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Monographs in Population Biology:

Vols 1 to 30

A continuing series of books, published by Princeton University Press, intended to examine important aspects of the ecology of plants and animals. Embracing both theoretical and empirical studies in a variety of subject areas, the series aims at well-written books that emphasize synthesis, fresh insights, and creative speculation.

Only a handful of the volumes in this series are ornithological works. The majority are wider ranging which can be applied to ornithology. For this reason the whole series is listed here.


Monographs in Pop. Biology pages

There are two Monographs in Population Biology pages on the site:

Volumes 1 to 30

Volumes 31 to 53


Princeton University Press pages on this site

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Spatial Ecology: The Role of Space in Population Dynamics and Interspecific Interactions

Editors: David Tilman & Peter Kareiva

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 30

Princeton University Press

1997

"Spatial Ecology addresses the fundamental effects of space on the dynamics of individual species and on the structure, dynamics, diversity, and stability of multispecies communities. Although the ecological world is unavoidably spatial, there have been few attempts to determine how explicit considerations of space may alter the predictions of ecological models, or what insights it may give into the causes of broad-scale ecological patterns. As this book demonstrates, the spatial structure of a habitat can fundamentally alter both the qualitative and quantitative dynamics and outcomes of ecological processes. Spatial Ecology highlights the importance of space to five topical areas: stability, patterns of diversity, invasions, coexistence, and pattern generation. It illustrates both the diversity of approaches used to study spatial ecology and the underlying similarities of these approaches. Over twenty contributors address issues ranging from the persistence of endangered species, to the maintenance of biodiversity, to the dynamics of hosts and their parasitoids, to disease dynamics, multispecies competition, population genetics, and fundamental processes relevant to all these cases. There have been many recent advances in our understanding of the influence of spatially explicit processes on individual species and on multispecies communities. This book synthesizes these advances, shows the limitations of traditional, non-spatial approaches, and offers a variety of new approaches to spatial ecology that should stimulate ecological research."

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Evolutionary Ecology across Three Trophic Levels: Goldenrods, Gallmakers, and Natural Enemies

Warren G. Abrahamson & Arthur E. Weis

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 29

Princeton University Press

1997

"In a work that will interest researchers in ecology, genetics, botany, entomology, and parasitology, Warren Abrahamson and Arthur Weis present the results of more than twenty-five years of studying plant-insect interactions. Their study centers on the ecology and evolution of interactions among a host plant, the parasitic insect that attacks it, and the suite of insects and birds that are the natural enemies of the parasite. Because this system provides a model that can be subjected to experimental manipulations, it has allowed the authors to address specific theories and concepts that have guided biological research for more than two decades and to engage general problems in evolutionary biology. The specific subjects of research are the host plant goldenrod (Solidago), the parasitic insect Eurosta solidaginis (Diptera: Tephritidae) that induces a gall on the plant stem, and a number of natural enemies of the gallfly. By presenting their detailed empirical studies of the Solidago-Eurosta natural enemy system, the authors demonstrate the complexities of specialized enemy-victim interactions and, thereby, the complex interactive relationships among species more broadly. By utilizing a diverse array of field, laboratory, behavioral, genetic, chemical, and statistical techniques, Abrahamson and Weis present the most thorough study to date of a single system of interacting species. Their interest in the evolutionary ecology of plant-insect interactions leads them to insights on the evolution of species interactions in general. This major work will interest anyone involved in studying the ways in which interdependent species interact."

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The Ecological Detective: Confronting Models with Data

Ray Hilborn & Marc Mangel

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 28

Princeton University Press

1997

"The modern ecologist usually works in both the field and laboratory, uses statistics and computers, and often works with ecological concepts that are model-based, if not model-driven. How do we make the field and laboratory coherent? How do we link models and data? How do we use statistics to help experimentation? How do we integrate modeling and statistics? How do we confront multiple hypotheses with data and assign degrees of belief to different hypotheses? How do we deal with time series (in which data are linked from one measurement to the next) or put multiple sources of data into one inferential framework? These are the kinds of questions asked and answered by The Ecological Detective. Ray Hilborn and Marc Mangel investigate ecological data much as a detective would investigate a crime scene by trying different hypotheses until a coherent picture emerges. The book is not a set of pat statistical procedures but rather an approach. The Ecological Detective makes liberal use of computer programming for the generation of hypotheses, exploration of data, and the comparison of different models. The authors' attitude is one of exploration, both statistical and graphical. The background required is minimal, so that students with an undergraduate course in statistics and ecology can profitably add this work to their tool-kit for solving ecological problems."

