Introduction to Population Ecology

Larry L. Rockwood

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781118947555
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Introduction to Population Ecology, 2nd Edition is a comprehensive textbook covering all aspects of population ecology. It uses a wide variety of field and laboratory examples, botanical to zoological, from the tropics to the tundra, to illustrate the fundamental laws of population ecology. Controversies in population ecology are brought fully up to date in this edition, with many brand new and revised examples and data. Each chapter provides an overview of how population theory has developed, followed by descriptions of laboratory and field studies that have been inspired by the theory.Topics explored include single-species population growth and self-limitation, life histories, metapopulations and a wide range of interspecific interactions including competition, mutualism, parasite-host, predator-prey and plant-herbivore. An additional final chapter, new for the second edition, considers multi-trophic and other complex interactions among species. Throughout the book, the mathematics involved is explained with a step-by-step approach, and graphs and other
visual aids are used to present a clear illustration of how the models work. Such features make this an accessible introduction to population ecology; essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in population ecology, applied ecology, conservation ecology, and conservation biology, including those with little mathematical experience.

Part 1
Single species populations

Why population ecology? What distinguishes the study of populations from the study of landscapes and ecosystems? The answers lie in scale, focus, and traditions. In population ecology the scale is a group or groups of taxonomically or functionally related organisms. The emphasis is on fundamental properties of these populations: growth, survivorship and reproduction. The tradition is based on the interplay of theory, laboratory testing and, ultimately, field work. The competition and predator–prey equations of Lotka (1925) and Volterra (1926; 1931) stimulated the laboratory work of Gause (1932; 1934); Park (1948; 1954), Huffaker (1958) and others. But Elton (1924), Errington (1946); Lack (1954); Connell (1961a; 1961b); Paine (1966); Krebs et al. (1995) and many others have brought population ecology into the field, where its theoretical underpinnings are constantly tested. In the age of personal laptop computers and the Internet, data can now be analyzed, sent around the world, and experiments redesigned without ever leaving the field site. Increasingly sophisticated experimental design and statistical rigor constantly challenge new generations of scientists. Indeed much of the training of modern ecologists is in methodology.

Yet why do we become ecologists in the first place? Is it because of our love of computer programs and statistics? For most of us, that would be, “No.” More likely it is because of a love of the organisms that we find in natural (“wild”) places. We love the sounds, the smells, the feel, the being in nature. Perhaps it is also because of our love of the idea of nature and of places not yet under the total domination of man. Nothing quite matches a day (or night) in the field for an ecologist, and we are usually eager to communicate these experiences to other people. Contrast an ecologist to a typical urban dweller like Woody Allen. In one of his movies Woody complains that he hates spending nights in the country because of the “constant noise of the crickets.” Undergraduate students at George Mason University often approach the first field trip of the semester with fear and trepidation. Yet, such individuals have little fear of automobile traffic and find traffic noises normal and even soothing. Obviously an ecologist has a different orientation to the world.

Population ecology is, in a primitive sense, an organized way of communicating our ideas about nature to others. Population ecology, with its emphasis on groups of individuals and their survival and reproduction, their relationships with their competitors and their predators, is rooted in both field work and in natural history. As such it appeals to us at a very fundamental level. Instead of (or perhaps in addition to) swapping tales around the campfire at night, we communicate by publishing in journals or books.

Furthermore, without the basic data from population studies, most landscape and ecosystem studies would either be impossible to carry out, or would lack fundamental meaning. The advantage of ecosystem...