Population Ecology of Individuals. (MPB-25), Volume 25 (Monographs in Population Biology (103))

A common tendency in the field of population ecology has been to overlook individual differences by treating populations as homogeneous units; conversely, in behavioral ecology the tendency has been to concentrate on how individual behavior is shaped by evolutionary forces, but not on how this behavior affects population dynamics. Adam Lomnicki and others aim to remedy this one-sidedness by showing that the overall dynamical behavior of populations must ultimately be understood in terms of the behavior of individuals. Professor Lomnicki's wide-ranging presentation of this approach includes simple mathematical models aimed at describing both the origin and consequences of individual variation among plants and animals. The author contends that further progress in population ecology will require taking into account individual differences other than sex, age, and taxonomic affiliation—unequal access to resources, for instance. Population ecologists who adopt this viewpoint may discover new answers to classical questions of population ecology. Partly because it uses a variety of examples from many taxonomic groups, this work will appeal not only to population ecologists but to ecologists in general. Cover Page Half-title Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Preface 1. Introduction: Basic Models of Population Ecology and Intrapopulation Variability 1.1. Individuals and Superorganisms 1.2. Unlimited Population Growth 1.3. Limited Population Growth 1.4. Limited Growth in Discrete Places 2. Individual Variation in Resource Partitioning and Population Dynamics 2.1. Resource Partitioning among Individuals 2.2. Four Versions of the Model of Resource Partitioning 2.3. Population Stability and Persistence 2.4. Laboratory and Field Data 2.5. Scramble and Contest Competition 3. Individual Variation of Body Weight in Plant and Animal Populations 3.1. Empirical Data 3.2. Some Simple Explanations and Their Shortcomings 3.3. Weight Differentiation under Stochastic Growth 3.4. Deterministic Growth and the Importance of Pearly Differentiation 3.5. Weight Differentiation in Competition for Space 3.6. Weight Distribution and General Properties of the Function y(x) 4. Individual Differences and Hereditary Variation 4.1. Variation as an Adaptation 4.2. Differential Mortality and the Soft Selection Concept 4.3. Genetic Determination of Individual Success in the Ecological World 5. Age and Overlapping Generations 5.1. Age-Dependent Individual Success 5.2. Distinct Life Stages within a Population 5.3. Simple Extension of the Models of Population Dynamics to Overlapping Generations 5.4. Discrete Versus Continuous Models of Population Dynamics 6. The Mechanism of Contest Competition 6.1. Definition of Contest Competition 6.2. Population Effects of Contest Competition 6.3. The Case Study: Competition among Gall Aphids Pemphigus belae 6.4. Social Hierarchy, Territoriality, and Contest Competition 6.5. Evolutionarily Stable Arms Investments, or How Contest Competition Can Be Regarded as a Result of Arms Races 7. Self-regulation of Population Size 7.1. Self-regulation in Terms of Game Theory 7.2. Self-regulation in Confined Laboratory Populations 7.3. Optimal Reproduction in Populations with Unequal Resource Partitioning 8. Emigration and Unequal Resource Partitioning 8.1. Emigration from Groups of Related and Unrelated Individuals 8.2. Impermanent Local Habitats in Heterogeneous Space 8.3. Evolution of Emigration from Local Populations without Unequal Resource Partitioning 8.4. Emigration from Local Populations with Unequal Resource Partitioning 8.5. Emigration, and Scramble and Contest Competition 8.6. Free and Despotic Distribution of Animals 9. Field and Laboratory Populations of Animals 9.1. Limitations of Field Studies 9.2. Animal Populations in the Laboratory 9.3. Free and Confined Laboratory Populations of Hydra 9.4. Free and Confined Laboratory Populations of Flour Beetles 9.5. Confined Populations of Animals in the Field 10. Spatial and Temporal Heterogeneity and Stability of Ecological Systems 10.1. Reproduction in Spatially and Temporally Heterogeneous Environments 10.2. Spatial Microheterogeneity 10.3. Direct Relations between Spatial Heterogeneity, Individual Variability, and Stability 10.4. Spatial Heterogeneity and Species Diversity 10.5. Spatial Heterogeneity and Ecosystem Stability References Author Index Subject Index Shows that the overall dynamical behavior of populations must be understood in terms of the behavior of individuals. The author contends that further progress in population ecology requires taking into account individual differences other than sex, age, and taxonomic affiliation - unequal access to resources, for instance. Adam Łomnicki. Includes Indexes. Bibliography: P. 205-216.