Population Systems: A General Introduction

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 ed...