Evolutionary Ecology

by Pianka, Eric R.

• ISBN13: 9780321042880
• ISBN10: 0321042883
• 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	xii
Background	1	(15)
Scaling in Biology	1	(1)
Scientific Methods and Human Knowledge	2	(3)
Domain of Ecology: Definitions and Groundwork	5	(3)
The Urgency of Basic Ecological Research	8	(2)
Natural Selection	10	(2)
Levels of Approach in Biology	12	(1)
Debates and Progress in Ecology	13	(3)
History and Biogeography	16	(13)
Self-Replicating Molecular Assemblages	16	(1)
The Geological Past	17	(5)
Classical Biogeography	22	(2)
Continental Drift	24	(5)
Meteorology	29	(19)
Earth's Physical Environment	29	(1)
Major Determinants of Climate	30	(5)
Local Perturbations	35	(2)
Variations in Time and Space	37	(5)
Global Weather Modification	42	(6)
Climate and Vegetation	48	(22)
Plant Life Forms and Biomes	48	(1)
Microclimate	49	(4)
Primary Production and Evapotranspiration	53	(5)
Soil Formation and Primary Succession	58	(3)
Ecotones and Vegetational Continua	61	(2)
Classification of Natural Communities	63	(2)
Aquatic Ecosystems	65	(5)
Resource Acquisition and Allocation	70	(40)
Limiting Factors and Tolerance Curves	70	(2)
Resource Budgets and the Principle of Allocation	72	(1)
Time, Matter, and Energy Budgets	73	(2)
Leaf Tactics	75	(3)
Foraging Tactics and Feeding Efficiency	78	(5)
Physiological Ecology	83	(1)
Physiological Optima and Tolerance Curves	84	(2)
Energetics of Metabolism and Movement	86	(4)
Adaptation and Deterioration of Environment	90	(3)
Heat Budgets and Thermal Ecology	93	(4)
Water Economy in Desert Organisms	97	(1)
Other Limiting Materials	98	(1)
Sensory Capacities and Environmental Cues	99	(1)
Adaptive Suites	100	(3)
Design Constraints	103	(7)
Rules of Inheritance	110	(14)
Basic Mendelian Genetics	110	(5)
Nature versus Narture	115	(1)
Selfish Genes	116	(1)
Population Genetics	117	(1)
Maintenance of Variability	118	(2)
Units of Selection	120	(2)
Genetic Engineering	122	(2)
Evolution and Natural Selection	124	(10)
Agents of Evolution	124	(1)
Types of Natural Selection	124	(2)
Ecological Genetics	126	(1)
Allopatric and Sympatric Speciation	127	(1)
Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms	128	(1)
Galapagos Finches	129	(5)
Vital Statistics of Populations	134	(43)
Individuals Versus Populations	134	(1)
Life Tables and Tables of Reproduction	135	(7)
Net Reproductive Rate and Reproductive Value	142	(5)
Stable Age Distribution	147	(1)
Leslie Matrices	148	(2)
Intrinsic Rate of Natural Increase	150	(3)
Demographic and Environmental Stochasticity	153	(1)
Evolution of Reproductive Tactics	154	(1)
Reproductive Effort	155	(5)
Expenditure per Progeny	160	(3)
Patterns in Avian Clutch Sizes	163	(6)
Evolution of Death Rates and Old Age	169	(2)
Joint Evolution of Rates of Reproduction and Mortality	171	(6)
Population Growth and Regulation	177	(23)
Verhulst-Pearl Logistic Equation	177	(5)
Derivtion of the Logistic Equation	182	(1)
Density Dependence and Density Independence	182	(2)
Opportunistic versus Equilibrium Populations	184	(4)
Population Regulation	188	(5)
Population ``Cycles'': Cause and Effect	193	(7)
Sociality	200	(28)
Use of Space: Home Range and Territoriality	200	(3)
Sex	203	(4)
Sex Ratio	207	(4)
Sexual Selection and Mating Systems	211	(9)
Fitness and an Individual's Status in Its Population	220	(1)
Social Behavior and Kin Selection	220	(5)
The Evolution of Self-Deceipt	225	(3)
Interactions Between Populations	228	(12)
Direct Interactions	228	(1)
Complex Population Interactions	229	(2)
Mutualistic Interactions and Symbiotic Relationships	231	(5)
Indirect Interactions	236	(4)
Competition	240	(27)
Mechanisms of Competition	240	(1)
Lotka-Volterra Competition Equations	241	(7)
Competitive Exclusion	248	(1)
Balance Between Intraspecific and Interspecific Competition	249	(3)
Evolutionary Consequences of Competition	252	(1)
Laboratory Experiments	252	(2)
Evidence from Nature	254	(10)
Other Prospects	264	(3)
The Ecological Niche	267	(27)
History and Definitions	267	(2)
The Hypervolume Model	269	(2)
Niche Overlap and Competition	271	(3)
Niche Dynamics	274	(1)
Niche Dimensionality	275	(4)
Niche Breadth	279	(10)
Evolution of Niches	289	(5)
Experimental Ecology	294	(8)
Design of Experiments	294	(1)
Ecological Experiments	294	(5)
A Defaunation Experiment	299	(3)
Predation and Parasitism	302	(35)
Predation	302	(2)
Predator-Prey Oscillations	304	(8)
``Prudent'' Predation and Optimal Yield	312	(1)
Selected Experiments and Observations	313	(2)
Evolutionary Consequences: Prey Escape Tactics	315	(7)
Parasitism	322	(4)
Epidemiology	326	(2)
Darwinian Medicine	328	(1)
Coevolution	329	(8)
Phylogenetics in Ecology	337	(8)
Phylogenetic Systematics	337	(1)
Vicariance Biogeography	338	(1)
Phylogeny and the Modern Comparative Method	338	(2)
Phylogenetically Independent Contrasts	340	(1)
Evolutionary Ecomorphology	341	(4)
Community and Ecosystem Ecology	345	(43)
Systems and Macrodescriptors	345	(2)
Systems Ecology	347	(1)
Compartmentation	348	(4)
The Community Matrix	352	(3)
Biogeochemical Cycles in Ecosystems	355	(1)
Principles of Thermodynamics	356	(2)
Pyramids of Energy, Numbers, and Biomass	358	(1)
Energy Flow and Ecological Energetics	359	(4)
Secondary Succession	363	(3)
Evolutionary Convergence and Ecological Equivalence	366	(2)
Community Evolution	368	(1)
Pseudocommunities	369	(10)
Landscape Ecology and Macroecology	379	(9)
Biodiversity and Community Stability	388	(25)
Saturation with Individuals and with Species	388	(2)
Species Diversity	390	(4)
Latitudinal Gradients in Diversity	394	(9)
Types of Stability	403	(3)
Community Stability	406	(7)
Island Biogeography and Conservation Biology	413	(18)
Species-Area Relationships	414	(2)
Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography	416	(4)
Islands as Ecological Experiments: Some Examples	420	(2)
The Taxon Cycle	422	(2)
Experimental Biogeography	424	(1)
Conservation Biology	424	(7)
References	431	(74)
Index	505