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"e;Ecosystem"e; 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.

Examines theories of population stability and shows how laboratory research on model populations - particularly blowflies, Tribolium, and Drosophila - contributes to our understanding of population dynamics and the evolution of stability. This book analyzes techniques for inferring whether a given population is in balance or not.

Aiming to encourage the exchange of ideas among scientists involved in the management of fisheries, wildlife, forest stands, and pest control, this work presents a general framework for modeling populations that reproduce seasonally and that have age or stage structure as an essential component of management strategy.

Florida Scrub Jays are an excellent example of a cooperative-breeding species. This book provides 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.

Explores how blackbirds utilize their marsh environments during the breeding season. This work uses models derived from Darwin's theory of natural selection to predict the behavior and morphology of individuals as well as the statistical properties of their populations. It also provides an overview of the structure of bird communities in marshes.

Presents the results of more than 25 years of studying plant-insect interactions. This book addresses specific theories and concepts that have guided biological research for more than two decades and to engage general problems in evolutionary biology. It is useful to those involved in studying the ways in which interdependent species interact.

Shows that the overall dynamical behavior of populations must be understood in terms of the behavior of individuals. The author contends that further progress in population ecology requires taking into account individual differences other than sex, age, and taxonomic affiliation - unequal access to resources, for instance.

Discusses the methods and problems involved in the demonstration and measurement of natural selection. This work presents the critical evidence for its existence, and places it in an evolutionary perspective. It argues that natural selection can explain the change of frequencies of variants, but not their origins.

Presents a study of arthropod predador-prey systems. This work 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. It also describes how the biological processes of insect predator-prey, including host-parasitoid interactions may be understood.

Explores the origins and development of geographic variation, divergence, and speciation. This work shows how geographic differentiation and speciation may develop in spite of continuous gene flow. It discusses the relationships among gene flow, dispersal, and migration.

Emphasizes the role of competition at levels above single species populations, and describes how competition, by way of the niche concept, determines the structure of communities. This work draws most examples from eleven North and South American bird communities, although the concepts and methodology are far more general.

Most organisms live in a seasonal environment. During their life cycles, some species face seasons of breeding and nonbreeding. This work analyzes the 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.

Through use of the models Professor Horn has devised, plant ecologists, foresters, and botanists will be able to predict the growth and productivity of a forest, the invading and senile species in a forest, the effect of shade tolerance on forest succession, and similar questions.

Providing a theory to predict the evolution of plant traits, this book explores the effects of these on plant community structure and dynamics. It also includes the constraint and tradeoff theory and suggests that most field experiments have been of too short a duration to allow unambiguous interpretation of their results.

When we think about viruses we tend to consider ones that afflict humans-such as those that cause influenza, HIV, and Ebola. Yet, vastly more viruses infect single-celled microbes. Diverse and abundant, microbes and the viruses that infect them are found in oceans, lakes, plants, soil, and animal-associated microbiomes. Taking a vital look at the "e;microscopic"e; mode of disease dynamics, Quantitative Viral Ecology establishes a theoretical foundation from which to model and predict the ecological and evolutionary dynamics that result from the interaction between viruses and their microbial hosts.Joshua Weitz addresses three major questions: What are viruses of microbes and what do they do to their hosts? How do interactions of a single virus-host pair affect the number and traits of hosts and virus populations? How do virus-host dynamics emerge in natural environments when interactions take place between many viruses and many hosts? Emphasizing how theory and models can provide answers, Weitz offers a cohesive framework for tackling new challenges in the study of viruses and microbes and how they are connected to ecological processes-from the laboratory to the Earth system.Quantitative Viral Ecology is an innovative exploration of the influence of viruses in our complex natural world.