December 11, 2010
by peter.taylor
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The previous post presented a case of apparent predator-prey interactions among ciliate species one might have expected to be competitors. There are many references to apparent interactions or indirect effects in the ecological literature (e.g., Levine 1976; Holt 1977; Lawlor … Continue reading
December 10, 2010
by peter.taylor
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Vandermeer (1969) reported on a quantitative study of a community of four competing ciliate protozoan populations. The model he fitted to his observations (see previous post) indicated that three of the six pairs of interactions between the competitors were positive-negative … Continue reading
December 9, 2010
by peter.taylor
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Ecology is the study of complex interactions. But what, exactly, is an ecological interaction? This and the following posts will indicate that our intuition can be misleading. When I see the Great Blue Heron standing still near the edge of … Continue reading
December 3, 2010
by peter.taylor
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?A broad distinction can be made between community ecology, which emphasizes population sizes and inter-species interactions, and systems ecology, which emphasizes nutrient and energy flows between compartments (Hagen 1989). Nevertheless, community ecological theory also involves systems in the sense of … Continue reading
September 28, 2010
by peter.taylor
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Integrating the structure and dynamics of evolution’s ecological context (see previous posts) remains a neglected project within evolutionary theory. Nevertheless, the different approaches to theorizing ecological organization can still be read in terms of the ways that evolutionary theory fits … Continue reading