Stability in Model Populations

Laurence D. Mueller et Amitabh Joshi

ISBN 10: 0691007322 / ISBN 13: 9780691007328

Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2000

Ancien livre de bibliothèque. Couverture différente. Edition 2000. Ammareal reverse jusqu'à 15% du prix net de cet article à des organisations caritatives. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Book Condition: Used, Very good. Former library book. Different cover. Edition 2000. Ammareal gives back up to 15% of this item's net price to charity organizations. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers E-863-321

Inhaltsangabe:

Throughout the twentieth century, biologists investigated the mechanisms that stabilize biological populations, populations which--if unchecked by such agencies as competition and predation--should grow geometrically. How is order in nature maintained in the face of the seemingly disorderly struggle for existence? In this book, Laurence Mueller and Amitabh Joshi examine current theories of population stability and show how recent laboratory research on model populations--particularly blowflies,Tribolium, and Drosophila--contributes to our understanding of population dynamics and the evolution of stability.

The authors review the general theory of population stability and critically analyze techniques for inferring whether a given population is in balance or not. They then show how rigorous empirical research can reveal both the proximal causes of stability (how populations are regulated and maintained at an equilibrium, including the relative roles of biotic and abiotic factors) and its ultimate, mostly evolutionary causes. In the process, they describe experimental studies on model systems that address the effects of age-structure, inbreeding, resource levels, and population structure on the stability and persistence of populations. The discussion incorporates the authors' own findings on the evolution of population stability inDrosophila. They go on to relate laboratory work to studies of animals in the wild and to develop a general framework for relating the life history and ecology of a species to its population dynamics.

This accessible, finely written illustration of how carefully designed experiments can improve theory will have tremendous value for all ecologists and evolutionary biologists.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor: Laurence D. Mueller is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. He has published extensively on stability, life-history evolution, and the evolution of aging. Amitabh Joshi is a Faculty Fellow in the Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, India. His current research interests are in life-history evolution, the evolution of ecological specialization, the evolutionary genetics of circadian organization, and small population and metapopulation dynamics.

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Stability in Model Populations
Verlag: Princeton University Press
Erscheinungsdatum: 2000
Einband: Hardcover
Zustand: Très bon