Mark Vellend's Books

The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

By: Mark Vellend

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The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

By: Mark Vellend

A plethora of different theories, models, and concepts make up the field of community ecology. Amid this vast body of work, is it possible to build one general theory of ecological communities? What other scientific areas might serve as a guiding framework? As it turns out, the core focus of community ecology—understanding patterns of diversity and composition of biological variants across space and time—is shared by evolutionary biology and its very coherent conceptual framework, population genetics theory. The Theory of Ecological Communities takes this as a starting point to pull together community ecology's various perspectives into a more unified whole. Mark Vellend builds a theory of ecological communities based on four overarching processes: selection among species, drift, dispersal, and speciation. These are analogues of the four central processes in population genetics theory—selection within species, drift, gene flow, and mutation—and together they subsume almost all of the many dozens of more specific models built to describe the dynamics of communities of interacting species. The result is a theory that allows the effects of many low-level processes, such as competition, facilitation, predation, disturbance, stress, succession, colonization, and local extinction to be understood as the underpinnings of high-level processes with widely applicable consequences for ecological communities. Reframing the numerous existing ideas in community ecology, The Theory of Ecological Communities provides a new way for thinking about biological composition and diversity.

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246

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691208999

ISBN 13

9780691208992

Invasion Biology

By: Mark A. Davis

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Invasion Biology

By: Mark A. Davis

Carefully balanced to avoid distinct taxonomic, ecosystem, and geographic biases, the book addresses a wide range of invasive species (including protists, invertebrates, vertebrates, fungi, and plants), which have been studied in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments throughout the world by investigators equally diverse in their origins."--BOOK JACKET.

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259

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199218757

ISBN 13

9780199218752

The Phytochemical Landscape

Linking Trophic Interactions and Nutrient Dynamics

By: Mark D. Hunter

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The Phytochemical Landscape

Linking Trophic Interactions and Nutrient Dynamics

By: Mark D. Hunter

The dazzling variation in plant chemistry is a primary mediator of trophic interactions, including herbivory, predation, parasitism, and disease. At the same time, such interactions feed back to influence spatial and temporal variation in the chemistry of plants. In this book, Mark Hunter provides a novel approach to linking the trophic interactions of organisms with the cycling of nutrients in ecosystems. Hunter introduces the concept of the "phytochemical landscape"—the shifting spatial and temporal mosaic of plant chemistry that serves as the nexus between trophic interactions and nutrient dynamics. He shows how plant chemistry is both a cause and consequence of trophic interactions, and how it also mediates ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling. Nutrients and organic molecules in plant tissues affect decomposition rates and the fluxes of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The availability of these same nutrients influences the chemistry of cells and tissues that plants produce. In combination, these feedback routes generate pathways by which trophic interactions influence nutrient dynamics and vice versa, mediated through plant chemistry. Hunter provides evidence from terrestrial and aquatic systems for each of these pathways, and describes how a focus on the phytochemical landscape enables us to better understand and manage the ecosystems in which we live. Essential reading for students and researchers alike, this book offers an integrated approach to population-, community-, and ecosystem-level ecological processes.

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Page Count

375

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691158452

ISBN 13

9780691158457

Evolutionary Community Ecology, Volume 58

By: Mark A. McPeek

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Evolutionary Community Ecology, Volume 58

By: Mark A. McPeek

Evolutionary Community Ecology develops a unified framework for understanding the structure of ecological communities and the dynamics of natural selection that shape the evolution of the species inhabiting them. All species engage in interactions with many other species, and these interactions regulate their abundance, define their trajectories of natural selection, and shape their movement decisions. Mark McPeek synthesizes the ecological and evolutionary dynamics generated by species interactions that structure local biological communities and regional metacommunities. McPeek explores the ecological performance characteristics needed for invasibility and coexistence of species in complex networks of species interactions. This species interaction framework is then extended to examine the ecological dynamics of natural selection that drive coevolution of interacting species in these complex interaction networks. The models of natural selection resulting from species interactions are used to evaluate the ecological conditions that foster diversification at multiple trophic levels. Analyses show that diversification depends on the ecological context in which species interactions occur and the types of traits that define the mechanisms of those species interactions. Lastly, looking at the mechanisms of speciation that affect species richness and diversity at various spatial scales and the consequences of past climate change over the Quaternary period, McPeek considers how metacommunity structure is shaped at regional and biogeographic scales. Integrating evolutionary theory into the study of community ecology, Evolutionary Community Ecology provides a new framework for predicting how communities are organized and how they may change over time.

