Ecology is capturing the popular imagination like never before, with issues such as climate change, species extinctions, and habitat destruction becoming ever more prominent. At the same time, the science of ecology has advanced dramatically, growing in mathematical and theoretical sophistication. Here, two leading experts present the fundamental quantitative principles of ecology in an accessible yet rigorous way, introducing students to the most basic of all ecological subjects, the structure and dynamics of populations. John Vandermeer and Deborah Goldberg show that populations are more than simply collections of individuals. Complex variables such as distribution and territory for expanding groups come into play when mathematical models are applied. Vandermeer and Goldberg build these models from the ground up, from first principles, using a broad range of empirical examples, from animals and viruses to plants and humans. They address a host of exciting topics along the way, including age-structured populations, spatially distributed populations, and metapopulations. This second edition of Population Ecology is fully updated and expanded, with additional exercises in virtually every chapter, making it the most up-to-date and comprehensive textbook of its kind. Provides an accessible mathematical foundation for the latest advances in ecology Features numerous exercises and examples throughout Introduces students to the key literature in the field The essential textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduate students An online illustration package is available to professors

Introduction to Population Ecology, 2ndEdition is a comprehensive textbook covering all aspectsof population ecology. It uses a wide variety of field andlaboratory examples, botanical to zoological, from the tropics tothe tundra, to illustrate the fundamental laws of populationecology. Controversies in population ecology are brought fully upto date in this edition, with many brand new and revised examplesand data. Each chapter provides an overview of how population theory hasdeveloped, followed by descriptions of laboratory and field studiesthat have been inspired by the theory. Topics explored includesingle-species population growth and self-limitation, lifehistories, metapopulations and a wide range of interspecificinteractions including competition, mutualism, parasite-host,predator-prey and plant-herbivore. An additional final chapter, newfor the second edition, considers multi-trophic and other complexinteractions among species. Throughout the book, the mathematics involved is explained with astep-by-step approach, and graphs and other visual aids are used to present a clear illustration of how themodels work. Such features make this an accessible introduction topopulation ecology; essential reading for undergraduate andgraduate students taking courses in population ecology, appliedecology, conservation ecology, and conservation biology, includingthose with little mathematical experience.

Worldwide, Population Ecology is the leading textbook on this titled subject. Written primarily for students, it describes the present state of population ecology in terms that can be readily understood by undergraduates with little or no background in the subject. Carefully chosen experimental examples illustrate each topic, and studies of plants and animals are combined to show how fundamental principles can be derived that apply to both species. Use of complex mathematics ia avoided throughout the book, and what math is necessary is dealt with by examination of real experimental data rather than dull theory. The latest edition of this leading textbook. Adopted as an Open University set text.

A synthesis of contemporary analytical and modeling approaches in population ecology The book provides an overview of the key analytical approaches that are currently used in demographic, genetic, and spatial analyses in population ecology. The chapters present current problems, introduce advances in analytical methods and models, and demonstrate the applications of quantitative methods to ecological data. The book covers new tools for designing robust field studies; estimation of abundance and demographic rates; matrix population models and analyses of population dynamics; and current approaches for genetic and spatial analysis. Each chapter is illustrated by empirical examples based on real datasets, with a companion website that offers online exercises and examples of computer code in the R statistical software platform. Fills a niche for a book that emphasizes applied aspects of population analysis Covers many of the current methods being used to analyse population dynamics and structure Illustrates the application of specific analytical methods through worked examples based on real datasets Offers readers the opportunity to work through examples or adapt the routines to their own datasets using computer code in the R statistical platform Population Ecology in Practice is an excellent book for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in population ecology or ecological statistics, as well as established researchers needing a desktop reference for contemporary methods used to develop robust population assessments.

This examination of lobbying communities explores how interest group populations are constructed and how they influence politics and public policy. By examining how populations of interest groups are comprised, this work fills an important gap between existing theories of the origins of individual interest groups and studies of interest group influence. The population ecology model of interest communities developed here builds on insights first developed in population biology and later employed by organizational ecologists. The model's central premise is that it is the environmental forces confronting interest organizations that most directly shape the contours of interest populations. After examining the demography of interest organizations in the fifty American states, the population ecology model is used to account for variations in the density and diversity of their interest communities, the nature of competition among similar interest organizations to establish viable niches, and the impact of alternative configurations of interest communities on the legislative process and the policies it produces. These empirical findings suggest that the environment of interest communities is highly constraining, limiting their size, composition, and potential impact on politics. Virginia Gray is Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota. David Lowery is Burton Craige Professor of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Emphasizing model choice and model averaging, this book presents up-to-date Bayesian methods for analyzing complex ecological data. It provides a basic introduction to Bayesian methods that assumes no prior knowledge. The book includes detailed descriptions of methods that deal with covariate data and covers techniques at the forefront of research, such as model discrimination and model averaging. Leaders in the statistical ecology field, the authors apply the theory to a wide range of actual case studies and illustrate the methods using WinBUGS and R. The computer programs and full details of the data sets are available on the book's website.

A user-friendly introduction to the methodology of plant population ecology research.