Principles of Ecology

1. Front Matter

   Pages 5-12

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

   Pages 13-13

3. The Organism and its Environment

   • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

   Pages 15-42

4. The Ecological Community

   • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

   Pages 43-68

5. Community Dynamics

   • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

   Pages 69-85

6. Temporal Change in Community Structure and Function

   • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

   Pages 86-104

7. The Concept of the Niche

   • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

   Pages 105-126

8. Interspecific Competition and Community Structure

   • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

   Pages 127-151

9. Population Structure and Analysis

   • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

   Pages 152-201

10. Competition and Population Stability

    • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

    Pages 202-218

11. Predators, Parasitoids and Population Stability

    • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

    Pages 219-269

12. Evolution and Adaptation

    • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

    Pages 270-302

13. Coevolution

    • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

    Pages 303-319

14. Species Diversity

    • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

    Pages 320-337

15. Stability

    • R. J. Putman, S. D. Wratten

    Pages 338-355

16. Back Matter

    Pages 356-388

    PDF

As Ecology teachers ourselves we have become increasingly aware of the lack of a single comprehensive textbook of Ecvlogy which we can recommend unreservedly to our students. While general, review texts are readily available in other fields, recent publications in Ecology have tended for the most part to be small, specialised works on single aspects of the subject. Such general texts as are available are often rather too detailed and, in addition, tend to be somewhat biased towards one aspect of the discipline or another and are thus not truly balanced syntheses of current knowledge. Ecology is, in addition, a rapidly developing subject: new information is being gathered all the time on a variety of key questions; new approaches and techniques open up whole new areas of research and establish new principles. Already things have changed radically since the early '70s and we feel there is a need for an up to date student text that will include some of this newer material. We have tried, therefore, to create a text that will review all the major principles and tenets within the whole field of Ecology, presenting the generally accepted theories and fundamentals and reviewing carefully the evidence on which such principles have been founded. While recent developments in ecological thought are emphasised, we hope that these will not dominate the material to the extent where the older-established principles are ignored or overlooked.

• adaptation
• ecological community
• ecology
• ecosystem
• energy
• environment
• evolution
• growth
• homeostasis
• invertebrates
• mechanics
• population ecology
• species diversity
• stability

Policies and ethics