Consumer-resource Dynamics (mpb-36) (ebook)

Argumento de Consumer-resource Dynamics (mpb-36) (ebook)

Despite often violent fluctuations in nature, species extinction is rare. California red scale, a potentially devastating pest of citrus, has been suppressed for fifty years in California to extremely low yet stable densities by its controlling parasitoid. Some larch budmoth populations undergo extreme cycles; others never cycle. In Consumer-Resource Dynamics, William Murdoch, Cherie Briggs, and Roger Nisbet use these and numerous other biological examples to lay the groundwork for a unifying theory applicable to predator-prey, parasitoid-host, and other consumer-resource interactions. Throughout, the focus is on how the properties of real organisms affect population dynamics.

The core of the book synthesizes and extends the authors' own models involving insect parasitoids and their hosts, and explores in depth how consumer species compete for a dynamic resource. The emerging general consumer-resource theory accounts for how consumers respond to differences among individuals in the resource population. From here the authors move to other models of consumer-resource dynamics and population dynamics in general. Consideration of empirical examples, key concepts, and a necessary review of simple models is followed by examination of spatial processes affecting dynamics, and of implications for biological control of pest organisms. The book establishes the coherence and broad applicability of consumer-resource theory and connects it to single-species dynamics. It closes by stressing the theory's value as a hierarchy of models that allows both generality and testability in the field.

"The authors . . . have succeeded in presenting some complex mathematics within a matrix of verbal clarity, which is rare among such books."--Bulletin of the British Ecological Society

"Consumer Resource Dynamics needs to be on any ecological theorist's bookshelf. . . . A careful, detailed analysis, and a well-written book."--Patrick Foley, Ecology

"Murdoch, Briggs, and Nisbet provide the most insightful development of cohesive ecological theory to have appeared in decades. For those who would say ecology is not making progress, this is the book with which to refute such uninspired myopia. In this era of 'applied' and 'relevant ecology,' a theory book might seem out of place. But we all need to read this book to remind ourselves how hard it is to really understand nature, and to appreciate the discipline of thinking required when deciphering the consequences of those environmental hazards from which we recoil."--Peter Kareiva, Lead Scientist, The Nature Conservancy

"This is a very important, well-written, and well-organized book. Its major contribution is in showing that real consumer-resource dynamics can in fact be understood using a unified theoretical framework. It will appeal to population ecologists but also to applied mathematicians, and will serve as an entrée into theoretical ecology for those with less of a theoretical bent."--Alan Hastings, University of California, Davis

"Consumer-Resource Dynamics is an important book that fills a significant void in the field of theoretical ecology. It brings together the seemingly disparate components of consumer-resource theory under a unifying framework, successfully tackles the challenge of developing models that are both general and testable, and makes complicated mathematical theory accessible to the more empirical minded ecologist. Unlike most books in the field, it presents new theory and new insights, and suggests new empirical directions to pursue. Very well written, it will find a wide audience, from theorists to empiricists, from students to professors, and from basic scientists to applied researchers. It will provide food for thought even to those who are experts in the field."--Priyanga Amarasekare, University of Chicago0Preface xi
1. Introduction 1
Why Consumer-Resource Interactions? 1
On Theory and Models 2
Themes 4
2. Population Dynamics: Observations and Basic Concepts 6
Types of Population Dynamics: Phenomena to Be Explained 6
Some Essential Concepts 15
Appendix 26
3. Simple Models in Continuous Time 30
The Lotka-Volterra Model 31
Local Stability Analysis 36
Effects of Stabilizing and Destabilizing Processes: A Survey 42
Combining Stabilizing and Destabilizing Processes: From Neutral Stability to Limit Cycles 53
Simple Models of Stage and Spatial Structure: The Creation of Indirect Density Dependence 60
Basic and Potential General Properties of Predator-Prey Systems 69
Appendix 72
4. Simple Models in Discrete Time 83
Single-Species Models in Discrete Time 84
Discrete-Generation Parasitoid-Host Models 93
Hybrid Discrete-Time/Continuous-Time Models 106
Appendix 111
5. An Introduction to Models with Stage Structure 119
Preamble: Single-Species Populations with Stage Structure 121
The Basic Stage-Structured Host-Parasitoid Model 134
Ecological Processes Inducing Instability 147
Ecological Processes Inducing Stability 149
Single-Generation Cycles in Parasitoid-Host Models 160
Appendix 170
6. Dynamical Effects of Parasitoid Lifestyles 179
Parasitoid Lifestyles 180
Four Mechanisms Inducing Greater Gain from Older Hosts 186
A Unifying Framework and Extensions 199
A More General Model: The Generic Gain Model 205
The Nature and Origins of Delayed-Feedback Cycles and Single-Generation Cycles: Insights from a Simplified Model 207
Concluding Remarks 216
7. State-Dependent Decisions 219
Effects of Egg Load on Parasitoid Decisions 220
Effects of Limits to Egg Production 236
A General Dynamical Theory of Parasitoid Behavior 242
8. Competition between Consumer Species 245
Lotka-Volterra Competition Model: Competition for an Implicit Resource 247
Exploitative Competition for an Explicit Resource 255
Competition in Discrete Time 274
Effects of Age Structure on Competition 281
Non-Equilibrial Mechanisms of Coexistence 301
Effects of Spatial Structure on Competition 310
Concluding Remarks 317
9. Implications for Biological Control 318
A Comparative Approach to Evaluating Natural Enemies 321
Spatial Processes and Control 336
Need for Experimental Tests 340
10. Dynamical Effects of Spatial Processes 341
Spatial Processes among Subpopulations 341
Spatial Processes within Populations: Aggregated Attacks and Other Sources of Variation in Risk among Individuals 366
Connection between Processes within Populations and among Subpopulations 392
11. Synthesis and Integration across Systems 394
Shared Theory for Different Kinds of Consumer-Resource Interactions 394
Connection between Consumer-Resource Dynamics and Single-Species Dynamics in Theory and Nature 399
Cycles in Real Systems: Single-Species Models for Many-Species Systems 410
General Conclusions/Considerations 414
12. Concluding Remarks 416
Literature Cited 425
Index 451