Description

Charles Krebs' best-selling majors-level text approaches ecology as a series of problems that are best understood by evaluating empirical evidence through data analysis and application of quantitative reasoning. No other text presents analytical, quantitative, and statistical ecological information in an equally accessible style for students. Reflecting the way ecologists actually practice, the new edition emphasizes the role of experiments in testing ecological ideas and discusses many contemporary and controversial problems related to distribution and abundance.

Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, Sixth Edition builds on a clear writing style, historical perspective, and emphasis on data analysis with an updated, reorganized discussion of key topics and two new chapters on climate change and animal behavior. Key concepts and key terms are now included at the beginning of each chapter to help students focus on what is most important within each chapter, mathematical analyses are broken down step by step in a new feature called “Working with the Data,” concepts are reinforced throughout the text with examples from the literature, and end-of-chapter questions and problems emphasize application.

Features

• Selected topics have been reorganized and condensed in response to feedback from professors and students.
  • Chapter 8: Population Parameters and Demographic Techniques streamlines material from Chapters 9 and 10 of the Fifth Edition,
  • Chapters 5 and Chapter 6 have also been reorganized to summarize concepts from Chapters 4 to 7 of the Fifth Edition.
• Key concepts have moved from the end of each chapter to the beginning of each chapter to assist students in identifying and reviewing topics that are explored in the chapter.
• Profiles of eminent ecologists add a historical perspective and demonstrate that ecology is a very human activity.
• A unique problems-oriented approach raises a question in each chapter about how populations and communities operate in nature, and then provides information to help students think critically about the problem.
• Writing in clear, jargon-free language, the author incorporates a strong research base, presenting theory and data in parallel so students can evaluate how well the theory fits reality. A set of problems and questions after each chapter further motivates thinking.

New to this Edition

• NEW! Working with the Data boxes demonstrate important quantitative concepts with examples, and allows for quick reference when reviewing for exams.
• More than 150 figures, tables, and graphs are either completely new or updated with new data and a modern, more consistent design. Selected figures have new a design feature that highlights key information, interpretations, or questions.
• NEW! Chapter 3: Behavioral Ecology and Chapter 25: Ecosystem Dynamics under Changing Climates have been added.
• Selected topics have been reorganized and condensed in response to feedback from professors and students. Chapter 8: Population Parameters and Demographic Techniques streamlines material from Chapters 9 and 10 of theFifth Edition, and Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 have also been reorganized to summarize concepts from Chapters 4 to 7 of theFifth Edition.
• Extensive revisions have been made to chapters on conservation biology (Chapter 17), community organization, and primary production (Chapter 22).
• NEW! Researcher Profiles at the beginning of each part emphasize the historical development of ecology by highlighting the people who helped build the discipline.
• NEW! JPEGs of all the photos, figures, graphs, and tables from the text will be available for download on the Instructor Resource Center.
• NEW! Key Terms are highlighted at the beginning of each chapter to help students recognize important terms as they read.
• Figures of species contained within graphs have been redrawn and updated for this edition.
• Review Questions and Problems have been revised and 30% are new.
• NEW! A larger trim size gives the Sixth Edition a more friendly, inviting presentation for students.

Table of Contents

Glossary
1. Introduction to the Science of Ecology
2. Evolution and Ecology
3. Behavioral Ecology
4. Analyzing Geographic Distributions
5. Factors That Limit Distributions I: Biotic
6. Factors That Limit Distributions II: Abiotic
7. Distribution and Abundance
8. Population Parameters and Demographic Techniques
9. Population Growth
10. Species Interactions I: Competition
11. Species Interactions II: Predation
12. Species Interactions III: Herbivory and Mutualism
13. Species Interactions IV: Disease and Parasitism
14. Regulation of Population Size
15. Applied Problems I: Harvesting Populations
16. Applied Problems II: Pest Control
17. Applied Problems III: Conservation Biology
18. Community Structure in Space: Biodiversity
19. Community Structure in Time: Succession
20. Community Dynamics I: Predation and Competition in Equilibrial Communities
21. Community Dynamics II: Disturbance and Nonequilibrium Communities
22. Ecosystem Metabolism I: Primary Production
23. Ecosystem Metabolism II: Secondary Production
24. Ecosystem Metabolism III: Nutrient Cycles
25. Ecosystem Dynamics under Changing Climates
26. Ecosystem Health and Human Impacts
Appendix: A Primer on Population Genetics
Appendix: Instantaneous and Finite Rates
Appendix: Species Diversity Measures of Heterogeneity
Bibliography
Index

Author

Charles Krebs is Emeritus Professor of Zoology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He received his B.S. from the University of Minnesota and earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. In addition to teaching ecology for 40 years, he works extensively on the population of rodents in Northern Canada, the United States, and Australia, trying to understand the mechanisms behind population fluctuations. He has published three ecology textbooks including Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, Sixth Edition and Ecological Methodology, Second Edition both published by Benjamin Cummings.