseases, tomorrow's food supplies, climate change, and conservation biology. Throughout the book, emphasis is placed on questions which as yet remain unanswered. The editors have invited the top scientists in the field to collaborate with the next generation of theoretical ecologists. The result is an accessible, advanced textbook suitable for senior undergraduate and graduate level students as well as researchers in the fields of ecology, mathematical biology, environment and resources management. It will also be of interest to the general reader seeking a better understanding of a range of global environmental problems.
Download or read book Natural Selection in the Wild MPB 21 Volume 21 written by John A. Endler and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural selection is an immense and important subject, yet there have been few attempts to summarize its effects on natural populations, and fewer still which discuss the problems of working with natural selection in the wild. These are the purposes of John Endler's book. In it, he discusses the methods and problems involved in the demonstration and measurement of natural selection, presents the critical evidence for its existence, and places it in an evolutionary perspective. Professor Endler finds that there are a remarkable number of direct demonstrations of selection in a wide variety of animals and plants. The distribution of observed magnitudes of selection in natural populations is surprisingly broad, and it overlaps extensively the range of values found in artificial selection. He argues that the common assumption that selection is usually weak in natural populations is no longer tenable, but that natural selection is only one component of the process of evolution; natural selection can explain the change of frequencies of variants, but not their origins.
Download or read book A Hierarchical Concept of Ecosystems MPB 23 Volume 23 written by Robert V. O'Neill and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ecosystem" is an intuitively appealing concept to most ecologists, but, in spite of its widespread use, the term remains diffuse and ambiguous. The authors of this book argue that previous attempts to define the concept have been derived from particular viewpoints to the exclusion of others equally possible. They offer instead a more general line of thought based on hierarchy theory. Their contribution should help to counteract the present separation of subdisciplines in ecology and to bring functional and population/community ecologists closer to a common approach. Developed as a way of understanding highly complex organized systems, hierarchy theory has at its center the idea that organization results from differences in process rates. To the authors the theory suggests an objective way of decomposing ecosystems into their component parts. The results thus obtained offer a rewarding method for integrating various schools of ecology.
Download or read book Population Ecology of Individuals MPB 25 Volume 25 written by Adam Lomnicki and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A common tendency in the field of population ecology has been to overlook individual differences by treating populations as homogeneous units; conversely, in behavioral ecology the tendency has been to concentrate on how individual behavior is shaped by evolutionary forces, but not on how this behavior affects population dynamics. Adam Lomnicki and others aim to remedy this one-sidedness by showing that the overall dynamical behavior of populations must ultimately be understood in terms of the behavior of individuals. Professor Lomnicki's wide-ranging presentation of this approach includes simple mathematical models aimed at describing both the origin and consequences of individual variation among plants and animals. The author contends that further progress in population ecology will require taking into account individual differences other than sex, age, and taxonomic affiliation--unequal access to resources, for instance. Population ecologists who adopt this viewpoint may discover new answers to classical questions of population ecology. Partly because it uses a variety of examples from many taxonomic groups, this work will appeal not only to population ecologists but to ecologists in general.
Download or read book Population Ecology of the Cooperatively Breeding Acorn Woodpecker MPB 24 Volume 24 written by Walter D. Koenig and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the acorn woodpecker was observed and described by Spanish explorers, its behavior--particularly the unique habit of caching acorns in specialized storage trees or granaries--has impressed observers. Acorn woodpeckers are also one of the few temperate zone species in which young are reared communally in family groups. This demographic study investigates the complexities of acorn storage and group living in acorn woodpeckers at Hastings Reservation in central coastal California. It is one of the most thorough studies of any avian social system to date.
Download or read book The Florida Scrub Jay MPB 20 Volume 20 written by Glen Everett Woolfenden and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Florida Scrub Jays are an excellent example of a cooperative-breeding species, in which adult birds often help raise offspring not their own. For more than a decade Glen E. Woolfenden and John W. Fitzpatrick studied a marked population of these birds in an attempt to establish a demographic base for understanding the phenomenon of "helping at the nest." By studying both population biology and behavior, the authors found that habitat restraints, rather than kin selection, are the main source of the behavior of Florida Scrub Jays: the goal of increasing the number of close relatives other than descendants in future generations is of relatively minor importance in their cooperative-breeding behavior. The Florida Scrub Jay lives only in the Florida oak scrub. All acceptable habitat is constantly filled with breeders. Each year about half of the pairs are assisted by one to several nonbreeding helpers. This book provides extensive data on fecundity, survivorship, relatedness, and dispersal to establish the demographic milieu and to address questions arising out of observed helping behavior--whom, how, when, and why the helpers help.
Download or read book Theoretical Studies on Sex Ratio Evolution MPB 22 Volume 22 written by Samuel Karlin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with a key area of population genetics: the ratio of the sexes in a population, or the allocation of resources to male versus female reproductive function. Samuel Karlin and Sabin Lessard establish the formal theoretical aspects of the evolution of sex ratio within the constraints of genetic mechanisms of sex determination. Their results generalize and unify existing work on the topic, strengthening previous conceptions in some cases and, in other instances, offering new directions of research. There are two main approaches to understanding the causes and effects of sex ratio. One approach focuses on the optimization and adaptive functions of sex allocation, while the other emphasizes the consequences of genetic sex determination mechanisms. In discussing the utility of these two approaches, Professors Karlin and Lessard examine the principal sex-determining mechanisms and facts involved in sex ratio representations, the various genetic and environmental factors that contribute to adaptive sex expression, and the evolution of sex determining systems and controls. From a population genetic perspective, the authors derive evolutionary properties in support of the high incidence of 1:1 sex ratio in natural populations and investigate the conditions that can explain the occurrence of biased sex ratio.
Download or read book Life at High Altitude written by Donald Heath and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sulphur in Biology written by John W. Anderson and published by Hodder Education. This book was released on 1978 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Books in Print written by and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 2204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Library of Congress Catalogs written by Library of Congress and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 1034 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bookseller and the Stationery Trades Journal written by and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 914 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
