Applied Population Biology

An increasing variety of biological problems involving resource management, conservation and environmental quality have been dealt with using the principles of population biology (defined to include population dynamics, genetics and certain aspects of community ecology). There appears to be a mixed record of successes and failures and almost no critical synthesis or reviews that have attempted to discuss the reasons and ways in which population biology, with its remarkable theoretical as well as experimental advances, could find more useful application in agriculture, forestry, fishery, medicine and resource and environmental management. This book provides examples of state-of-the-art applications by a distinguished group of researchers in several fields. The diversity of topics richly illustrates the scientific and economic breadth of their discussions as well as epistemological and comparative analyses by the authors and editors. Several principles and common themes are emphasized and both strengths and potential sources of uncertainty in applications are discussed. This volume will hopefully stimulate new interdisciplinary avenues of problem-solving research.

The goal of this book is to search for a balance between simple and analyzable models and unsolvable models which are capable of addressing important questions on population biology. Part I focusses on single species simple models including those which have been used to predict the growth of human and animal population in the past. Single population models are, in some sense, the building blocks of more realistic models -- the subject of Part II. Their role is fundamental to the study of ecological and demographic processes including the role of population structure and spatial heterogeneity -- the subject of Part III. This book, which will include both examples and exercises, is of use to practitioners, graduate students, and scientists working in the field.

This 2004 collection of essays deals with the foundation and historical development of population biology and its relationship to population genetics and population ecology on the one hand and to the rapidly growing fields of molecular quantitative genetics, genomics and bioinformatics on the other. Such an interdisciplinary treatment of population biology has never been attempted before. The volume is set in a historical context, but it has an up-to-date coverage of material in various related fields. The areas covered are the foundation of population biology, life history evolution and demography, density and frequency dependent selection, recent advances in quantitative genetics and bioinformatics, evolutionary case history of model organisms focusing on polymorphisms and selection, mating system evolution and evolution in the hybrid zones, and applied population biology including conservation, infectious diseases and human diversity. This is the third of three volumes published in honour of Richard Lewontin.

Population dynamics is an important subject in mathematical biology. A cen tral problem is to study the long-term behavior of modeling systems. Most of these systems are governed by various evolutionary equations such as difference, ordinary, functional, and partial differential equations (see, e. g. , [165, 142, 218, 119, 55]). As we know, interactive populations often live in a fluctuating environment. For example, physical environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity and the availability of food, water, and other resources usually vary in time with seasonal or daily variations. Therefore, more realistic models should be nonautonomous systems. In particular, if the data in a model are periodic functions of time with commensurate period, a periodic system arises; if these periodic functions have different (minimal) periods, we get an almost periodic system. The existing reference books, from the dynamical systems point of view, mainly focus on autonomous biological systems. The book of Hess [106J is an excellent reference for periodic parabolic boundary value problems with applications to population dynamics. Since the publication of this book there have been extensive investigations on periodic, asymptotically periodic, almost periodic, and even general nonautonomous biological systems, which in turn have motivated further development of the theory of dynamical systems. In order to explain the dynamical systems approach to periodic population problems, let us consider, as an illustration, two species periodic competitive systems dUI dt = !I(t,Ul,U2), (0.

Conservation Biology in Sub-Saharan Africa comprehensively explores the challenges and potential solutions to key conservation issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. Easy to read, this lucid and accessible textbook includes fifteen chapters that cover a full range of conservation topics, including threats to biodiversity, environmental laws, and protected areas management, as well as related topics such as sustainability, poverty, and human-wildlife conflict. This rich resource also includes a background discussion of what conservation biology is, a wide range of theoretical approaches to the subject, and concrete examples of conservation practice in specific African contexts. Strategies are outlined to protect biodiversity whilst promoting economic development in the region. Boxes covering specific themes written by scientists who live and work throughout the region are included in each chapter, together with recommended readings and suggested discussion topics. Each chapter also includes an extensive bibliography. Conservation Biology in Sub-Saharan Africa provides the most up-to-date study in the field. It is an essential resource, available on-line without charge, for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as a handy guide for professionals working to stop the rapid loss of biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.

Provides a quantitative and Darwinian perspective on population biology, with problem sets, simulations and worked examples to aid the student.

Dynamics.

Accompanying CD-ROM contains shell programs that provide access to the RAMAS Ecolab.