Population Ecology First Principles

"Population ecology is rapidly maturing as a theoretical science. One sign of this maturity is the ongoing synthesis between sophisticated mathematical theory and innovative experimental approaches. Yet the traditional education in biology does not equip students with the tools they need to fully appreciate these new theoretical developments. Here is where this admirable book by Vandermeer and Goldberg comes in. A particularly enjoyable aspect ofPopulation Ecology: First Principlesis the ability of the authors to relate the complex tapestry of ecological theory to a few fundamental quantitative principles."--Peter Turchin, University of Connecticut "Vandermeer and Goldberg have written an outstanding book that synthesizes and summarizes the fundamental concepts and principles of population ecology. Its highly approachable treatment of models should give students deep and intuitive insights into population ecology. Because the mathematical techniques presented in the book represent the core toolbox of the discipline, this book is essential reading for anyone going into population and community ecology."--David Tilman, University of Minnesota "This is an excellent book that I look forward to using in the classroom. It is one of the most understandable in the field. The authors present, in more tractable fashion than do some similar books, fundamental material that all ecologists need. Anyone in the life sciences should immediately recognize the importance of the material. Scholars in economics and the social sciences should also see that the book is very relevant to their disciplines."--David J. Moriarty, California State Polytechnic University "One of this book's greatest strengths is the way it emphasizes the processes underlying standard ecological models. Rather than relying on plausibility arguments, the authors start from simple mechanistic models--for instance, deriving the Lotka-Volterra competition equations from a model of resource competition. They also present a nice range of practical examples."--Ben Bolker, University of FloridaVandermeer, John H. is the author of 'Population Ecology First Principles', published 2003 under ISBN 9780691114415 and ISBN 0691114412.