The Ecological World View

CONTENTS......Page 8
Preface......Page 18
CHAPTER 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGY......Page 20
Ecology and Environmentalism......Page 21
The Balance of Nature......Page 23
Applied Ecology......Page 24
1.3 Ecologists Study Biological Interactions from the Level of the Individual to the Entire Biosphere......Page 25
1.4 Like other Scientists, Ecologists Make Observations, Form Hypotheses, and Test Predictions......Page 26
Predictions and Experiments......Page 27
Complexity in Ecology......Page 28
Ecological Truth......Page 29
Interaction Webs......Page 30
Complex Interactions in Lyme Disease......Page 31
1.6 Ross River Fever Illustrates How Humans and Ecosystems are Interconnected......Page 33
Summary......Page 34
CHAPTER 2 GEOGRAPHIC ECOLOGY......Page 38
Biogeographical Realms......Page 40
Biomes and Floristic Regions......Page 41
Spatial Scales......Page 43
Rapoport’s Rule......Page 44
Abundance Within Geographic Ranges......Page 50
2.3 A Sequence of Hypotheses Guides an Ecologist’s Analysis of What Limits Ranges......Page 53
Liebig’s Law of the Minimum......Page 54
Shelford’s Law of Tolerance......Page 55
Summary......Page 56
CHAPTER 3 WHAT LIMITS GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION?......Page 60
The Spread of the Gypsy Moth, an Introduced Pest......Page 63
Aquatic Invasions......Page 64
Tree Recolonization at the End of the Ice Age......Page 66
Island Colonization......Page 67
3.2 Physical or Chemical Factors Usually Limit Ranges on Regional and Continental Scales......Page 68
Range Extension via Adaptation......Page 71
Impacts of Rapid Climate Change......Page 74
Limitation by Predators......Page 77
Limitation by Diseases......Page 78
Summary......Page 79
CHAPTER 4 BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY: EVOLUTION IN ACTION......Page 84
4.1 Behavioral Ecologists Analyze the Ecological and Evolutionary Contexts of Behaviors......Page 85
Adaptation Through Natural Selection......Page 86
Behavioral Changes via Natural Selection......Page 88
Adaptive Behavior......Page 89
Territorial Defense......Page 90
Optimal Foraging......Page 91
Benefits of Group Living......Page 93
Costs of Group Living......Page 96
Group Living in African Lions......Page 99
Summary......Page 101
CHAPTER 5 POPULATION DYNAMICS—ABUNDANCE IN SPACE......Page 106
Quadrat Counts......Page 107
Mark–recapture......Page 109
Other Methods for Comparing Population Sizes......Page 111
Abundance in Relation to Body Size......Page 112
Abundance in Relation to Limiting Environmental Factors......Page 113
Populations and Metapopulations......Page 121
Habitat Suitability Models......Page 123
Summary......Page 127
CHAPTER 6 POPULATION DYNAMICS—ABUNDANCE IN TIME......Page 130
Geometric Population Growth......Page 132
A Model for a Regulated Population......Page 133
6.2 Natural Populations are Rarely Stable......Page 135
Desert Locust Plagues......Page 137
The Yellowstone Elk Population......Page 140
Water Fleas......Page 141
Demographic Transition......Page 143
Carrying Capacity of Earth......Page 144
Summary......Page 147
CHAPTER 7 NEGATIVE SPECIES INTERACTIONS—PREDATION, HERBIVORY AND COMPETITION......Page 150
7.1 Interactions Between Species Can be Negative or Positive......Page 151
Doomed Surplus Concept......Page 152
Predator Control......Page 153
Introduced Predators......Page 155
Secondary Plant Substances......Page 156
Inducible Plant Defenses......Page 158
7.4 Competition Occurs When Species Have Similar Resource Requirements and Resources Are in Short Supply......Page 160
Ecological Niches......Page 162
r-selection and K-selection......Page 164
C-S-R Model of Plant Strategies......Page 166
Summary......Page 168
CHAPTER 8 NEGATIVE SPECIES INTERACTIONS—INFECTION AND PARASITISM......Page 170
8.2 Compartment Models Are Useful for Analyzing How Diseases Affect Populations......Page 172
Parameters of Compartment Models......Page 173
Epidemics......Page 174
Effects on Mortality......Page 175
Brucellosis in Ungulates......Page 178
Rabies in Wild Mammals......Page 180
Myxomatosis in the European Rabbit......Page 183
