Competition And The Structure Of Bird Communities Mpb 7 Volume 7

Author : Martin L. Cody
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209332
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Competition and the Structure of Bird Communities. (MPB-7), Volume 7 written by Martin L. Cody and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Cody's monograph emphasizes the role of competition at levels above single species populations, and describes how competition, by way of the niche concept, determines the structure of communities. Communities may be understood in terms of resource gradients, or niche dimensions, along which species become segregated through competitive interactions. Most communities appear to exist in three or four such dimensions. The first three chapters describe the resource gradients (habitat types, foraging sites, food types), show what factors restrict species to certain parts of the resource gradients and so determine niche breadths, and illustrate the important role of resource predictability in niche overlap between species for resources they share. Most examples are drawn from eleven North and South American bird communities, although the concepts and methodology are far more general. Next, the optimality of community structure is tested through parallel and convergent evolution on different continents with similar climates and habitats, and the direct influence of competitors on resource use is investigated by comparisons of species--poor island communities to species-rich mainland ones. Finally, the author discusses those sorts of environments in which the evolution of one species--one resource set is not achieved, and where alternative schemes of resource allocation, often involving several species that act ecologically as one, must be followed.

Author : Martin L. Cody
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780691081342
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Competition and the Structure of Bird Communities written by Martin L. Cody and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Cody's monograph emphasizes the role of competition at levels above single species populations, and describes how competition, by way of the niche concept, determines the structure of communities. Communities may be understood in terms of resource gradients, or niche dimensions, along which species become segregated through competitive interactions. Most communities appear to exist in three or four such dimensions. The first three chapters describe the resource gradients (habitat types, foraging sites, food types), show what factors restrict species to certain parts of the resource gradients and so determine niche breadths, and illustrate the important role of resource predictability in niche overlap between species for resources they share. Most examples are drawn from eleven North and South American bird communities, although the concepts and methodology are far more general. Next, the optimality of community structure is tested through parallel and convergent evolution on different continents with similar climates and habitats, and the direct influence of competitors on resource use is investigated by comparisons of species--poor island communities to species-rich mainland ones. Finally, the author discusses those sorts of environments in which the evolution of one species--one resource set is not achieved, and where alternative schemes of resource allocation, often involving several species that act ecologically as one, must be followed.

Author : David Tilman
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209650
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Resource Competition and Community Structure. (MPB-17), Volume 17 written by David Tilman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Glen Everett Woolfenden
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209987
Total Pages : 425 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Florida Scrub Jay (MPB-20), Volume 20 written by Glen Everett Woolfenden and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Florida Scrub Jays are an excellent example of a cooperative-breeding species, in which adult birds often help raise offspring not their own. For more than a decade Glen E. Woolfenden and John W. Fitzpatrick studied a marked population of these birds in an attempt to establish a demographic base for understanding the phenomenon of "helping at the nest." By studying both population biology and behavior, the authors found that habitat restraints, rather than kin selection, are the main source of the behavior of Florida Scrub Jays: the goal of increasing the number of close relatives other than descendants in future generations is of relatively minor importance in their cooperative-breeding behavior. The Florida Scrub Jay lives only in the Florida oak scrub. All acceptable habitat is constantly filled with breeders. Each year about half of the pairs are assisted by one to several nonbreeding helpers. This book provides extensive data on fecundity, survivorship, relatedness, and dispersal to establish the demographic milieu and to address questions arising out of observed helping behavior--whom, how, when, and why the helpers help.

Author : Adam Lomnicki
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209618
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Population Ecology of Individuals. (MPB-25), Volume 25 written by Adam Lomnicki and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A common tendency in the field of population ecology has been to overlook individual differences by treating populations as homogeneous units; conversely, in behavioral ecology the tendency has been to concentrate on how individual behavior is shaped by evolutionary forces, but not on how this behavior affects population dynamics. Adam Lomnicki and others aim to remedy this one-sidedness by showing that the overall dynamical behavior of populations must ultimately be understood in terms of the behavior of individuals. Professor Lomnicki's wide-ranging presentation of this approach includes simple mathematical models aimed at describing both the origin and consequences of individual variation among plants and animals. The author contends that further progress in population ecology will require taking into account individual differences other than sex, age, and taxonomic affiliation--unequal access to resources, for instance. Population ecologists who adopt this viewpoint may discover new answers to classical questions of population ecology. Partly because it uses a variety of examples from many taxonomic groups, this work will appeal not only to population ecologists but to ecologists in general.

