The Biology of Rarity: Causes and consequences of rare-common differences / Edition 1

by W.E. Kunin, K.J. Gaston

Overview

This book began life as a review article. That article spawned a symposium which was, in turn, greatly expanded to form the present volume. As the project moved through these developmental stages (hopefully, towards attainment of its full maturity), a number of people have provided invaluable assistance to us, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them. Gordon Orians must certainly take a high place in that list. He has been both a friend and mentor to W.E.K., and many of the topics explored in this book have emerged from the resultant dialogue. His thought processes, ideas and perhaps even some of his turns of phrase emerge throughout much of the book. Gordon also played a pivotal role in inviting in motion, and so he has served as a catalyst the article that set this project to the book as well as one of its reagents. While he has not served as an editor of this book, he is one of its authors in more than just the literal sense.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780412633805
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	12/31/1996
Series:	Population and Community Biology Series , #17
Edition description:	1997
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.24(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

One: Rarity and Rare—Common Differences.- 1 Introduction: on the causes and consequences of rare—common differences.- 2 Rare—common differences: an overview.- 3 What is rarity?.- 4 Who is rare? Artefacts and complexities of rarity determination.- Two: Mechanisms Creating Rare—Common Differences.- 5 Who gets the short bits of the broken stick?.- 6 Speciation and rarity: separating cause from consequence.- 7 How do rare species avoid extinction? A paleontological view.- 8 Extinction risk and rarity on an ecological timescale.- 9 Population biology and rarity: on the complexity of density dependence in insect—plant interactions.- 10 Genetic consequences of different patterns of distribution and abundance.- 11 Evolved consequences of rarity.- 12 Rarity and evolution: some theoretical considerations.- Three: Future Directions.- 13 Predicting and understanding rarity: the comparative approach.- 14 Concluding comments.

Editorial Reviews

A study documenting the patterns of rare and common species and analyzing the processes responsible for the creation and maintenance of interspecific differences. The 14 contributing zoologists consider the potential roles of community assembly rules and speciation in biasing the set of species that become rare, the potential for changes in ecology, genetics and evolution to transform the characteristics of rare species over time, as well as the role of phylogenetic comparisons in disentangling these processes, and the possible applications to conservation biology. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

‘...the content is excellent, with the editors contributing the bulk of the material...there is much original and useful material for most ecologist, and I can thoroughly recommend it.'
Journal of Animal Ecology

From the Publisher