Published in 2006, Chemical Ecology of Vertebrates was the first book to focus exclusively on the chemically-mediated interactions between vertebrates including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, and other animals and plants. Reviewing research in three core areas - pheromones (where the interactions are between members of the same species), interspecific interactions involving allomones (where the sender benefits) and kairomones (where the receiver benefits), it pulls together information from widely scattered technical literature in many different disciplines into a coherent whole. Chapters on the environment, properties of odour signals, and production and release of chemosignals set the stage for discussion of more complex behavioural topics. While the main focus is ecological, dealing with behaviour and interactions in the field, it also covers chemoreception, orientation and navigation, the development of behaviour and the practical applications of chemosignals.

Acanthocephalans, or spiny-headed worms, are endoparasites found in almost all marine, freshwater and terrestrial systems. They infect a huge range of definitive and intermediate hosts during their life cycles, including both vertebrates and arthropods. This volume, first published in 2006, examines the distribution and abundance of the Acanthocephala, and uses this ecological information to reveal the group's enormous survival success. It discusses how the acanthocephalans have evolved differently to all other groups of parasites, and represent a distinct and alternative pathway of parasite evolution and host parasite-interactions. Written for graduate students and researchers in parasitology, ecology and zoology or anyone interested in reading about parasite ecology and evolution.

To provide useful and meaningful information, long-term ecological programs need to implement solid and efficient statistical approaches for collecting and analyzing data. This volume provides rigorous guidance on quantitative issues in monitoring, with contributions from world experts in the field. These experts have extensive experience in teaching fundamental and advanced ideas and methods to natural resource managers, scientists, and students. The chapters present a range of tools and approaches, including detailed coverage of variance component estimation and quantitative selection among alternative designs; spatially balanced sampling; sampling strategies integrating design- and model-based approaches; and advanced analytical approaches such as hierarchical and structural equation modelling. Making these tools more accessible to ecologists and other monitoring practitioners across numerous disciplines, this is a valuable resource for any professional whose work deals with ecological monitoring. Supplementary example software code is available online at www.cambridge.org/9780521191548.

Understanding the functioning of ecosystems requires the understanding of the interactions between consumer species and their resources. How do these interactions affect the variations of population abundances? How do population abundances determine the impact of predators on their prey? The view defended in this book is that the "null model" that most ecologists tend to use is inappropriate because it assumes that the amount of prey consumed by each predator is insensitive to the number of conspecifics. The authors argue that the amount of prey available per predator, rather than the absolute abundance of prey, is the basic determinant of the dynamics of predation. This so-called ratio dependence is shown to be a much more reasonable "null model."

Tropical habitats cover over one third of the Earth's terrestrial surface and harbor much of its biodiversity, with many areas rich in endemic species. However, these ecosystems are under significant and growing threat from issues such as deforestation, land degradation and ocean acidification. This introductory textbook provides a comprehensive guide to the major tropical biomes. It is unique in its balanced coverage of both aquatic and terrestrial systems and in its international scope. Each chapter is built around a particular tropical ecosystem, with descriptive case studies providing a framework around which ecological concepts and applied ecological topics are presented. This second edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect recent advances in the field and includes a greater focus on the impact of global climate change. The text is supported throughout by boxes containing supplementary material and is illustrated with over 200 clear, simple line diagrams, maps and photographs.

Urbanization is a global phenomenon that is increasingly challenging human society. It is therefore crucially important to ensure that the relentless expansion of cities and towns proceeds sustainably. Urban ecology, the interdisciplinary study of ecological patterns and processes in towns and cities, is a rapidly developing field that can provide a scientific basis for the informed decision-making and planning needed to create both viable and sustainable cities. Urban Ecology brings together an international team of leading scientists to discuss our current understanding of all aspects of urban environments, from the biology of the organisms that inhabit them to the diversity of ecosystem services and human social issues encountered within urban landscapes. The book is divided into five sections with the first describing the physical urban environment. Subsequent sections examine ecological patterns and processes within the urban setting, followed by the integration of ecology with social issues. The book concludes with a discussion of the applications of urban ecology to land-use planning. The emphasis throughout is on what we actually know (as well as what we should know) about the complexities of social-ecological systems in urban areas, in order to develop urban ecology as a rigorous scientific discipline.