Evolution of Virulence......Page 186
Summary......Page 187
CHAPTER 9 POSITIVE INTERACTION BETWEEN SPECIES—MUTUALISM AND COMMENSALISM......Page 190
9.2 Mutualistic Interactions Occur When Animals Pollinate and Defend Plants......Page 192
Bees and Coffee......Page 194
Ants and Acacias......Page 195
9.3 Foundation Species Provide Shelter for Other Species......Page 197
Balancing Positive and Negative Interactions......Page 198
Nurse Plants......Page 199
Overcompensation Hypothesis for Grazing......Page 201
Seed Dispersal and Defense of Fruits......Page 203
Whitebark Pine and Clark’s Nutcracker......Page 204
Summary......Page 205
CHAPTER 10 POPULATION REGULATION AND THE BALANCE OF NATURE......Page 208
10.1 Population Dynamics Analyzes Population Growth and Average Abundance......Page 211
Temporal Variation in Abundance......Page 212
Spatial Variation in Abundance......Page 213
10.2 Populations Are Regulated by Density Related Changes in Births, Deaths, or Movements......Page 214
Populations and Metapopulations......Page 216
Analyzing Population Dynamics......Page 218
Fragmentation of Source Populations......Page 223
Delimiting Sources and Sinks......Page 224
10.4 Evolutionary Changes in Populations Can Affect the Interactions That Limit Abundance......Page 225
Intrinsic Population Regulation......Page 226
Summary......Page 227
CHAPTER 11 COMMUNITY DYNAMICS—SUCCESSION......Page 232
Types of Community Change......Page 234
Primary Succession on Mount St. Helens......Page 235
The Facilitation Model......Page 238
The Inhibition Model......Page 239
A Simple Mechanistic Model of Succession......Page 240
Glacial Moraine Succession in South-eastern Alaska......Page 243
Lake Michigan Sand-Dune Succession......Page 247
Abandoned Farmland in North Carolina......Page 249
Climax-pattern Hypothesis......Page 252
Cyclical Vegetation Changes......Page 256
Gap Dynamics in Forests......Page 258
Summary......Page 260
CHAPTER 12 COMMUNITY DYNAMICS—BIODIVERSITY......Page 264
Measurement of Biodiversity......Page 266
How Many Species Exist at Present?......Page 268
Tropical Biodiversity......Page 269
Hotspots of Biodiversity......Page 272
Evolutionary Speed Hypothesis......Page 276
Geographical Area Hypothesis......Page 277
Interspecific Interactions Hypothesis......Page 278
Ambient Energy Hypothesis......Page 283
Productivity Hypothesis......Page 285
Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis......Page 286
Regional Species Saturation......Page 289
Summary......Page 290
CHAPTER 13 COMMUNITY DYNAMICS—FOOD WEBS......Page 294
Community Organization......Page 297
Equilibrium Communities......Page 298
Non-equilibrium Communities......Page 299
Trophic Levels......Page 300
Length of Food Chains......Page 305
13.3 Functional Roles and Guilds help Define Community Organization......Page 307
Biodiversity and Stability......Page 317
Resilience of Communities......Page 318
13.5 Restoration Ecology Applies Ecological Knowledge to Repair Damaged Communities......Page 319
Summary......Page 322
CHAPTER 14 COMMUNITY DYNAMICS—DISTURBANCE ECOLOGY......Page 326
Patches and Disturbance......Page 328
Landscape Patchiness......Page 330
Coral Reef Communities......Page 335
Rocky Intertidal Communities......Page 339
14.3 Theoretical Models Show What Ecological Processes Lead to Non-equilibrium Communities......Page 340
Slow Competitive Displacement Models......Page 341
Menge–Sutherland Model......Page 342
Bottom-up and Top-down Models......Page 344
Species-area Curve......Page 348
14.6 Communities Can Exist in Several Alternative Stable States......Page 350
Summary......Page 353
CHAPTER 15 ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY—ENERGY FLOWS AND PRODUCTION......Page 359
Materials and Energy as Currency......Page 360
15.2 Green Plants Process the Sun’s Energy Under Limitations Imposed by Temperature, Moisture and Nutrients......Page 361
Measuring Primary Production......Page 362
Efficiency of Primary Production......Page 364
Marine Communities......Page 365
Freshwater Communities......Page 368
Terrestrial Communities......Page 371
Efficiency of Secondary Production......Page 374
