Taking a fresh approach to some of the classic questions in ecology, this book states that much more remains to be done before complete answers can be provided to questions like: What determines where a species lives? And what determines its abundance? The methods described and deployed in this book point the way forward. Topics covered include population regulation, density-dependence, the ecological niche, resource and interference competition, habitat fragmentation and the ecological effects of environmental stress. Originally published as an issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.
Introduction R. M. Sibly, J. Hone and T. H. Clutton-Brock; 1. Population growth rate and its determinants: an overview R. M. Sibly and J. Hone; 2. Demographic, mechanistic and density-dependent determinants of population growth rate: a case study in an avian predator J. Hone and R. Sibly; 3. Estimating density dependence in time series of age-structured populations R. Lande, S. Engen and B.-E. Sather; 4. Pattern of variation in avian population growth B.-E. Sather and S. Engen; 5. Determinants of human population growth W. Lutz and R. Quaing; 6. Two complementary paradigms for analyzing population dynamics C. J. Krebs; 7. Complex numerical responses to top-down and bottom-up processes in vertebrate populations A. R. E. Sinclair and C. J. Krebs; 8. The numerical response: rate of increase and food limitation in herbivores and predators P. Bayliss and D. Choquenot; 9. Populations in variable environments: the effect of variability in a species' primary resource S. A. Davis, R. P. Pech and E. A. Catchpole; 10. Trophic interactions and population growth rates: describing patterns and identifying mechanisms P. J. Hudson, A. P. Dobson, I. M. Cattadori, D. Newborn, D. T. Haydon, D. J. Shaw, T. Benton and B. Grenfell; 11. Behavioural models of population growth rates: implications for conservation and prediction W. J. Sutherland and K. Norris; 12. Comparative ungulate dynamics: the devil is in the detail T. H. Cluttton-Brock and T. Coulson; 13. Population growth rate as a basis for ecological risk assessment of toxic chemicals V. Forbes and P. Calow;14. Population growth rates: issues and an application H. C. J. Godfray and M. Rees; Index.
This volume would make a wonderful text for a graduate seminar in population dynamics; and can serve as a launching pad for further readings on the subject. Ecoscience