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Page Count

336

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400888212

ISBN 13

9781400888214

Spatial Analysis

A Guide For Ecologists

By: Mark R. T. Dale,Marie-Josée Fortin

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Spatial Analysis

A Guide For Ecologists

By: Mark R. T. Dale,Marie-Josée Fortin

Nowadays, ecologists worldwide recognize the use of spatial analysis as essential. However, because of the fast-growing range of methods available, even an expert might occasionally find it challenging to choose the most appropriate one. Providing the ecological and statistical foundations needed to make the right decision, this second edition builds and expands upon the previous one by: • Encompassing the basic methods for spatial analysis, for both complete census and sample data • Investigating updated treatments of spatial autocorrelation and spatio-temporal analysis • Introducing detailed explanations of currently developing approaches, including spatial and spatio-temporal graph theory, scan statistics, fibre process analysis, and Hierarchical Bayesian analysis • Offering practical advice for specific circumstances, such as how to analyze forest Permanent Sample Plot data and how to proceed with transect data when portions of the data series are missing. Written for graduates, researchers and professionals, this book will be a valuable source of reference for years to come.

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453

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1139991442

ISBN 13

9781139991445

Coexistence in Ecology

A Mechanistic Perspective

By: Mark A. McPeek

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Coexistence in Ecology

A Mechanistic Perspective

By: Mark A. McPeek

A comprehensive framework for understanding species coexistence Coexistence is the central concept in community ecology, but an understanding of this concept requires that we study the actual mechanisms of species interactions. Coexistence in Ecology examines the major features of these mechanisms for species that coexist at different positions in complex food webs, and derives empirical tests from model predictions. Exploring the various challenges species face, Mark McPeek systematically builds a model food web, beginning with an ecosystem devoid of life and then adding one species at a time. With the introduction of each new species, he evaluates the properties it must possess to invade a community and quantifies the changes in the abundances of other species that result from a successful invasion. McPeek continues this process until he achieves a multitrophic level food web with many species coexisting at each trophic level, from omnivores, mutualists, and pathogens to herbivores, carnivores, and basic plants. He then describes the observational and experimental empirical studies that can test the theoretical predictions resulting from the model analyses. Synthesizing decades of theoretical research in community ecology, Coexistence in Ecology offers new perspectives on how to develop an empirical program of study rooted in the natural histories of species and the mechanisms by which they actually interact with one another.

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Page Count

468

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

069120487X

ISBN 13

9780691204871

Community Ecology

Analytical Methods Using R and Excel

By: Mark Gardener

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Community Ecology

Analytical Methods Using R and Excel

By: Mark Gardener

Interactions between species are of fundamental importance to all living systems and the framework we have for studying these interactions is community ecology. This is important to our understanding of the planets biological diversity and how species interactions relate to the functioning of ecosystems at all scales. Species do not live in isolation and the study of community ecology is of practical application in a wide range of conservation issues. The study of ecological community data involves many methods of analysis. In this book you will learn many of the mainstays of community analysis including: diversity, similarity and cluster analysis, ordination and multivariate analyses. This book is for undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers seeking a step-by-step methodology for analysing plant and animal communities using R and Excel. Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet is virtually ubiquitous and familiar to most computer users. It is a robust program that makes an excellent storage and manipulation system for many kinds of data, including community data. The R program is a powerful and flexible analytical system able to conduct a huge variety of analytical methods, which means that the user only has to learn one program to address many research questions. Its other advantage is that it is open source and therefore completely free. Novel analytical methods are being added constantly to the already comprehensive suite of tools available in R. Mark Gardener is both an ecologist and an analyst. He has worked in a range of ecosystems around the world and has been involved in research across a spectrum of community types. His knowledge of R is largely self-taught and this gives him insight into the needs of students learning to use R for complicated analyses.

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566

Publisher

Pelagic Publishing Ltd

Published Date

ISBN 10

1907807659

ISBN 13

9781907807657

Respiratory Infections

By: Lionel Mandell,Mark Woodhead,Santiago Ewig,Antoni Torres

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Respiratory Infections

By: Lionel Mandell,Mark Woodhead,Santiago Ewig,Antoni Torres

The aim of the volume is to provide an authoritative and international treatise bringing together current knowledge in the field of respiratory infection. The book will be organised by presentation rather than causative organism, a differentiating feature from the existing competition, and will be divided into four parts - 'General Issues', 'Commun

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Page Count

848

Publisher

CRC Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1444113542

ISBN 13

9781444113549

The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

By: Mark Vellend

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The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

By: Mark Vellend

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

246

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691208999

ISBN 13

9780691208992

Book's by Mark Vellend

The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

Invasion Biology

Invasion Biology

The Phytochemical Landscape

The Phytochemical Landscape

Evolutionary Community Ecology, Volume 58

Evolutionary Community Ecology, Volume 58

Spatial Analysis

Spatial Analysis

Coexistence in Ecology

Coexistence in Ecology

Community Ecology

Community Ecology

Respiratory Infections

Respiratory Infections

The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

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