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Population Harvesting: Demographic Models of Fish, Forest, and Animal Resources

Wayne M. Getz and Robert G. Haight

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 27

Princeton University Press

1989

"Whether in felling trees for wood, rearing insects for biological control, or culling animals for conservation purposes, efficient management of biological systems requires quantitative analysis of population growth and harvesting policies. Aiming to encourage the exchange of ideas among scientists involved in the management of fisheries, wildlife, forest stands, and pest control, the authors of this work present a general framework for modeling populations that reproduce seasonally and that have age or stage structure as an essential component of management strategy. The book represents the first time that examples from such diverse areas of biological resource management have been brought together in a unified modeling framework using the standard notation of mathematical systems theory. In addition, the authors combine a nonlinear extension of Leslie matrix theory and certain linear elements, thereby permitting interesting analytical results and the creation of compact, realistic simulation models of resource systems."

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Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities

David Tilman

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 26

Princeton University Press

1988

"Although ecologists have long considered morphology and life history to be important determinants of the distribution, abundance, and dynamics of plants in nature, this book contains the first theory to predict explicitly both the evolution of plant traits and the effects of these traits on plant community structure and dynamics. David Tilman focuses on the universal requirement of terrestrial plants for both below-ground and above-ground resources. The physical separation of these resources means that plants face an unavoidable tradeoff. To obtain a higher proportion of one resource, a plant must allocate more of its growth to the structures involved in its acquisition, and thus necessarily obtain a lower proportion of another resource. Professor Tilman presents a simple theory that includes this constraint and tradeoff, and uses the theory to explore the evolution of plant life histories and morphologies along productivity and disturbance gradients. The book shows that relative growth rate, which is predicted to be strongly influenced by a plant's proportional allocation to leaves, is a major determinant of the transient dynamics of competition. These dynamics may explain the differences between successions on poor versus rich soils and suggest that most field experiments performed to date have been of too short a duration to allow unambiguous interpretation of their results."

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Population Ecology of Individuals

Adam Lomnicki

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 25

Princeton University Press

1988

"A common tendency in the field of population ecology has been to overlook individual differences by treating populations as homogeneous units; conversely, in behavioral ecology the tendency has been to concentrate on how individual behavior is shaped by evolutionary forces, but not on how this behavior affects population dynamics. Adam Lomnicki and others aim to remedy this one-sidedness by showing that the overall dynamical behavior of populations must ultimately be understood in terms of the behavior of individuals. Professor Lomnicki's wide-ranging presentation of this approach includes simple mathematical models aimed at describing both the origin and consequences of individual variation among plants and animals. The author contends that further progress in population ecology will require taking into account individual differences other than sex, age, and taxonomic affiliation - unequal access to resources, for instance. Population ecologists who adopt this viewpoint may discover new answers to classical questions of population ecology. Partly because it uses a variety of examples from many taxonomic groups, this work will appeal not only to population ecologists but to ecologists in general."

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Population Ecology of the Cooperatively Breeding Acorn Woodpecker

Walter D. Koenig and Ronald L. Mumme

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 24

Princeton University Press

1987

" This study investigates the complexities of acorn storage and group living in acorn woodpeckers at Hastings Reservation in central coastal California."

