Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance / Edition 6

by Charles Krebs

Overview

Charles Krebs' best-selling majors-level text approaches ecology as a series of problems that are best understood by evaluating empirical evidence through data analysis and application of quantitative reasoning. No other text presents analytical, quantitative, and statistical ecological information in an equally accessible style for students. Reflecting the way ecologists actually practice, the new edition emphasizes the role of experiments in testing ecological ideas and discusses many contemporary and controversial problems related to distribution and abundance.

Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, Sixth Edition builds on a clear writing style, historical perspective, and emphasis on data analysis with an updated, reorganized discussion of key topics and two new chapters on climate change and animal behavior. Key concepts and key terms are now included at the beginning of each chapter to help students focus on what is most important within each chapter, mathematical analyses are broken down step by step in a new feature called “Working with the Data,” concepts are reinforced throughout the text with examples from the literature, and end-of-chapter questions and problems emphasize application.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780321507433
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	09/18/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	672
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Charles Krebs is Emeritus Professor of Zoology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He received his B.S. from the University of Minnesota and earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. In addition to teaching ecology for 40 years, he works extensively on the population of rodents in Northern Canada, the United States, and Australia, trying to understand the mechanisms behind population fluctuations. He has published three ecology textbooks including Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, Sixth Edition and Ecological Methodology, Second Edition both published by Benjamin Cummings.

Table of Contents

I. WHAT IS ECOLOGY?

1. Introduction to the Science of Ecology

2. Evolution and Ecology

3. Behavioral Ecology

II. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS

4. Analyzing Geographic Distributions

5. Factors That Limit Distributions I: Biotic

6. Factors That Limit Distributions II: Abiotic

7. Distribution and Abundance

III. THE PROBLEM OF ABUNDANCE: POPULATIONS

8. Population Parameters and Demographic Techniques

9. Population Growth

10. Species Interactions I: Competition

11. Species Interactions II: Predation

12. Species Interactions III: Herbivory and Mutualism

13. Species Interactions IV: Disease and Parasitism

14. Regulation of Population Size

15. Applied Problems I: Harvesting Populations

16. Applied Problems II: Pest Control

17. Applied Problems III: Conservation Biology

IV. DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL

18. Community Structure

19. Community Dynamics I: Biodiversity

20. Community Dynamics II: Predation and Competition

21. Community Dynamics III: Nonequilibrium Communities

22. Ecosystem Metabolism I: Primary Production

23. Ecosystem Metabolism II: Secondary Production

24. Ecosystem Metabolism III: Nutrient Cycles

25. Ecosystem Dynamics under Changing Climates

26. Ecosystem Health: Human Impacts

Appendix I - A Primer on Population Genetics

Appendix II - Instantaneous and Finite Rates

Appendix III - Species Diversity Measures of Heterogeneity

Glossary

Bibliography

Credits

Species Index

Subject Index

Editorial Reviews

This text is not an encyclopedia of ecology, and it does not focus on descriptive ecology. Instead, it presents basic issues and theories, with emphasis on the cultivation of experimental techniques to answer ecological questions. The new edition adds material on conservation biology, community organization, and the integration of evolutionary and functional ecology. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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