This book is concerned with the general principles and theories of population ecology. It presents a completely unique approach, based on a simple set of general rules governing the population interactions.

I had taught courses in applied ecology, population dynamics, and population management for many years and, like many of my colleagues, had grown acc- tomed to the blank stares of my students as we wove our way through the confused semantics and intricate concepts of traditional ecology and wrestled with elaborate mathematical arguments. I searched in vain for a central unifying concept on which to organize a theory of population ecology until, 30 years ago, I read a small book of essays edited by John Milsum of McGill University entitled Positive Feedback A General Systems Approach to Positive/Negative Feedback and Mutual Causality. Stimulated by the articles in this book, particularly those written by Milsum, M. Maruyama, and A. Rapoport, I began to structure my lectures around the central ideas of general systems theory. I first used this approach in my graduate courses in population dynamics and population management and then, encouraged by the results, in my undergraduate course in forest entomology and to teach population dynamics to practicing foresters. Almost without exception, my students found the general systems approach intuitively reasonable and easier to understand than traditional teaching methods. Even undergraduates seem to grasp the fundamental principles quite rapidly and, more important, to realize that a general understanding of population systems is an essential part of their education. These reactions by my students, and their continued encouragement, led me to write this book.

Presents a completely unique approach, based on a simple set of general rules governing the population interactions

Autorentext
Pavel Kindlmann is professor of ecology at the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic and performs research on various aspects of biodiversity as the Head of the Biodiversity Research Centre, in the CzechGlobe - Global Change Research Centre, Academy of Sciences, in eské Bud jovice, Czech Republic. His main interests include population and metapopulation dynamics and life history strategies with a special emphasis on insect herbivores, their predators, and on the orchid family. He authored or edited several books on population systems, orchids and conservation biology and published about 100 scientific papers in prominent journals.

Inhalt
Population Systems.- A Brief Look at Systems in General.- Population Dynamics and an Elementary Model.- Population Regulation and a General Model.- Systems of Interacting Populations.- Interactions Between Two Species.- Interactions in Space.- Interactions Between Many Species (Ecological Communities).