Foundations of Macroecology Classic Papers with Commentaries

About this book

Macroecology is an approach to science that emphasizes the description and explanation of patterns and processes at large spatial and temporal scales. Some scientists liken it to seeing the forest through the trees, giving the proverbial phrase an ecological twist. The term itself was first introduced to the modern literature by James H. Brown and Brian A. Maurer, and it is Brown's classic study Macroecology that is credited with inspiring the broad-scale subfield of ecology. But as with all subfields, many modern-day elements of macroecology are implicit in earlier works dating back decades, even centuries.

Foundations of Macroecology charts the evolutionary trajectory of these concepts – from the species-area relationship and the latitudinal gradient of species richness to the relationship between body size and metabolic rate – through forty-six landmark papers originally published between 1920 and 1998. Divided into two parts – "Macroecology before Macroecology" – and "Dimensions of Macroecology" – the collection also takes the long view, with each paper accompanied by an original commentary from a contemporary expert in the field that places it in a broader context and explains its foundational role. Providing a solid, coherent assessment of the history, current state, and potential future of the field, Foundations of Macroecology will be an essential text for students and teachers of ecology alike.

Contents

Preface
Introduction: The Macro of Macroecology
Felisa A. Smith, John L. Gittleman, and James H. Brown
 
1
J. H. Brown and B. A. Maurer (1989)
Macroecology: The Division of Food and Space among Species on Continents
Science 243:1145–50
Commentary by James H. Brown and Brian A. Maurer
 
 
PART ONE
Macroecology before Macroecology
Edited by James H. Brown, S. K. Morgan Ernest, and Ethan P. White       
 
2
O. Arrhenius (1920)
Distribution of the Species over the Area
Meddelanden Från K. Vetenskapsakademiens Nobelinstitut 4:1–6
Commentary by Ethan P. White
 
 
3
R. A. Fisher, A. S. Corbet, and C. B. Williams (1943)
The Relation between the Number of Species and the Number of Individuals in a Random Sample of an Animal Population
Journal of Animal Ecology 12:42–58
Commentary by Ethan P. White
 
 
4
C. B. Williams (1947)
The Generic Relations of Species in Small Ecological Communities
Journal of Animal Ecology 16:11–18
Commentary by Nicholas J. Gotelli
 
 
5
G. E. Hutchinson and R. H. MacArthur (1959)
A Theoretical Ecological Model of Size Distributions among Species of Animals
American Naturalist 93:117–25
Commentary by S. K. Morgan Ernest
 
 
6
L. R. Taylor (1961)
Aggregation, Variance and the Mean
Nature 189:732–35
Commentary by Ford Ballantyne IV
 
 
7
B. K. McNab (1963)
Bioenergetics and the Determination of Home Range Size
American Naturalist 97:133–40
Commentary by James H. Brown and John L. Gittleman
 
 
8
E. C. Olson (1966)
Community Evolution and the Origin of Mammals
Ecology 47:291–302
Commentary by Mark D. Uhen and Jessica Theodor
 
 
9
R. W. Sheldon and T. R. Parsons (1967)
A Continuous Size Spectrum for Particulate Matter in the Sea
Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 24:909–15
Commentary by S. K. Morgan Ernest
 
 
10
M. L. Rosenzweig (1968)
Net Primary Productivity of Terrestrial Communities: Prediction from Climatological Data
American Naturalist 102:67–74
Commentary by S. K. Morgan Ernest
 
 
11
H. L. Sanders (1968)
Marine Benthic Diversity: A Comparative Study
American Naturalist 102:243–82
Commentary by Andrew Clarke
 
 
PART TWO
Dimensions of Macroecology
 
Allometry and Body Size
Edited by Alistair Evans, Daniel P. Costa, Karl J. Niklas, Richard M. Sibly, and Felisa A. Smith           
 
