Synopses & Reviews
Ecology has long been shaped by ideas that stress the sharing of resources and the competition for those resources, and by the assumption that populations and communities typically exist under equilibrium conditions in habitats saturated with both individuals and species. However, much evidence contradicts these assumptions and it is likely that nonequilibrium is much more widespread than might be expected. This book is unique in focusing on nonequilibrium aspects of ecology, providing evidence for nonequilibrium and equilibrium in populations (and metapopulations), in extant communities and in ecological systems over evolutionary time.
Synopsis
The idea that nature is in balance, or equilibrium, is a central concept in biology and goes back to Linnaeus and Darwin. The prevailing view has been that equilibrium is the normal condition, perhaps occasionally disrupted by external influences. Evidence for nonequilibrium is often neglected. This book shows that nonequilibrium is indeed more widespread than equilibrium. Evidence provided in this book comes from fossil history and from many studies of plant and animal populations and communities, as well as studies on the geographical distribution of organisms.
About the Author
Klaus Rohde is Professor Emeritus at the University of New England, Australia.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. Concepts and problems; 2. Nonequilibrium in communities; 3. Interspecific competition: definition and effects on species; 4. Interspecific competition: effects in communities and conclusion; 5. Non-competitive mechanisms responsible for niche restriction and segregation; 6. Patterns over evolutionary time, present mass-extinctions; 7. Some detailed examples at the population/metapopulation level; 8. Some detailed examples at the community level; 9. Some detailed biogeographical/macroecological patterns; 10. An autecological comparison: the ecology of aspidogastrea; 11. What explains the differences found? A summary, and prospects for an ecology of the future; acknowledgments; References.