Ecology Genetics And Evolution Of Metapopulations

This volume presents a review of metapopulation biology. It describes key theories of study and applies the best field studies to the conservation of species in fragmented landscapes. The work explains and critically assess the value of the metapopulation concept for field studies and conservation.

Ecology, Genetics and Evolution of Metapopulations is acollection of specially commissioned articles that looks at fragmented habitats, bringing together recent theoretical advances and empirical studies applying the metapopulation approach. Several chapters closely integrate ecology with genetics and evolutionary biology, and others illustrate how metapopulation concepts and models can be applied to answer questions about conservation, epidemiology, and speciation. The extensive coverage of theory from highly regarded scientists and the many substantive applications in this one-of-a-kind work make it invaluable to graduate students and researchers in a wide range of disciplines. Provides a comprehensive and authoritative account of all aspects of metapopulation biology, integrating ecology, genetics, and evolution Developed by recognized experts, including Hanski who won the Balzan Prize for Ecological Sciences Covers novel applications of the metapopulation approach to conservation

Written by a world renowned biologist, this volume offers a comprehensive synthesis of current research in this rapidly expanding area of population biology. It covers both the essential theory and a wide range of empirical studies, including the author's groundbreaking work on the Glanville fritillary butterfly. It also includes practical applications to conservation biology. The book describes theoretical models for metapopulation dynamics in highly fragmented landscapes and emphasizes spatially realistic models. It presents the incidence function model and includes several detailed examples of its application. Accessible to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, Metapopulation Ecology will be a valuable resource for researchers in population biology, conservation biology, and landscape ecology.

Various approaches have been developed to evaluate the consequences of spatial structure on evolution in subdivided populations. This book is both a review and new synthesis of several of these approaches, based on the theory of spatial genetic structure. François Rousset examines Sewall Wright's methods of analysis based on F-statistics, effective size, and diffusion approximation; coalescent arguments; William Hamilton's inclusive fitness theory; and approaches rooted in game theory and adaptive dynamics. Setting these in a framework that reveals their common features, he demonstrates how efficient tools developed within one approach can be applied to the others. Rousset not only revisits classical models but also presents new analyses of more recent topics, such as effective size in metapopulations. The book, most of which does not require fluency in advanced mathematics, includes a self-contained exposition of less easily accessible results. It is intended for advanced graduate students and researchers in evolutionary ecology and population genetics, and will also interest applied mathematicians working in probability theory as well as statisticians.

Now that so many ecosystems face rapid and major environmental change, the ability of species to respond to these changes by dispersing or moving between different patches of habitat can be crucial to ensuring their survival. Understanding dispersal has become key to understanding how populations may persist. Dispersal Ecology and Evolution provides a timely and wide-ranging overview of the fast expanding field of dispersal ecology, incorporating the very latest research. The causes, mechanisms, and consequences of dispersal at the individual, population, species, and community levels are considered. Perspectives and insights are offered from the fields of evolution, behavioural ecology, conservation biology, and genetics. Throughout the book theoretical approaches are combined with empirical data, and care has been taken to include examples from as wide a range of species as possible - both plant and animal.

As anthropogenic environmental changes spread and intensify across the planet, conservation biologists have to analyze dynamics at large spatial and temporal scales. Ecological and evolutionary processes are then closely intertwined. In particular, evolutionary responses to anthropogenic environmental change can be so fast and pronounced that conservation biology can no longer afford to ignore them. To tackle this challenge, areas of conservation biology that are disparate ought to be integrated into a unified framework. Bringing together conservation genetics, demography, and ecology, this book introduces evolutionary conservation biology as an integrative approach to managing species in conjunction with ecological interactions and evolutionary processes. Which characteristics of species and which features of environmental change foster or hinder evolutionary responses in ecological systems? How do such responses affect population viability, community dynamics, and ecosystem functioning? Under which conditions will evolutionary responses ameliorate, rather than worsen, the impact of environmental change?