Colin R. Townsend is the Director of the Ecology, Conservation and Biodiversity Research Group at the University of Otago Michael Begon is Professor of Ecology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool John L. Harper is an award-winning biologist and a leading figure in plant population biology

Preface.Acknowledgments.Part I: Introduction:.1. Ecology and how to do it.1.1 Introduction.1.2 Scales, diversity and rigor.1.3 Ecology in practice.2. Ecology's evolutionary backdrop.2.1 Introduction.2.2 Evolution by natural selection.2.3 Evolution within species.2.4 The ecology of speciation.2.5 Effects of climatic change on the evolution and distribution of species.2.6 Effects of continental drift on the ecology of evolution.2.7 Interpreting the results of evolution: convergents and parallels.Part II: Conditions and Resources:.3. Physical conditions and the availability of resources.3.1 Introduction.3.2 Environmental conditions.3.3 Plant resources.3.4 Animals and their resources.3.5 Effects of intraspecific competition for resources.3.6 Conditions, resources and the ecological niche.4. Conditions, resources and the world's communities.4.1 Introduction.4.2 Geographic patterns at large and small scales.4.3 Temporal patterns in conditions and resources.4.4 Terrestrial biomes.4.5 Aquatic environments.Part III: Individuals, Populations, Communities and Ecosystems:.5. Birth, death and movement.5.1 Introduction.5.2 Life cycles.5.3 Monitoring birth and death: life tables and fecundity schedules.5.4 Dispersal and migration.5.5 The impact of intraspecific competition on populations.5.6 Life history patterns.6. Interspecific competition.6.1 Introduction.6.2 Ecological effects of interspecific competition.6.3 Evolutionary effects of interspecific competition.6.4 Interspecific competition and community structure.6.5 How significant is interspecific competition in practice?.7. Predation, grazing and disease.7.1 Introduction.7.2 Prey fitness and abundance.7.3 The subtleties of predation.7.4 Predator behaviour: foraging and transmission.7.5 Population dynamics of predation.7.6 Predation and community structure.8. Evolutionary ecology.8.1 Introduction.8.2 Molecular ecology: differentiation within and between species.8.3 Coevolutionary arms races.8.4 Mutualistic interactions.9. From populations to communities.9.1 Introduction.9.2 Multiple determinants of the dynamics of populations.9.3 Dispersal, patches and metapopulation dynamics.9.4 Temporal patterns in community composition.9.5 Food webs.10. Patterns in species richness.10.1 Introduction.10.2 A simple model of species richness.10.3 Spatially varying factors that influence species richness.10.4 Temporally varying factors that influence species richness.10.5 Gradients of species richness.10.6 Patterns in taxon richness in the fossil record.10.7 Appraisal of patterns in species richness.11. The flux of energy and matter through ecosystems.11.1 Introduction.11.2 Primary productivity.11.3 The fate of primary productivity.11.4 The process of decomposition.11.5 The flux of matter through ecosystems.11.6 Global biogeochemical cycles.Part IV: Applied Issues in Ecology:.12. Sustainability.12.1 Introduction.12.2 The population 'problem'.12.3 Harvesting living resources from the wild.12.4 The farming of monocultures.12.5 Pest control.12.6 Integrated farming systems.12.7 Forecasting agriculturally driven global environmental change.13. Habitat degradation.13.1 Introduction.13.2 Degradation via cultivation.13.3 Power generation and its diverse effects.13.4 Degradation in urban and industrial landscapes.13.5 Maintenance and restoration of ecosystem services.14. Conservation.14.1 Introduction.14.2 Threats to biodiversity.14.3 Conservation in practice.14.4 Conservation in a changing world.14.5 Finale.References.Index