Pillars of Evolution provides a fresh and provocative perspective on adaptive evolution. Readers new to the study of evolution will find a refreshing new insight that establishes evolutionary biology as a rigorous and predictive science, whilst practicing biologists will discover a provocative book that challenges traditional approaches.
The book begins by leading readers through the mechanics of heredity, reproduction, movement, survival, and development. With that framework in place, it then explores the numerous ways that traits emerge from the interactions between genetics, development, and the environment. The key message is that adaptive changes in traits (and their underlying allelic frequencies) evolve through the traits' functions and their connection with fitness. The complex mappings from genes-to-traits-to-fitness are characterized in the structure of evolution. A single "structure matrix" describes why individuals vary in the values of adaptive traits, their ability to perform the function of those traits, and in the fitness they accrue. Fitness depends on how organisms interact with and perceive their environment in time and space. These relationships are made explicit in spatial, temporal, and organizational scale that also sets the stage for the crucially important role that ecology always plays in evolution. The ecological hallmarks of density- and frequency-dependent interactions allow the authors to explore new and exciting insights into evolution's dynamics. The theories and principles are then brought together in a final synthesis on adaptation.
The book's unique approach unites genetic, development, and environmental influences into a single comprehensive treatment of the eco-evolutionary process.

In the last decade, research on the previously dormant field of camouflage has advanced rapidly, with numerous studies challenging traditional concepts, investigating previously untested theories and incorporating a greater appreciation of the visual and cognitive systems of the observer. Using studies of both real animals and artificial systems, this book synthesises the current state of play in camouflage research and understanding. It introduces the different types of camouflage and how they work, including background matching, disruptive coloration and obliterative shading. It also demonstrates the methodologies used to study them and discusses how camouflage relates to other subjects, particularly with regard to what it can tell us about visual perception. The mixture of primary research and reviews shows students and researchers where the field currently stands and where exciting and important problems remain to be solved, illustrating how the study of camouflage is likely to progress in the future.

The best alternative to chemical control is often seen as being biological control - the introduction of natural enemies in areas where foreign pests become abundant. However, biological control alone is not always sufficient to maintain pest populations under a tolerable level; and it is necessary to learn how to make it compatible with other methods of control, and in particular with chemicals, in integrated control programs. Data on these important aspects was collected and elaborated over a period of seven to eight years and synthesized in this volume, which was originally published in 1976. The data relates to five groups of species recognized as main agricultural pests over vast areas of developing countries. It shows how complex the interrelationships between microorganisms are how much research effort has to be invested in such disciplines as systematics, physiology, ethnology and ecology for their understanding.

Biological Diversity provides an up to date, authoritative review of the methods of measuring and assessing biological diversity, together with their application. The book's emphasis is on quantifying the variety, abundance, and occurrence of taxa, and on providing objective and clear guidance for both scientists and managers. This is a fast-moving field and one that is the focus of intense research interest. However the rapid development of new methods, the inconsistent and sometimes confusing application of old ones, and the lack of consensus in the literature about the best approach, means that there is a real need for a current synthesis. Biological Diversity covers fundamental measurement issues such as sampling, re-examines familiar diversity metrics (including species richness, diversity statistics, and estimates of spatial and temporal turnover), discusses species abundance distributions and how best to fit them, explores species occurrence and the spatial structure of biodiversity, and investigates alternative approaches used to assess trait, phylogenetic, and genetic diversity. The final section of the book turns to a selection of contemporary challenges such as measuring microbial diversity, evaluating the impact of disturbance, assessing biodiversity in managed landscapes, measuring diversity in the imperfect fossil record, and using species density estimates in management and conservation.

With over half of the world's human population now living in cities, human-carnivore interaction in urban areas is a growing area of concern and research for wildlife managers, conservationists, urban planners, and the public at large. This volume brings together leading international carnivore researchers to explore the unique biological and ecological issues associated with mammalian carnivores in urban landscapes.

