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The question "Why are there so many species?" has puzzled ecologist for a long time. Initially, an academic question, it has gained practical interest by the recent awareness of global biodiversity loss. Species diversity in local ecosystems has always been discussed in relation to the problem of competi tive exclusion and the apparent contradiction between the competitive exclu sion principle and the overwhelming richness of species found in nature. Competition as a mechanism structuring ecological communities has never been uncontroversial. Not only its importance but even its existence have been debated. On the one extreme, some ecologists have taken competi tion for granted and have used it as an explanation by default if the distribu tion of a species was more restricted than could be explained by physiology and dispersal history. For decades, competition has been a core mechanism behind popular concepts like ecological niche, succession, limiting similarity, and character displacement, among others. For some, competition has almost become synonymous with the Darwinian "struggle for existence", although simple plausibility should tell us that organisms have to struggle against much more than competitors, e.g. predators, parasites, pathogens, and envi ronmental harshness.
It is not often that one has the opportunity to send a public birthday greet ing to a friend and colleague of many years, and to congratulate him on having reached the age of reason. In fact it happens only once, and comes then as a surprise. Surely it was only a few years ago that we sat together at an International Genetics Congress in Ithaca, and only yesterday that we became members of the same department. The eighth floor of Schermerhorn Hall had a north end where the flies were and a south end furnished with mice, and in between, a seminar room and laboratory. There the distances were short and the doors open and the coffee pot busy. But it now appears that yesterday has fallen thirty years behind and that we have grown up. I find it interesting and appropriate that Dobzhansky's lifetime spans the period of maturation of the fields to which this volume is devoted. This is true in a chronological sense for his birth occurred in the same year, 1900, in which modern genetics began. The rediscovery of Mendel's princi ples and the interpretation of the nature of heredity and variation to which this event led were necessary prerequisites to the development of evolution ary biology as presented in this collection of essays.
Much effort has been devoted to developing theories to explain the wide variation we observe in reproductive allocation among environments. Reproductive Allocation in Plants describes why plants differ in the proportion of their resources that they allocate to reproduction and looks into the various theories. This book examines the ecological and evolutionary explanations for variation in plant reproductive allocation from the perspective of the underlying physiological mechanisms controlling reproduction and growth. An international team of leading experts have prepared chapters summarizing the current state of the field and offering their views on the factors determining reproductive allocation in plants. This will be a valuable resource for senior undergraduate students, graduate students and researchers in ecology, plant ecophysiology, and population biology. - 8 outstanding chapters dedicated to the evolution and ecology of variation in plant reproductive allocation - Written by an international team of leading experts in the field - Provides enough background information to make it accessible to senior undergraduate students - Includes over 60 figures and 29 tables
As a novel endeavour in ecological science, this book focuses on amajor issue in organismal life on Earth:species coexistence. Thebook crosses the usual disciplinary boundaries betweenpalaeobiology, ecology and evolutionary biology and provides atimely overview of the patterns and processes of species diversityand coexistence on a range of spatio-temporal scales. In thisunique synthesis, the author offers a critical and penetratingexamination of the concepts and models of coexistence and communitystructure, thus making a valuable contribution to the field ofcommunity ecology. There is an emphasis on clarity andaccessibility without sacrificing scientific rigour, making thisbook suitable for both advanced students and individual researchersin ecology, palaeobiology and environmental and evolutionarybiology. Comprehensive and contemporary synthesis. Pulls together the aggregate influence of evolution and ecologyon patterns in communities. Balanced mix of theory and empirical work. Clearly structured chapters with short introduction andsummary.
By joining phylogenetics and evolutionary ecology, this book explores the patterns of parasite diversity while revealing diversification processes.
The 7-volume Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Second Edition maintains the reputation of the highly regarded original, presenting the most current information available in this globally crucial area of research and study. It brings together the dimensions of biodiversity and examines both the services it provides and the measures to protect it. Major themes of the work include the evolution of biodiversity, systems for classifying and defining biodiversity, ecological patterns and theories of biodiversity, and an assessment of contemporary patterns and trends in biodiversity. The science of biodiversity has become the science of our future. It is an interdisciplinary field spanning areas of both physical and life sciences. Our awareness of the loss of biodiversity has brought a long overdue appreciation of the magnitude of this loss and a determination to develop the tools to protect our future. Second edition includes over 100 new articles and 226 updated articles covering this multidisciplinary field— from evolution to habits to economics, in 7 volumes The editors of this edition are all well respected, instantly recognizable academics operating at the top of their respective fields in biodiversity research; readers can be assured that they are reading material that has been meticulously checked and reviewed by experts Approximately 1,800 figures and 350 tables complement the text, and more than 3,000 glossary entries explain key terms
Provides a comprehensive review of the role of species interactions in the process of plant community assembly.
The Princeton Guide to Ecology is a concise, authoritative one-volume reference to the field's major subjects and key concepts. Edited by eminent ecologist Simon Levin, with contributions from an international team of leading ecologists, the book contains more than ninety clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics within seven major areas: autecology, population ecology, communities and ecosystems, landscapes and the biosphere, conservation biology, ecosystem services, and biosphere management. Complete with more than 200 illustrations (including sixteen pages in color), a glossary of key terms, a chronology of milestones in the field, suggestions for further reading on each topic, and an index, this is an essential volume for undergraduate and graduate students, research ecologists, scientists in related fields, policymakers, and anyone else with a serious interest in ecology. Explains key topics in one concise and authoritative volume Features more than ninety articles written by an international team of leading ecologists Contains more than 200 illustrations, including sixteen pages in color Includes glossary, chronology, suggestions for further reading, and index Covers autecology, population ecology, communities and ecosystems, landscapes and the biosphere, conservation biology, ecosystem services, and biosphere management
One of the central questions of ecology is why there are so many different kinds of plants and animals. Here David Tilman presents a theory of how organisms compete for resources and the way their competition promotes diversity. Developing Hutchinson's suggestion that the main cause of diversity is the feeding relations of species, this book builds a mechanistic, resource-based explanation of the structure and functioning of ecological communities. In a detailed analysis of the Park Grass Experiments at the Rothamsted Experimental Station in England, the author demonstrates that the dramatic results of these 120 years of experimentation are consistent with his theory, as are observations in many other natural communities. The consumer-resource approach of this book is applicable to both animal and plant communities, but the majority of Professor Tilman's discussion concentrates on the structure of plant communities. All theoretical arguments are developed graphically, and formal mathematics is kept to a minimum. The final chapters of the book provide some testable speculations about resources and animal communities and explore such problems as the evolution of "super species," the differences between plant and animal community diversity patterns, and the cause of plant succession.
The key to preserving and managing biodiversity is understanding which processes are important at different scales, and how changes affect different components of biodiversity. In this book, existing theories on diversity are synthesised into a logical framework. Global and landscape-scale patterns of biodiversity are described in the first section. In the second, the spatial and temporal dynamics of diversity are emphasised. The third section develops an integrated set of mechanistic explanations for diversity patterns at the levels of population, community, ecosystem and landscape. Finally, case studies examine diversity patterns in marine and terrestrial ecosystems and the effects of biological invasions. The book concludes with a discussion of the economics of preserving biological diversity. This book will interest research workers and students of ecology, biology and conservation.