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Dynamics of Complex Systems: Complexity in Ecology >> Content Detail



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Lec #TopicsReadings
Introduction
1How many Species are there on Earth?May, R. M. "How many Species are there on Earth?" Science 241 (1988): 1441-9.
Food Webs
2Introduction to Food Webs and Trophic InteractionsCohen, J. E., and C. M. Newman. "A Stochastic Theory of Community Food Webs I. Models and Aggregated Data." Proc R Soc Lond B 224 (1985): 421-48.

Pimm, S. L., J. H. Lawton, and J. E. Cohen. "Food Web Patterns and their Consequences." Nature 350 (1991): 669-74.
3Empirical Examples and Critiques of the Cascade ModelGoldwasser, L., and J. Roughgarden. "Construction and Analysis of a Large Caribbean Food Web." Ecology 74 (1993): 1216-33.

Havens, K. "Scale and Structure in Natural Food Webs." Science 257 (1992): 1107-9.
4Dynamical Models of Food WebsPimm, S. L., and J. H. Lawton. "Number of Trophic Levels in Ecological Communities." Nature 268 (1977): 329-331.

Post, W. M., and S. L. Pimm. "Community Assembly and Food Web Stability." Mathematical Biosciences 64 (1983): 169-192.
Biodiversity and Ecological Stability
5What is the Relationship Between Complexity and Stability?May, R. M. "Will a Large Complex System be Stable?" Nature 238 (1972): 413-414.

Cohen, J. E., and C. M. Newman. "When will a Large Complex System be Stable?" J Theor Biol 113 (1985): 153-6.

Solow, A. R., C. Costello, and A. Beet. "On an Early Result on Stability and Complexity." American Naturalist 154 (1999): 587-588.
6Evidence from ExperimentsTilman, D. "Biodiversity: Population versus Ecosystem Stability." Ecology 77 (1996): 350-363.
7Diversity Stability Relationships: Statistical Inevitability or Ecological Consequence?Doak, D. F., et al. "The Statistical Inevitability of Stability Diversity Relationships in Community Ecology." American Naturalist 151 (1998): 264-76.

Tilman, D., C. L. Lehman, and C. E. Bristow. "Diversity Stability Relationships: Statistical Inevitability or Ecological Consequence?" American Naturalist 151 (1998): 277-82.
Diversity and Ecosystem Function
8Diversity in Terrestrial EcosystemsNaeem, S., L. J. Thompson, S. P. Lawler, J. H. Lawton, and R. M. Woodfin. "Empirical Evidence that Declining Species Diversity may Alter the Performance of Terrestrial Ecosystems." Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 347 (1995): 249-62.
9Perspectives on Biodiversity and Ecosystem FunctionGrime, J. P. "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function: The Debate Deepens." Science 277 (1997): 1260-1.

Wardle, D. A., O. Zackrisson, G. Hornberg, and C. Gallet. "The Influence of Island Area on Ecosystem Properties." Science 277 (1997): 1296-1300.

Tilman, D., J. Knops, D. Wedin, P. Reich, M. Ritchie, and M. Siemann. "The Influence of Functional Diversity and Composition on Ecosystem Processes." Science 277 (1997): 1300-2.

Hooper, D. U., and P. M. Vitousek. "The Effects of Plant Composition and Diversity on Ecosystem Processes." Science 277 (1997): 1302-5.
Species-area Relationships
10Island BiogeographyMacArthur, R. H., and E. O. Wilson. "An Equilibrium Theory of Insular Zoogeography." Evolution 17 (1963): 373-387.
11Theoretical Foundation: Log-normal Distributions of Species Abundance Power-law Species-area CurvesAmazon logo May, R. M. "Patterns of Species Abundance and Diversity." In Ecology and Evolution of Communities. Edited by M. L. Cody and J. M. Diamond. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1975, pp. 81-120. ISBN: 9780674224445.
12Spatial ModelsDurrett, R., and S. Levin. "Spatial Models for Species-area Curves." Journal of Theoretical Biology 179 (1996): 119-127.
Species-energy Relationships
13What is the Role of Resource Availability in Species-area Relationships?Wright, D. H. "Species-energy Theory: An Extension of Species-area Theory." Oikos 41 (1983): 4896-506.
14Empirical Tests of Species-energy TheoryCurrie. "Energy and Large-scale Patterns of Animal- and Plant-species Richness." The American Naturalist 137 (1991): 27-49.
15Issues of ScaleAmazon logo Rosenzweig, M. L., and Z. Abramsky. "How are Diversity and Productivity Related?" In Diversity in Ecological Communities. Edited by R. E. Ricklefs and D. Schluter. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1994, pp. 52-65. ISBN: 9780226718224.

Amazon logo Wright, D. H., D. J. Currie, and B. A. Maurer. "Energy Supply and Patterns of Species Richness on Local and Regional Scales." In Diversity in Ecological Communities. Edited by R. E. Ricklefs and D. Schluter. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1994, pp. 66-74. ISBN: 9780226718224.
Extinctions and Home Range
16Extinction Rates and Range Contraction of Endangered SpeciesAmazon logo Lawton, J. H. "Population Dynamics Principles." In Extinction Rates. Edited by R. H. Lawton and R. M. May. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 147-63. ISBN: 9780198548294.

Channel, R., and M. V. Lomolino. "Dynamic Biogeography and Conservation of Endangered Species." Nature 403 (2000): 84-6.
The Role of Body Size in Ecology
17Introduction to Body Size in the Context of Evolution and EcologyLaBarbera, M. "Analyzing Body Size as a Factor in Ecology and Evolution." Annu Rev Ecol Sys 20 (1989): 97-117.
18Allometric Constraints, Resource Equipartitioning and Body SizeDamuth, J. "Population Density and Body Size in Mammals." Nature 290 (1981): 699-700.

Enquist, B. J., J. H. Brown, and G. B. West. "Allometric Scaling of Plant Energetics and Population Density." Nature 395 (1998): 163-5.
19Cope's RuleAlroy, J. "Cope's Rule and the Dynamics of Body Mass Evolution in North American Fossil Mammals." Science 280 (1998): 731-4.
20Home Range Scaling and Statistical Artifacts in Abundance SamplingLindstedt, S. L., B. J. Miller, and S. W. Buskirk. "Home Range, Time and Body Size in Mammals." Ecology 67 (1986): 413-8.

Blackburn, T. M., and K. J. Gaston. "Abundance-body Size Relationships: the Area you Census tells you More." Oikos 75 (1996): 303-9.
21Evolutionary Entropy and Body SizeDemetrius, L. "Directionality Principles in Thermodynamics and Evolution." Proc Natl Acad Sci 94 (1997): 3491-8.

———. "Directionality Theory and the Evolution of Body Size." (Unpublished, 2000).
Student Presentations
22-29Student Presentations

 








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