Carnivores in urban areas are fascinating from an ecological standpoint. They elicit great passions--positive and negative--among humans and present difficult challenges for wildlife conservationists and managers. The first section of the book discusses the field of urban ecology and the many potential roles of carnivores in urban ecosystems, details the general behavior and ecology of this group of mammals, and addresses the human side of potential conflicts between people and carnivores in cities. The second section provides species accounts of the most common urban carnivores, including raccoons, coyotes, foxes, skunks, and mountain lions. A separate chapter examines the very specialized place of domesticated cats and dogs. The last section compares how various carnivore species fare in cities, looks at the utility of existing conservation and conflict management efforts, and suggests directions for further research and future management initiatives.

This thorough examination of the conflicts and complications surrounding urban wildlife is the first to focus specifically on carnivores. It includes an extensive bibliography and is an essential reference for wildlife biologists, mammalogists, and urban planners.

This detailed 1983 study of the African buffalo is distinguished by the extraordinary first-hand data obtained by the author in ten years of study. During this time, Dr Mloszewski virtually lived with the herds, moving among the animals and becoming accepted by them as a companion in their wanderings. The result is a book written from a highly unusual viewpoint and containing unique data. The book discusses the ancestry, zoological classification, and biogeographical setting of the African buffalo and describes the interactions of buffaloes with other species. The individual and collective behavior of the buffalo in the wild, as directly observed by the author, is the central subject, covering herd movements, feeding activities, hierarchies and individuals and agnostic, reproductive and other behaviors.

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.

Insects and Wildlife: Arthropods and their Relationships with Wild Vertebrate Animals provides a comprehensive overview of the interrelationships of insects and wildlife. It serves as an introduction to insects and other arthropods for wildlife management and other vertebrate biology students, and emphasizes the importance of insects to wild vertebrate animals. The book emphasizes how insects exert important influences on wildlife habitat suitability and wildlife population sustainability, including their direct and indirect effects on wildlife health. Among the important topics covered are: * the importance of insects as food items for vertebrate animals; * the role of arthropods as determinants of ecosystem health and productivity; * the ability of arthropods to transmit disease-causing agents; * an overview of representative disease-causing agents transmitted by arthropods; * arthropods as pests and parasites of vertebrates; * the hazards to wildlife associated with using using pesticides to protect against insect damage; * insect management using techniques other than pesticides; * the importance of insect conservation and how insects influence wildlife conservation.

Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology is intended to be used a text for graduate students and a sourcebook for professional scientists seeking an understanding of the evolutionary and ecological processes shaping behavior across a wide array of organisms and a diverse set of behaviors. Chapters are written by an array of leading experts in the field, providing a core foundation, a history of conceptual developments, and fresh insight into the controversies and themes shaping the continuing development of the field. Essays on adaptation, selection, fitness, genetics, plasticity, and phylogeny as they pertain to behavior place the field in the broader context of ecology and evolution. These concepts, along with a diversity of theoretical approaches are applied to the evolution of behavior in a many contexts, from individual decision-making of solitary animals through to complex social interactions. Chapters integrate conceptual and theoretical approaches with recent empirical advances to understand the evolution of behavior, from foraging, dealing with risk, predator avoidance, and an array of social behaviors, including fighting and cooperation with conspecifics and conflict and cooperation between the sexes. Chapters also emphasize integrative and novel approaches to behavior, including cognitive ecology, personality, conservation biology, the links between behavior and evolution, the evolution of human social behavior, and ways in which modern genetic analyses can augment the study of behavior.

Evolutionary Behavioral Ecology is intended to be used a text for graduate students and a sourcebook for professional scientists seeking an understanding of the evolutionary and ecological processes shaping behavior across a wide array of organisms and a diverse set of behaviors. Chapters are written by an array of leading experts in the field, providing a core foundation, a history of conceptual developments, and fresh insight into the controversies and themes shaping the continuing development of the field. Essays on adaptation, selection, fitness, genetics, plasticity, and phylogeny as they pertain to behavior place the field in the broader context of ecology and evolution. These concepts, along with a diversity of theoretical approaches are applied to the evolution of behavior in a many contexts, from individual decision-making of solitary animals through to complex social interactions. Chapters integrate conceptual and theoretical approaches with recent empirical advances to understand the evolution of behavior, from foraging, dealing with risk, predator avoidance, and an array of social behaviors, including fighting and cooperation with conspecifics and conflict and cooperation between the sexes. Chapters also emphasize integrative and novel approaches to behavior, including cognitive ecology, personality, conservation biology, the links between behavior and evolution, the evolution of human social behavior, and ways in which modern genetic analyses can augment the study of behavior.