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A Hierarchial Concept of Ecosystems

Robert V. O'Neill, Donald Lee Deangelis, J. B. Waide and Garland E. Allen

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 23

Princeton University Press

1986

" Ecosystem" is an intuitively appealing concept to most ecologists, but, in spite of its widespread use, the term remains diffuse and ambiguous. The authors of this book argue that previous attempts to define the concept have been derived from particular viewpoints to the exclusion of others equally possible. They offer instead a more general line of thought based on hierarchy theory. Their contribution should help to counteract the present separation of subdisciplines in ecology and to bring functional and population/community ecologists closer to a common approach. Developed as a way of understanding highly complex organized systems, hierarchy theory has at its center the idea that organization results from differences in process rates. To the authors the theory suggests an objective way of decomposing ecosystems into their component parts. The results thus obtained offer a rewarding method for integrating various schools of ecology."

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Theoretical Studies on Sex Ratio Evolution

Samuel Karlin, Sabin Lessard

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 22

Princeton University Press

1986

" The ratio of the sexes in a population, or the allocation of resources to male versus female reproductive function, is one of the key areas of population genetics. In this text, Karlin and Lessard establish the formal theoretical aspects of the evolution of sex ratio within the constraints of genetic mechanisms of sex determination."

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Natural Selection in the Wild

John A.Endler

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 21

Princeton University Press

1986

" Natural selection is an immense and important subject, yet there have been few attempts to summarize its effects on natural populations, and fewer still which discuss the problems of working with natural selection in the wild. These are the purposes of John Endler's book. In it, he discusses the methods and problems involved in the demonstration and measurement of natural selection, presents the critical evidence for its existence, and places it in an evolutionary perspective. Professor Endler finds that there are a remarkable number of direct demonstrations of selection in a wide variety of animals and plants. The distribution of observed magnitudes of selection in natural populations is surprisingly broad, and it overlaps extensively the range of values found in artificial selection. He argues that the common assumption that selection is usually weak in natural populations is no longer tenable, but that natural selection is only one component of the process of evolution; natural selection can explain the change of frequencies of variants, but not their origins."

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The Florida Scrub Jay: Demography Of A Cooperative-Breeding Bird

Glen E Woolfenden, John W. Fitzpatrick

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 20

Princeton University Press

1985

"Florida Scrub Jays are an excellent example of a cooperative-breeding species, in which adult birds often help raise offspring not their own. For more than a decade Glen E. Woolfenden and John W. Fitzpatrick studied a marked population of these birds in an attempt to establish a demographic base for understanding the phenomenon of "helping at the nest." By studying both population biology and behavior, the authors found that habitat restraints, rather than kin selection, are the main source of the behavior of Florida Scrub Jays: the goal of increasing the number of close relatives other than descendants in future generations is of relatively minor importance in their cooperative-breeding behavior. The Florida Scrub Jay lives only in the Florida oak scrub. All acceptable habitat is constantly filled with breeders. Each year about half of the pairs are assisted by one to several nonbreeding helpers. This book provides extensive data on fecundity, survivorship, relatedness, and dispersal to establish the demographic milieu and to address questions arising out of observed helping behavior - whom, how, when, and why the helpers help."

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Mate Choice in Plants

Mary F. Willson and Nancy Burley

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 20

Princeton University Press

1983

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The Theory of Sex Allocation

Eric L Charnov

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 18

Princeton University Press

1982

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Resource Competition and Community Structure

David Tilman

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 17

Princeton University Press

1982

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Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach

L.L. Cavalli-Sforza and M.W. Feldman

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 16

Princeton University Press

1981

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Evolutionary Biology of Parasites

Peter W Price

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 15

Princeton University Press

1980

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Some Adaptations of Marsh-Nesting Blackbirds

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 14

Princeton University Press

1980

"The variety of social systems among the New World blackbirds (Family Icteridae) and the structural simplicity of their foraging environment provide excellent opportunities for testing theorics about the adaptive significance of their behavior. Here Gordon Orians presents the results of his many years of research on how blackbirds utilize their marsh environments during the breeding season. These results stem from information he gathered on three species during ten breeding seasons in the Pacific Northwest, on Red-winged blackbirds during two breeding seasons in Costa Rica, and on three species during one breeding season in Argentina. The author uses models derived from Darwin's theory of natural selection to predict the behavior and morphology of individuals as well as the statistical properties of their populations. First he tests models that predict habitat selection, foraging behavior, territoriality, and mate selection. Then he considers some population patterns, especially range of use of environmental resources and overlap among species, that may result from those individual attributes. Professor Orianns concludes with an overview of the structure of bird communities in marshes of the world and the relation of these patterns to overall source availability in these simple but productive habitats."