Author : John A. Endler
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209456
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.56/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Geographic Variation, Speciation and Clines. (MPB-10), Volume 10 written by John A. Endler and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Geographic Variation, Speciation and Clines explores the origins and development of geographic variation, divergence, and speciation. In particular it is concerned with genetic divergence as it is usually found on continents, among groups of populations isolated only by distance. Although earlier writers on this topic considered the effects of geography and dispersal, intense geographic differentiation and speciation were thought to require complete isolation. Professor Endler shows how geographic differentiation and speciation may develop in spite of continuous gene flow. Following a review of the diverse and scattered literature on gene flow and population differentiation, the author discusses the relationships among gene flow, dispersal, and migration. He then summarizes the factors which limit the geographic extent of gene flow, and those which allow steep clines to develop in the absence of barriers to gene flow. His analysis draws on examples from the field, experiments, and single- and multiple-locus models. The mechanism and conditions for parapatric speciation are presented: steepening clines, development into hybrid zones, and the evolution of sexual isolation. In the final chapter the author considers the interpretation of natural clines and the associated geographic patterns of subspecies and species.

Author : Robert V. O'Neill
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691236607
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Hierarchical Concept of Ecosystems. (MPB-23), Volume 23 written by Robert V. O'Neill and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ecosystem" is an intuitively appealing concept to most ecologists, but, in spite of its widespread use, the term remains diffuse and ambiguous. The authors of this book argue that previous attempts to define the concept have been derived from particular viewpoints to the exclusion of others equally possible. They offer instead a more general line of thought based on hierarchy theory. Their contribution should help to counteract the present separation of subdisciplines in ecology and to bring functional and population/community ecologists closer to a common approach. Developed as a way of understanding highly complex organized systems, hierarchy theory has at its center the idea that organization results from differences in process rates. To the authors the theory suggests an objective way of decomposing ecosystems into their component parts. The results thus obtained offer a rewarding method for integrating various schools of ecology.

Author : Samuel Karlin
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 069121011X
Total Pages : 333 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Theoretical Studies on Sex Ratio Evolution. (MPB-22), Volume 22 written by Samuel Karlin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with a key area of population genetics: the ratio of the sexes in a population, or the allocation of resources to male versus female reproductive function. Samuel Karlin and Sabin Lessard establish the formal theoretical aspects of the evolution of sex ratio within the constraints of genetic mechanisms of sex determination. Their results generalize and unify existing work on the topic, strengthening previous conceptions in some cases and, in other instances, offering new directions of research. There are two main approaches to understanding the causes and effects of sex ratio. One approach focuses on the optimization and adaptive functions of sex allocation, while the other emphasizes the consequences of genetic sex determination mechanisms. In discussing the utility of these two approaches, Professors Karlin and Lessard examine the principal sex-determining mechanisms and facts involved in sex ratio representations, the various genetic and environmental factors that contribute to adaptive sex expression, and the evolution of sex determining systems and controls. From a population genetic perspective, the authors derive evolutionary properties in support of the high incidence of 1:1 sex ratio in natural populations and investigate the conditions that can explain the occurrence of biased sex ratio.

Author : Walter D. Koenig
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209626
Total Pages : 458 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Population Ecology of the Cooperatively Breeding Acorn Woodpecker. (MPB-24), Volume 24 written by Walter D. Koenig and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the acorn woodpecker was observed and described by Spanish explorers, its behavior--particularly the unique habit of caching acorns in specialized storage trees or granaries--has impressed observers. Acorn woodpeckers are also one of the few temperate zone species in which young are reared communally in family groups. This demographic study investigates the complexities of acorn storage and group living in acorn woodpeckers at Hastings Reservation in central coastal California. It is one of the most thorough studies of any avian social system to date.

Author : Wayne M. Getz
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209634
Total Pages : 414 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Population Harvesting (MPB-27), Volume 27 written by Wayne M. Getz and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether in felling trees for wood, rearing insects for biological control, or culling animals for conservation purposes, efficient management of biological systems requires quantitative analysis of population growth and harvesting policies. Aiming to encourage the exchange of ideas among scientists involved in the management of fisheries, wildlife, forest stands, and pest control, the authors of this work present a general framework for modeling populations that reproduce seasonally and that have age or stage structure as an essential component of management strategy. The book represents the first time that examples from such diverse areas of biological resource management have been brought together in a unified modeling framework using the standard notation of mathematical systems theory. In addition, the authors combine a nonlinear extension of Leslie matrix theory and certain linear elements, thereby permitting interesting analytical results and the creation of compact, realistic simulation models of resource systems.