With up to a quarter of all insect species heading towards extinction over the next few decades, there is now a pressing need to summarize the techniques available for measuring insect diversity in order to develop effective conservation strategies.
Insect Conservation outlines the main methods and techniques available to entomologists, providing a comprehensive synthesis for use by graduate students, researchers and practising conservationists worldwide. Both modern and more 'traditional' methodologies are described, backed up by practical background information and a global range of examples. Many newer techniques are included which have not yet been described in the existing book literature.
This book will be particularly relevant to postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students taking courses in insect ecology, conservation biology and environmental management, as well as established researchers in these fields. It will also be a valuable reference for nature conservation practitioners and professional entomologists worldwide.

This book introduces the reader to the power of observation before, and sometimes instead of, experimental manipulation in the study of animal behavior. It starts with simple and easily accessible methods suitable for student projects, before going on to demonstrate the possibilities that now exist for far more sophisticated analyses of observational data. At a time when animal welfare considerations are attracting political as well as scientific debate, the potential for non-intrusive studies on animals is being increasingly recognized. Observation emerges as a valuable alternative approach, often yielding highly informative results in situations (such as on zoos, farms or for wild animals) where more invasive experimental techniques would be undesirable, unethical or just plain impossible. However, to justify its place alongside experimentation as a rigorous scientific method, observation needs to be just as disciplined and systematic and have just as much attention paid to project design in the way that observations are made and recorded.
Observing Animal Behaviour takes the reader through all these stages: from the initial observations, to the formulation of hypotheses, and their subsequent testing with further systematic observations. Although designed principally as a companion text for advanced undergraduate and students taking courses in animal behavior, this accessible text will be essential reading for anyone wanting to study animal behavior using observational methods rather than experimentation, and assumes no previous knowledge of animals, statistics or scientific method. It will be of particular relevance and use to those professional researchers and consultants inthe behavioral sciences who seek a compact but comprehensive introduction to the quantitative observation of animal behavior.

Many mammals, such as otters, live in close association with rivers and streams, feeding in them, or using them as a place of safety or means of escape from predators. The distinct adaptations that riparian mammals have evolved in order to live in these environments also handicap them for living elsewhere. These animals are therefore threatened by alterations to their environment. In recent years, our rivers have become highly polluted, and have been subject to bankside modifications for agriculture and forestry, enhanced or decreased water flow, and recreation. As a result, they have become less and less suitable for these highly specialized animals. This book looks at the habitat utilization, adaptation, feeding ecology, and conservation status of a range of riparian mammals. It gives insights into the problems facing these fascinating animals, and how they might be overcome.

New or recently sterilized islands (for example through volcanic activity), provide ecologists with natural experiments in which to study colonization, development and establishment of new biological communities. Studies carried out on islands like this have provided answers to fundamental questions as to what general principles are involved in the ecology of communities and what processes underlie and maintain the basic structure of ecosystems. These studies are vital for conservation biology, especially when evolutionary processes need to be maintained in systems in order to maintain biodiversity. The major themes are how animal and plant communities establish, particularly on 'new land' or following extirpations by volcanic activity. This book comprises a broad review of island colonization, bringing together succession models and general principles, case studies with which Professor Ian Thornton was intimately involved, and a synthesis of ideas, concluding with a look to the future for similar studies.

Gills of healthy fishes are their lifeline to meet the challenges arising from their changing environment: oxygen gradient, alkalinity, temperature fluctuations and the added pollutants. The diverse and ever changing aquatic environment has a major impact on the organization of various organ-systems of fishes. This book contains seventeen chapters covering bony fishes which are focal to the current study. The chapters primarily cover fish respiration but also include osmoregulation, these being the two main functions of gills. Concurrently, cardiorespiratory synchronization has been well addressed. It is hoped that this book with its broad coverage and well-supported with illustrations will not only infuse interest in readers but merit a permanent place on the shelves of ichthyological literature.