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The Dynamics of Arthropod Predator-Prey Systems

Michael P Hassell

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 13

Princeton University Press

1978

"In this study of arthropod predador-prey systems Michael Hassell shows how many of the components of predation may be simply modeled in order to reveal their effects on the overall dynamics of the interacting populations. Arthropods, particularly insects, make ideal subjects for such a study because their generation times are characteristically short and many have relatively discrete generations, inviting the use of difference equation models to describe population changes. Using analytical models framed in difference equations, Dr. Hassell is able to show how the detailed biological processes of insect predator-prey (including host-parasitoid) interactions may be understood. Emphasizing the development and subsequent stability analysis of general models, the author considers in detail several crucial components of predator-prey models: the prey's rate of increase as a function of density, non-random search, mutual interference, and the predator's rate of increase as a function of predator survival and fecundity. Drawing on the correspondence between the models and field and laboratory data, Dr. Hassell then discusses the practical implications for biological pest control and suggests how such models may help to formulate a theoretical basis for biological control practices."

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Caste and Ecology in the Social Insects

George F. Oster, Edward O. Wilson

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 12

Princeton University Press

1978

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Food Webs and Niche Space

Joel E Cohen

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 11

Princeton University Press

1978

"What is the minimum dimension of a niche space necessary to represent the overlaps among observed niches? This book presents a new technique for obtaining a partial answer to this elementary question about niche space. The author bases his technique on a relation between the combinatorial structure of food webs and the mathematical theory of interval graphs. Professor Cohen collects more than thirty food webs from the ecological literature and analyzes their statistical and combinatorial properties in detail. As a result, he is able to generalize: within habitats of a certain limited physical and temporal heterogeneity, the overlaps among niches, along their trophic (feeding) dimensions, can be represented in a one-dimensional niche space far more often than would be expected by chance alone and perhaps always. This compatibility has not previously been noticed. It indicates that real food webs fall in a small subset of the mathematically possible food webs. Professor Cohen discusses other apparently new features of real food webs, including the constant ratio of the number of kinds of prey to the number of kinds of predators in food webs that describe a community. In conclusion he discusses possible extensions and limitations of his results and suggests directions for future research."

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Geographic Variation, Speciation and Clines

John A Endler

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 10

Princeton University Press

1977

"Geographic Variation, Speciation and Clines explores the origins and development of geographic variation, divergence, and speciation. In particular it is concerned with genetic divergence as it is usually found on continents, among groups of populations isolated only by distance. Although earlier writers on this topic considered the effects of geography and dispersal, intense geographic differentiation and speciation were thought to require complete isolation. Professor Endler shows how geographic differentiation and speciation may develop in spite of continuous gene flow. Following a review of the diverse and scattered literature on gene flow and population differentiation, the author discusses the relationships among gene flow, dispersal, and migration. He then summarizes the factors which limit the geographic extent of gene flow, and those which allow steep clines to develop in the absence of barriers to gene flow. His analysis draws on examples from the field, experiments, and single- and multiple-locus models. The mechanism and conditions for parapatric speciation are presented: steepening clines, development into hybrid zones, and the evolution of sexual isolation. In the final chapter the author considers the interpretation of natural clines and the associated geographic patterns of subspecies and species."

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Group Selection in Predator-Prey Communities

Michael E Gilpin

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 9

Princeton University Press

1975

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Sex and Evolution

George C Williams

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 8

Princeton University Press

1974

"This book explores the relationship between various types of reproduction and the evolutionary process. Starting with the concept of meiosis, George C. Williams states the conditions under which an organism with both sexual and asexual reproductive capacities will employ each mode. He argues that in low-fecundity higher organisms, sexual reproduction is generally maladaptive, and persists because there is no ready means of developing an asexual alternative. The book then considers the evolutionary development of diverse forms of sexuality, such as anisogamy, hermaphroditism, and the evolution of differences between males and females in reproductive strategy. The final two chapters examine the effect of genetic recombination on the evolutionary process itself."

