Populations in a seasonal environment / Stephen D. Fretwell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fretwell, Stephen D.

Series:

Monographs in population biology ; 5.

Monographs in population biology ; 5

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Animal populations.

Phenology.

Seasons.

Medical Subjects:

Seasons.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 217 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1972.

Summary:

Most organisms live in a seasonal environment. During their life cycles, some species face seasons of cold and heat, aridity and abundant rainfall, migration and stable residence, breeding and nonbreeding. Populations grow and decline as supplies of materials essential to their survival wax and wane. Such qualitative truths as these flow obviously from field observations.

In this original monograph, Stephen Fretwell analyzes the highly complex interaction between a population and a regularly varying environment in an attempt to define and measure seasonality as a critical parameter in the general theory of population regulation. Concerned primarily with the size and the habitat distribution of populations, Professor Fretwell develops simple models that, when applied to specific populations, usually of birds, demonstrate the effect of seasonal variations on the regulation of populations. He maintains that seasonality, as a concept, is essential to a full understanding of environmental interaction. During the course of his exposition, the author offers several new hypotheses, including theories affecting the breeding, numbers, distribution, and diversity of wintering birds, and a theory affecting the body size of sparrows.

Contents:

Section I The Size of Species Populations 1

1. Models for Long-Generation Species 3

2. Theory for Organisms with Short-Generation Times 20

3. Applications of Graphical Models 32

4. Some Analytical Models of Long-Generation Species 63

Section II Habitat Densities 78

5. Theory of Habitat Distribution 79

6. Distributions of Breeding Birds 115

7. Winter Densities of Fringillids 166.

Notes:

Bibliography: pages 207-214.

ISBN:

0691081050

OCLC:

376009