Fundamental Processes in Ecology presents a way to study ecosystems that is not yet available in ecology textbooks but is resonant with current thinking in the emerging fields of geobiology and Earth System Science. It provides an alternative, process-based classification of ecology and proposes a truly planetary view of ecological science. To achieve this, it asks (and endeavours to answer) the question, "what are the fundamental ecological processes which would be found on any planet with Earth-like, carbon based, life?" The author demonstrates how the idea of fundamental ecological processes can be developed at the systems level, specifically their involvement in control and feedback mechanisms. This approach allows us to reconsider basic ecological ideas such as energy flow, guilds, trade-offs, carbon cycling and photosynthesis; and to put these in a global context. In doing so, the book puts a much stronger emphasis on microorganisms than has traditionally been the case.
The integration of Earth System Science with ecology is vitally important if ecological science is to successfully contribute to the massive problems and future challenges associated with global change. Although the approach is heavily influenced by Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, this is not a popular science book about Gaian theory. Instead it is written as an accessible text for graduate student seminar courses and researchers in the fields of ecology, earth system science, evolutionary biology, palaeontology, history of life, astrobiology, geology and physical geography.

Most large herbivores require some type of management within their habitats. Some populations of large herbivores are at the brink of extinction, some are under discussion for reintroduction, whilst others already occur in dense populations causing conflicts with other land use. Large herbivores are the major drivers for forming the shape and function of terrestrial ecosystems. This 2006 book addresses the scientifically based action plans to manage both the large herbivore populations and their habitats worldwide. It covers the processes by which large herbivores not only affect their environment (e.g. grazing) but are affected by it (e.g. nutrient cycling) and the management strategies required. Also discussed are new modeling techniques, which help assess integration processes in a landscape context, as well as assessing the consequences of new developments in the processes of conservation. This book will be essential reading for all involved in the management of both large herbivores and natural resources.

Recent progress in the field of wildlife disease ecology demonstrates that infectious disease plays a crucial role in the lives of wild animals. Parasites and pathogens should be especially important for social animals in which high contact among individuals increases the potential for disease spread. As one of the best studied mammalian groups, primates offer a unique opportunity to examine how complex behaviours (including social organization) influence the risk of acquiring infectious diseases, and the defences used by animals to avoid infection. This book explores the correlates of disease risk in primates, including not only social and mating behaviour but also diet, habitat use, life history, geography and phylogeny. The authors examine how a core set of host and parasite traits influence patterns of parasitism at three levels of biological organization: among individuals, among populations, and across species. A major goal is to synthesize, for the first time, four disparate areas of research: primate behavioural ecology, parasite biology, wildlife epidemiology, and the behavioural and immune defences employed by animals to counter infectious disease. Throughout, the authors provide an overview of the remarkable diversity of infectious agents found in wild primate populations. Additional chapters consider how knowledge of infectious diseases in wild primates can inform efforts focused on primate conservation and human health. More generally, this book identifies infectious disease as an important frontier in our understanding of primate behaviour and ecology. It highlights future challenges for testing the links between host and parasite traits, including hypotheses for the effects of disease on primate social and mating systems.

Ecology has long been shaped by ideas that stress the sharing of resources and the competition for those resources, and by the assumption that populations and communities typically exist under equilibrium conditions in habitats saturated with both individuals and species. However, much evidence contradicts these assumptions and it is likely that nonequilibrium is much more widespread than might be expected. This book is unique in focusing on nonequilibrium aspects of ecology, providing evidence for nonequilibrium and equilibrium in populations (and metapopulations), in extant communities and in ecological systems over evolutionary time, including nonequilibrium due to recent and present mass extinctions. The assumption that competition is of overriding importance is central to equilibrium ecology, and much space is devoted to its discussion. As communities of some taxa appear to be shaped more by competition than others, an attempt is made to find an explanation for these differences.