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Competition and the Structure of Bird Communities

Martin L Cody

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 7

Princeton University Press

1974

"Professor Cody's monograph emphasizes the role of competition at levels above single species populations, and describes how competition, by way of the niche concept, determines the structure of communities. Communities may be understood in terms of resource gradients, or niche dimensions, along which species become segregated through competitive interactions. Most communities appear to exist in three or four such dimensions. The first three chapters describe the resource gradients (habitat types, foraging sites, food types), show what factors restrict species to certain parts of the resource gradients and so determine niche breadths, and illustrate the important role of resource predictability in niche overlap between species for resources they share. Most examples are drawn from eleven North and South American bird communities, although the concepts and methodology are far more general. Next, the optimality of community structure is tested through parallel and convergent evolution on different continents with similar climates and habitats, and the direct influence of competitors on resource use is investigated by comparisons of species - poor island communities to species-rich mainland ones. Finally, the author discusses those sorts of environments in which the evolution of one species - one resource set is not achieved, and where alternative schemes of resource allocation, often involving several species that act ecologically as one, must be followed."

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Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems

Robert M May

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 6

Princeton University Press

1974

"What makes populations stabilize? What makes them fluctuate? Are populations in complex ecosystems more stable than populations in simple ecosystems? In 1973, Robert May addressed these questions in this classic book. May investigated the mathematical roots of population dynamics and argued-counter to most current biological thinking-that complex ecosystems in themselves do not lead to population stability. Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems played a key role in introducing nonlinear mathematical models and the study of deterministic chaos into ecology, a role chronicled in James Gleick's book Chaos. In the quarter century since its first publication, the book's message has grown in power. Nonlinear models are now at the center of ecological thinking, and current threats to biodiversity have made questions about the role of ecosystem complexity more crucial than ever. In a new introduction, the author addresses some of the changes that have swept biology and the biological world since the book's first publication."

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Populations in a Seasonal Environment

Stephen D Fretwell

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 5

Princeton University Press

1972

"In this original monograph, Stephen Fretwell analyzes the highly complex interaction between a population and a regularly varying environment in an attempt to define and measure seasonality as a critical parameter in the general theory of population regulation. Concerned primarily with the size and the habitat distribution of populations, Professor Fretwell develops simple models that, when applied to specific populations, usually of birds, demonstrate the effect of seasonal variations on the regulation of populations. He maintains that seasonality, as a concept, is essential to a full understanding of environmental interaction. During the course of his exposition, the author offers several new hypotheses, including theories affecting the breeding, numbers, distribution, and diversity of wintering birds, and a theory affecting the body size of sparrows."

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Theoretical Aspects of Population Genetics

Motoo Kimura and Tomoko Ohta

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 4

Princeton University Press

1971

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The Adaptive Geometry of Trees

Henry S. Horn

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 3

Princeton University Press

1971

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Evolution in Changing Environments: Some Theoretical Explorations

R. Levins

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 2

Princeton University Press

1971

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The Theory of Island Biogeography

R. MacArthur and E.O. Wilson

Monographs In Population Biology, Vol. 1

Princeton University Press

1967

"In this book, the authors developed a general theory to explain the facts of island biogeography. The theory builds on the first principles of population ecology and genetics to explain how distance and area combine to regulate the balance between immigration and extinction in island populations. The authors then test the theory against data. The Theory of Island Biogeography was never intended as the last word on the subject. Instead, MacArthur and Wilson sought to stimulate new forms of theoretical and empirical studies, which will lead in turn to a stronger general theory. Even a third of a century since its publication, the book continues to serve that purpose well. From popular books like David Quammen's Song of the Dodo to arguments in the professional literature, The Theory of Island Biogeography remains at the center of discussions about the geographic distribution of species.

Contents: Preface; Symbols Used; 1. The Importance of Islands; 2. Area and Number of Speicies; 3. Further Explanations of the AreaDiversity Pattern; 4. The Strategy of Colonization; 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche; 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange; 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization; 8. Prospect; Glossary; References; Index.

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Last updated March 2014