Book description
Population ecologists study how births and deaths affect the dynamics
of populations and communities, while ecosystem ecologists study how
species control the flux of energy and materials through food webs and
ecosystems. Although all these processes occur simultaneously in nature,
the mathematical frameworks bridging the two disciplines have developed
independently. Consequently, this independent development of theory has
impeded the cross-fertilization of population and ecosystem ecology.
Using recent developments from dynamical systems theory, this advanced
undergraduate/graduate level textbook shows how to bridge the two
disciplines seamlessly. The book shows how bifurcations between the
solutions of models can help understand regime shifts in natural
populations and ecosystems once thresholds in rates of births, deaths,
consumption, competition, nutrient inputs, and decay are crossed.
Mathematical Ecology is essential reading for students of
ecology who have had a first course in calculus and linear algebra or
students in mathematics wishing to learn how dynamical systems theory
can be applied to ecological problems.
John Pastor
is Professor of Biology, at University of Minnesota Duluth, USA
