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Cover image for Scale, heterogeneity, and the structure and diversity of ecological communities
Title:
Scale, heterogeneity, and the structure and diversity of ecological communities
Personal Author:
Series:
Monographs in population biology ; 45
Publication Information:
Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2010
Physical Description:
229 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
ISBN:
9780691090696

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30000010283324 QH541.15.E24 R58 2010 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

Understanding and predicting species diversity in ecological communities is one of the great challenges in community ecology. Popular recent theory contends that the traits of species are "neutral" or unimportant to coexistence, yet abundant experimental evidence suggests that multiple species are able to coexist on the same limiting resource precisely because they differ in key traits, such as body size, diet, and resource demand. This book presents a new theory of coexistence that incorporates two important aspects of biodiversity in nature--scale and spatial variation in the supply of limiting resources.


Introducing an innovative model that uses fractal geometry to describe the complex physical structure of nature, Mark Ritchie shows how species traits, particularly body size, lead to spatial patterns of resource use that allow species to coexist. He explains how this criterion for coexistence can be converted into a "rule" for how many species can be "packed" into an environment given the supply of resources and their spatial variability. He then demonstrates how this rule can be used to predict a range of patterns in ecological communities, such as body-size distributions, species-abundance distributions, and species-area relations. Ritchie illustrates how the predictions closely match data from many real communities, including those of mammalian herbivores, grasshoppers, dung beetles, and birds.


This book offers a compelling alternative to "neutral" theory in community ecology, one that helps us better understand patterns of biodiversity across the Earth.


Author Notes

Mark E. Ritchie is professor of biology at Syracuse University.


Reviews 1

Choice Review

In this work, biologist Ritchie (Syracuse Univ.) aims for a general model of community structure and biodiversity. The main take-home message of his synthesis is that ecological communities are complex, and community ecology has matched empirical field or even laboratory data (depending on taxon) to predictive models. He employs fractal geometry in mathematical models focusing on spatial and body size patterns of interactions to "describe the fundamental process of resource consumption in a heterogeneous environment." The niche remains the fundamental unit, and it is expanded into community structure. This approach will be thought-provoking, stimulate new experiments, and expand horizons in population dynamics and community ecology. It focuses on understanding forces that influence species diversity at any point in time. Chapters review themes and paradigms in community ecology; geometry of spatial heterogeneity; spatial scales; resources and scale-dependent niches; body size; species diversity patterns; conservation; and model testing. A main weakness is the lack of up-to-date references (few after 2004). The work's emphasis on competition and spatial scaling downplays predation, and the role of invasive species is largely ignored. Much good ecology thought and illustration, even for mathematically naive readers. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. J. Burger Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick


Table of Contents

Acknowledgmentsp. vii
1 Community Ecology Livesp. 1
2 The Geometry of Heterogeneityp. 15
3 Scaling Relationships for the Consumption of Resourcesp. 32
4 Food, Resources, and Scale-Dependent Nichesp. 56
5 Size Structure in Ecological Guildsp. 84
6 Heterogeneity and Patterns of Species Diversityp. 122
7 Biodiversity Conservation in Fractal Landscapesp. 148
8 Testint the Modelp. 170
9 Perspectives, Caveats, and Conclusionsp. 179
Appendix-Summary of Model Parametersp. 203
Referencesp. 207
Indexp. 227
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