12
T. A. McMahon (1973)
Size and Shape in Biology
Science 179:1201–4
Commentary by Richard M. Sibly and Karl J. Niklas
 
 
13
T. Fenchel (1974)
Intrinsic Rate of Natural Increase: The Relationship with Body Size
Oecologia 14:317–26
Commentary by Richard M. Sibly
 
 
14
J. Damuth (1981)
Population Density and Body Size in Mammals
Nature 290:699–700
Commentary by Alistair Evans
 
 
15
S. L. Lindstedt and W. A. Calder III (1981)
Body Size, Physiological Time, and Longevity of Homeothermic Animals
Quarterly Review of Biology 56:1–16
Commentary by Daniel P. Costa
 
 
16
D. R. Morse, N. E. Stork, and J. H. Lawton (1988)
Species Number, Species Abundance and Body Length Relationships of Arboreal Beetles in Bornean Lowland Rain Forest Trees
Ecological Entomology 13:25–37
Commentary by Alistair Evans
 
 
17
R. A. Norberg (1988)
Theory of Growth Geometry of Plants and Self-Thinning of Plant Populations: Geometric Similarity, Elastic Similarity, and Different Growth Modes of Plant Parts
American Naturalist 131:220–56
Commentary by Karl J. Niklas
 
 
18
J. H. Brown and P. F. Nicoletto (1991)
Spatial Scaling of Species Composition: Body Masses of North American Land Mammals
American Naturalist 138:1478–1512
Commentary by Felisa A. Smith
 
 
Evolutionary Dynamics
Edited by Mark D. Uhen   
 
19
L. Van Valen (1973)
A New Evolutionary Law
Evolutionary Theory 1:1–30
Commentary by Matthew A. Kosnik
 
 
20
R. K. Bambach (1983)
Ecospace Utilization and Guilds in Marine Communities through the Phanerozoic
In Topics in Geobiology, edited by M. J. S. Tevesz and P. L. McCall, pp. 719–46. Plenum Press, New York.
Commentary by Andrew M. Bush
 
 
21
R. W. Graham (1986)
Response of Mammalian Communities to Environmental Changes during the Late Quaternary
In Community Ecology, edited by J. Diamond and T. J. Case, pp. 300–314. Harper and Rowe, New York.
Commentary by S. Kathleen Lyons
 
 
22
D. Jablonski (1986)
Background and Mass Extinctions: The Alternation of Macroevolutionary Regimes
Science 231:129–33
Commentary by Michael Foote
 
 
23
J. H. Brown and B. A. Maurer (1987)
Evolution of Species Assemblages: Effects of Energetic Constraints and Species Dynamics on the Diversification of the North American Avifauna
American Naturalist 130:1-17
Commentary by Douglas A. Kelt
 
 
24
K. J. Gaston (1998)
Species-Range Size Distributions: Products of Speciation, Extinction and Transformation
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 353:219–30
Commentary by David Storch
 
 
Abundance and Distributions
Edited by Kevin J. Gaston, Christy M. McCain, and S. Kathleen Lyons     
 
25
S. J. McNaughton and L. L. Wolf (1970)
Dominance and the Niche in Ecological Systems
Science 167:131–39
Commentary by Brian J. McGill
 
 
26
S. Anderson (1977)
Geographic Ranges of North American Terrestrial Mammals
American Museum Novitates 2629:1–15
Commentary by Christy M. McCain
 
 
27
J. C. Bernabo and T. Webb III (1977)
Changing Patterns in the Holocene Pollen Record of Northeastern North America: A Mapped Summary
Quaternary Research 8:64–96
Commentary by John W. (Jack) Williams
 
 
28
E. C. Pielou (1977)
The Latitudinal Spans of Seaweed Species and Their Patterns of Overlap
Journal of Biogeography 4:299–311
Commentary by Christy M. McCain
 
 
29
D. Rabinowitz (1981)
Seven Forms of Rarity
In The Biological Aspects of Rare Plant Conservation, edited by H. Synge, pp. 205–17. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Commentary by Kevin J. Gaston
 
