Ecological niches : linking classical and contemporary approaches / Jonathan M. Chase and Mathew A. Leibold.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chase, Jonathan M.

Contributor:

Leibold, Mathew A.

Series:

Interspecific interactions.

Interspecific interactions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Niche (Ecology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (224 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Why do species live where they live? What determines the abundance and diversity of species in a given area? What role do species play in the functioning of entire ecosystems? All of these questions share a single core concept-the ecological niche. Although the niche concept has fallen into disfavor among ecologists in recent years, Jonathan M. Chase and Mathew A. Leibold argue that the niche is an ideal tool with which to unify disparate research and theoretical approaches in contemporary ecology. Chase and Leibold define the niche as including both what an organism needs from its environment and how that organism's activities shape its environment. Drawing on the theory of consumer-resource interactions, as well as its graphical analysis, they develop a framework for understanding niches that is flexible enough to include a variety of small- and large-scale processes, from resource competition, predation, and stress to community structure, biodiversity, and ecosystem function. Chase and Leibold's synthetic approach will interest ecologists from a wide range of subdisciplines.

Contents:

1. Introduction : history, context, and purpose

2. Revising the niche concept : definitions and mechanistic models

3. Comparing classical and contemporary niche theory

4. Designs and limitations of empirical approaches to the niche

5. Incorporating biological complexities

6. Environmental variability in time and space

7. Species sorting in communities

8. Community succession, assembly, and biodiversity

9. Niche relations within ecosystems

10. The evolutionary niche

11. Conclusions.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-205).

ISBN:

9786613150684

9781283150682

1283150689

9780226101811

0226101819

OCLC:

721195316