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.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
