Adaptive Herbivore Ecology: From Resources to Populations in Variable Environments - Cambridge Studies in Ecology (Paperback)

R.Norman Owen-Smith (author)

£36.99

Paperback 392 Pages / Published: 03/06/2010

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Synopsis

The adaptation of herbivore behaviour to seasonal and locational variations in vegetation quantity and quality is inadequately modelled by conventional methods. Norman Owen-Smith innovatively links the principles of adaptive behaviour to their consequences for population dynamics and community ecology, through the application of a metaphysiological modelling approach. The main focus is on large mammalian herbivores occupying seasonally variable environments such as those characterised by African savannahs, but applications to temperate zone ungulates are also included. Issues of habitat suitability, species coexistence, and population stability or instability are similarly investigated. The modelling approach accommodates various sources of environmental variability, in space and time, in a simple conceptual way and has the potential to be applied to other consumer-resource systems. This text highlights the crucial importance of adaptive consumer responses to environmental variability and is aimed particularly at academic researchers and graduate students in the field of ecology.

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521148368
Number of pages: 392
Weight: 570 g
Dimensions: 229 x 152 x 22 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

Review of the hardback: ' ... an enjoyable and informative addition to the ecological literature. We are convinced others will find the book equally stimulating and useful.' Science
"...extremely easy to read and I have no doubt that many courses will use this book as material for teaching undergraduates. Having said that, graduates and researchers alike will find much to enjoy and debate in the book...Owen-Smith has done a sterling job in pulling the disparate theory of plant-herbivore interactions and the consequences for system dynamics into one book." Ecoscience
"...an enjoyable and informative addition to the ecological literature. Above all, it forced us to reassess the more standard approaches we typically take in the modeling of ecological dynamics and processes. We are convinced others will find the book equally stimulating and useful." Science
"...this volume is well written.... I would recommend this book to graduate students and researchers..." Quarterly Review of Biology
"This book presents a compendium of very interesting ungulate herbivore examples and representative data that could serve as the empirical foundations for many productive empirical-theoretical collaborations. Get the book..." Ecology