Synopses & Reviews
These two books represent a synthesis and critical evaluation of studies conducted on bird communities, or sets of bird species that occur together. Drawing from studies conducted throughout the world, they review in detail what is known about the patterns of organization of such communities and the factors, such as competition, predation, past history, climate, habitat or disturbance that may determine these patterns. In Volume 1, the author considers why the avian community ecologists ask the questions they do, and how they have proceeded to answer them. The questions have generally involved both "what" (pattern) and "why" (process) components. Most of the volume is devoted to a critical evaluation of the patterns of bird communities. In Volume 2, the author considers how community organization patterns have been explained in terms of causal processes, how the operation of those processes has been determined, and how the patterns and our efforts to discern and understand them are influenced by the complexity and variability of natural environments.
Review
"...a critical and careful review of the evidence for the main ideas and a fair analysis of the more contentious issues." Nature"...will be the singly most-cited reference in the ecological and ornithological literature through the end of the century." Wildlife Review"These are lively and multifaceted volumes. Their quality and breadth of information guarantees that they will be a standard source and guide to avian ecologists in the years ahead." Ecology
Synopsis
Processes and Variations, discusses the ways in which bird community patterns have been interpreted. It describes how ecologists have gone about identifying the factors believed to influence the patterns of organization of of bird communities and examines how the complexity and variability of natural environments may influence efforts to discern and understand the nature of these communities.
Synopsis
The two volumes of John Wiens' The Ecology of Bird Communities have applications and importance to the whole field of ecology. Volume 1 Foundations and Patterns is mainly devoted to a critical evaluation of what is known about the nature and organisation of bird communities.
Synopsis
Drawing from studies conducted throughout the world, this study reviews in detail what is known about the patterns of organization of bird communities and the factors, such as competition, predation, past history, climate, habitat or disturbance that may determine these patterns.
Table of Contents
Preface; Acknowledgements; The development of avian community ecology; Determining pattern and process: the logical structure of community ecology; The importance of methodology; The assembly of communities; Numbers of species and their abundances; Niche theory and guilds; Ecomorphological patterns of communities; Distributional patterns of species; Habitat distributions of species; Resources and their use; Density compensation and niche shifts; Convergence of species and communities; Bioenergetic approaches to communities; A re-examination of the recent history of avian community ecology; References; Author index; Subject index.