Evolutionary Ecology

by Pianka, Eric R.

• ISBN13: 9780065012255
• ISBN10: 0065012259
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Benjamin Cummings

Summary

This classic text presents a unique evolutionary approach to ecology. The entire text has been improved, updated, and extensively reorganized and a new chapter (16) has been added. The Sixth Edition reflects the extent to which humans now dominate ecosystems, with anthropogenic (human) effects interwoven into every chapter.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xii
Background	p. 1
Scaling in Biology	p. 1
Scientific Methods and Human Knowledge	p. 2
Domain of Ecology: Definitions and Groundwork	p. 5
The Urgency of Basic Ecological Research	p. 8
Natural Selection	p. 10
Levels of Approach in Biology	p. 12
Debates and Progress in Ecology	p. 13
History and Biogeography	p. 16
Self-Replicating Molecular Assemblages	p. 16
The Geological Past	p. 17
Classical Biogeography	p. 22
Continental Drift	p. 24
Meteorology	p. 29
Earth's Physical Environment	p. 29
Major Determinants of Climate	p. 30
Local Perturbations	p. 35
Variations in Time and Space	p. 37
Global Weather Modification	p. 42
Climate and Vegetation	p. 48
Plant Life Forms and Biomes	p. 48
Microclimate	p. 49
Primary Production and Evapotranspiration	p. 53
Soil Formation and Primary Succession	p. 58
Ecotones and Vegetational Continua	p. 61
Classification of Natural Communities	p. 63
Aquatic Ecosystems	p. 65
Resource Acquisition and Allocation	p. 70
Limiting Factors and Tolerance Curves	p. 70
Resource Budgets and the Principle of Allocation	p. 72
Time, Matter, and Energy Budgets	p. 73
Leaf Tactics	p. 75
Foraging Tactics and Feeding Efficiency	p. 78
Physiological Ecology	p. 83
Physiological Optima and Tolerance Curves	p. 84
Energetics of Metabolism and Movement	p. 86
Adaptation and Deterioration of Environment	p. 90
Heat Budgets and Thermal Ecology	p. 93
Water Economy in Desert Organisms	p. 97
Other Limiting Materials	p. 98
Sensory Capacities and Environmental Cues	p. 99
Adaptive Suites	p. 100
Design Constraints	p. 103
Rules of Inheritance	p. 110
Basic Mendelian Genetics	p. 110
Nature versus Nurture	p. 115
Selfish Genes	p. 116
Population Genetics	p. 117
Maintenance of Variability	p. 118
Units of Selection	p. 120
Genetic Engineering	p. 122
Evolution and Natural Selection	p. 124
Agents of Evolution	p. 124
Types of Natural Selection	p. 124
Ecological Genetics	p. 126
Allopatric and Sympatric Speciation	p. 127
Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms	p. 128
Galapagos Finches	p. 129
Vital Statistics of Populations	p. 134
Individuals Versus Populations	p. 134
Life Tables and Tables of Reproduction	p. 135
Net Reproductive Rate and Reproductive Value	p. 142
Stable Age Distribution	p. 147
Leslie Matrices	p. 148
Intrinsic Rate of Natural Increase	p. 150
Demographic and Environmental Stochasticity	p. 153
Evolution of Reproductive Tactics	p. 154
Reproductive Effort	p. 155
Expenditure per Progeny	p. 160
Patterns in Avian Clutch Sizes	p. 163
Evolution of Death Rates and Old Age	p. 169
Joint Evolution of Rates of Reproduction and Mortality	p. 171
Population Growth and Regulation	p. 177
Verhulst-Pearl Logistic Equation	p. 177
Derivation of the Logistic Equation	p. 182
Density Dependence and Density Independence	p. 182
Opportunistic versus Equilibrium Populations	p. 184
Population Regulation	p. 188
Population "Cycles": Cause and Effect	p. 193
Sociality	p. 200
Use of Space: Home Range and Territoriality	p. 200
Sex	p. 203
Sex Ratio	p. 207
Sexual Selection and Mating Systems	p. 211
Fitness and an Individual's Status in Its Population	p. 220
Social Behavior and Kin Selection	p. 220
The Evolution of Self-Deceipt	p. 225
Interactions Between Populations	p. 228
Direct Interactions	p. 228
Complex Population Interactions	p. 229
Mutualistic Interactions and Symbiotic Relationships	p. 231
Indirect Interactions	p. 236
Competition	p. 240
Mechanisms of Competition	p. 240
Lotka-Volterra Competition Equations	p. 241
Competitive Exclusion	p. 248
Balance Between Intraspecific and Interspecific Competition	p. 249
Evolutionary Consequences of Competition	p. 252
Laboratory Experiments	p. 252
Evidence from Nature	p. 254
Other Prospects	p. 264
The Ecological Niche	p. 267
History and Definitions	p. 267
The Hypervolume Model	p. 269
Niche Overlap and Competition	p. 271
Niche Dynamics	p. 274
Niche Dimensionality	p. 275
Niche Breadth	p. 279
Evolution of Niches	p. 289
Experimental Ecology	p. 294
Design of Experiments	p. 294
Ecological Experiments	p. 294
A Defaunation Experiment	p. 299
Predation and Parasitism	p. 302
Predation	p. 302
Predator-Prey Oscillations	p. 304
"Prudent" Predation and Optimal Yield	p. 312
Selected Experiments and Observations	p. 313
Evolutionary Consequences: Prey Escape Tactics	p. 315
Parasitism	p. 322
Epidemiology	p. 326
Darwinian Medicine	p. 328
Coevolution	p. 329
Phylogenetics in Ecology	p. 337
Phylogenetic Systematics	p. 337
Vicariance Biogeography	p. 338
Phylogeny and the Modern Comparative Method	p. 338
Phylogenetically Independent Contrasts	p. 340
Evolutionary Ecomorphology	p. 341
Community and Ecosystem Ecology	p. 345
Systems and Macrodescriptors	p. 345
Systems Ecology	p. 347
Compartmentation	p. 348
The Community Matrix	p. 352
Biogeochemical Cycles in Ecosystems	p. 355
Principles of Thermodynamics	p. 356
Pyramids of Energy, Numbers, and Biomass	p. 358
Energy Flow and Ecological Energetics	p. 359
Secondary Succession	p. 363
Evolutionary Convergence and Ecological Equivalence	p. 366
Community Evolution	p. 368
Pseudocommunities	p. 369
Landscape Ecology and Macroecology	p. 379
Biodiversity and Community Stability	p. 388
Saturation with Individuals and with Species	p. 388
Species Diversity	p. 390
Latitudinal Gradients in Diversity	p. 394
Types of Stability	p. 403
Community Stability	p. 406
Island Biogeography and Conservation Biology	p. 413
Species-Area Relationships	p. 414
Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography	p. 416
Islands as Ecological Experiments: Some Examples	p. 420
The Taxon Cycle	p. 422
Experimental Biogeography	p. 424
Conservation Biology	p. 424
References	p. 431
Index	p. 505
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