 
30
I. Hanski (1982)
Dynamics of Regional Distribution: The Core and Satellite Species Hypothesis
Oikos 38:210–21
Commentary by S. Kathleen Lyons
 
 
31
J. H. Brown (1984)
On the Relationship between Abundance and Distribution of Species
American Naturalist 124:255–79
Commentary by Christy M. McCain
 
 
Species Diversity
Edited by Jessica Theodor, Alison G. Boyer, and David J. Currie   
 
32
R. M. May (1978)
The Dynamics and Diversity of Insect Faunas
In Diversity of Insect Faunas, edited by L. A. Mound and N. Waloff, pp. 188–204. Royal Entomological Society of London Symposium 9. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford.
Commentary by Allen H. Hurlbert
 
 
33
J. W. Valentine (1980)
Determinants of Diversity in Higher Taxonomic Categories
Paleobiology 6:444–50
Commentary by David Jablonski
 
 
34
J. H. Brown (1981)
Two Decades of Homage to Santa Rosalia: Toward a General Theory of Diversity
American Zoologist 21:877–88
Commentary by Walter Jetz
 
 
35
D. M. Raup and J. J. Sepkoski Jr. (1982)
Mass Extinctions in the Marine Fossil Record
Science 215:1501–3
Commentary by Jessica Theodor
 
 
36
K. J. Niklas, B. H. Tiffney, and A. H. Knoll (1983)
Patterns in Vascular Land Plant Diversification
Nature 303:614–16
Commentary by Peter Wilf
 
 
37
D. H. Wright (1983)
Species-Energy Theory: An Extension of Species-Area Theory
Oikos 41:496–506
Commentary by David J. Currie
 
 
38
K. P. Dial and J. M. Marzluff (1988)
Are the Smallest Organisms the Most Diverse?
Ecology 69:1620–24
Commentary by Alison G. Boyer
 
 
39
J. J. Sepkoski Jr. (1988)
Alpha, Beta, or Gamma: Where Does All the Diversity Go?
Paleobiology 14:221–34
Commentary by Peter Wagner
 
 
40
G. C. Stevens (1989)
The Latitudinal Gradient in Geographical Range: How So Many Species Coexist in the Tropics
American Naturalist 133:240–56
Commentary by David J. Currie
 
 
Methodological Advances
Edited by John L. Gittleman           
 
41
J. A. Wolfe (1971)
Tertiary Climatic Fluctuations and Methods of Analysis of Tertiary Floras
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 9:27–57
Commentary by Scott L. Wing
 
 
42
D. M. Raup (1975)
Taxonomic Diversity Estimation Using Rarefaction
Paleobiology 1:333–42
Commentary by Andrew M. Bush
 
 
43
E. F. Conner and E. D. McCoy (1979)
The Statistics and Biology of the Species-Area Relationship
American Naturalist 113:791–833
Commentary by Brian A. Maurer
 
 
44
P. H. Harvey and G. M. Mace (1982)
Comparisons between Taxa and Adaptive Trends: Problems of Methodology
In Current Problems in Sociobiology, edited by King’s College Sociobiology Group, pp. 343–61. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Commentary by Tim M. Blackburn
 
 
45
R. K. Colwell and D. W. Winkler (1984)
A Null Model for Null Models in Biogeography
In Ecological Communities: Conceptual Issues and the Evidence, edited by D. R. Strong Jr., D. Simberloff, L. G. Abele, and A. B. Thistle, pp. 344–59. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Commentary by Nicholas J. Gotelli
 
 
46
J. Felsenstein (1985)
Phylogenies and the Comparative Method
American Naturalist 125:1–15
Commentary by T. Jonathan Davies
 
 
List of Contributors         
Index

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Biography

Felisa A. Smith is professor of biology at the University of New Mexico. John L. Gittleman is dean of the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. James H. Brown is Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico and past president of the International Biogeography Society.