Productivity of Grazing Systems......Page 377
Summary......Page 381
CHAPTER 16 ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY—NUTRIENT RECYCLING......Page 384
16.1 Nutrients Cycle and Recycle in Ecosystems......Page 387
Global Nutrient Cycles......Page 388
Nutrient Pools in Forests......Page 390
Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest......Page 394
Nutrient Use Efficiency......Page 398
Sources of Sulfur Emissions......Page 399
Impact on Freshwater Ecosystems......Page 403
Human Additions of Nitrogen to Ecosystems......Page 406
Summary......Page 409
CHAPTER 17 LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY—INTERMINGLED ECOSYSTEMS......Page 414
17.1 Landscapes Include Several Ecosystems......Page 417
Measurements of Landscape Attributes......Page 418
Patches and Landscape Fragmentation......Page 420
17.2 Habitat Edges Are Areas of Concentrated Ecological Interactions......Page 424
Edge Effects in Wildlife Management......Page 425
Rural Dieback in Australia......Page 426
Connectivity in Landscapes......Page 427
Movements along Corridors......Page 428
17.4 Threshold Effects Complicate Landscape Planning and Management......Page 431
Impacts of Oil and Gas Exploration......Page 432
Greenway Planning in Urban Environments......Page 433
Summary......Page 436
CHAPTER 18 HARVESTING POPULATIONS—HOW TO FISH SUSTAINABLY......Page 440
18.1 Harvesting a Population Reduces its Abundance......Page 443
Sigmoid Curve Theory......Page 444
Over-fishing the Peruvian Anchovy......Page 446
18.2 Maximum Sustainable Yield is the Harvesting Goal, But May Not Be Attainable......Page 449
The Tragedy of the Commons......Page 451
The Collapse of the Northern Cod Fishery......Page 452
Antarctic Whaling......Page 456
18.4 Below a Certain Level of Exploitation, Populations are Resilient......Page 459
Western Rock Lobster Fishery......Page 460
Risk-aversive Management Strategies......Page 462
18.5 Harvesting Can Be Genetically Selective and Result in Undesirable Evolutionary Changes......Page 463
Summary......Page 465
CHAPTER 19 PEST CONTROL: WHY WE CANNOT ELIMINATE PESTS......Page 468
Economic Pests and Ecological Pests......Page 470
Strategies for Pest Control......Page 471
Prickly Pear Cactus......Page 474
Floating Fern......Page 478
19.3 Selecting for Crop Plants that are Resistant to Pests is Effective for Biological Control......Page 480
Genetic Engineering for Resistance......Page 481
Sterilization......Page 483
Immunocontraception......Page 484
Cultural Control of Rice Blast Disease......Page 487
Alfalfa Weevil Control......Page 488
19.6 Ecologists Have a General Theory of Biological Control But Not a Theory Specific Enough to Permit Prediction of Future Successes......Page 490
Resource Concentration Hypothesis......Page 491
19.7 Introduced Biological Control Agents May Themselves Become Pests......Page 492
Summary......Page 493
CHAPTER 20 CONSERVATION BIOLOGY: ENDANGERED SPECIES AND ECOSYSTEMS......Page 498
20.1 Conservation Biology is the Applied Ecology of Endangered Species......Page 500
20.2 Small Populations Can Suffer from Chance Events as well as Inbreeding Depression......Page 501
Minimum Viable Populations......Page 502
Inbreeding and Fitness......Page 503
20.3 Declining Populations Need a Diagnosis of the Causes of Decline to Prevent Extinctions......Page 505
Habitat Destruction and Fragmentation......Page 507
Impacts of Introduced Species......Page 510
20.4 Parks and Reserves Can Help Preserve Species If they are Located Properly, Large and Well Managed......Page 511
Locating Reserves......Page 512
Furbish’s Lousewort......Page 513
The Northern Spotted Owl......Page 517
Summary......Page 521
CHAPTER 21 ECOSYSTEM HEALTH AND HUMAN IMPACTS......Page 526
21.1 Problems with Human Impacts......Page 528
Carrying Capacity of the Earth......Page 529
The Global Carbon Budget......Page 536
Plant Community Responses to Rising CO2......Page 538
Climate Change......Page 540
21.4 Changes in Land Use......Page 547
21.5 Biotic Invasions and Species Ranges......Page 548
21.6 Ecosystem Services......Page 550
Summary......Page 552
References......Page 556
Index......Page 574