Abstract
Ecologists often divide their field into three parts: theoretical, laboratory, and field studies. These approaches are directed toward many of the same concepts and, ideally, may have the same ultimate goals, but they are also distinct, not only in the scientific tools they use, but even in the types of questions best addressed by each one. This paper is concerned in particular with laboratory ecology and the relations, and distinctions, between it and field ecology.
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Leo Luckinbill, John Lussenhop, Thomas Park, and Michael Wade who read and criticized all or parts of various drafts of the manuscript.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allee, W.C., A.E. Emerson, O. Park, T. Park and K.P. Schmidt, Principles of Animal Ecology, W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, Penn., 1949.
Andrewartha, H.G. and L.C. Birch, The Distribution and Abundance of Animals, Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1954.
Birch, L.C., ‘The intrinsic rate of natural increase of an insect population’, Journ. Anim. Ecol. 17 (1948), 15–26.
Birch, L.C., ‘Experimental background to the study of the distribution and abundance of insects. II. The relation between innate capacity for increase in numbers and the abundance of three grain beetles in experimental populations’, Ecology 34 (1953), 712–726.
Chapman, R.N., ‘The quantitative analysis of environmental factors’, Ecology 9 (1928), 111–122.
Christiansen, F.B. and T.M. Fenchel, Theories of Populations in Biological Communities, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1977.
Cody, M.L., Competition and the Study of Bird Communities, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1974.
Cody, M.L. and J.M. Diamond, editors, Ecology and Evolution of Communities, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1975.
Cole, L.C., ‘The population consequences of life history phenomena’, Quart. Rev. Biol. 29 (1954), 103–137.
Colinvaux, P.A., Introduction to Ecology, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1973.
Connell, J.H., ‘Some mechanisms producing structure in natural communities: A model and evidence from field populations’, in M.L. Cody and J.M. Diamond, editors, Ecology and Evolution in Communities, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1975, pp. 460–490.
Crombie, A.C., ‘Further experiments on insect competition’, Proc. Roy. Soc. London, Ser. B 133 (1946), 76–109.
Diamond, J.M., ‘Niche shifts and the rediscovery of interspecific competition’, Amer. Scient. 66 (1978), 322–331.
Egerton, F.N., ‘A bibliographical guide to the history of general ecology and population ecology’, History of Science 15 (1977), 189–215.
Fisher, R.A., The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1930.
Gause, G.F., The Struggle for Existence, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, Md., 1934.
Hardin, G., ‘The competitive exclusion principle’, Science 131 (1960), 1291–1297.
Hutchinson, G.E., ‘Homage to Santa Rosalia or why are there so many kinds of animals?’, Amer. Natur. 93 (1959), 145–159.
King, C.E. and P.S. Dawson, ‘Population biology and the Tribolium model’, Evol. Biol. 5 (1971), 133–227.
Krebs, C.J., Ecology, Harper and Row, New York, 1972.
Lack, D., ‘The significance of clutch size, Parts I and II’, Ibis 87 (1947), 302–352.
Lindeman, R.L., ‘The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology’, Ecology 23 (1942), 399–418.
Lloyd, M. and T. Park, ‘Mortality resulting from interactions between adult flour beetles in laboratory cultures’, Physiol. Zool. 35 (1962), 330–347.
Lotka, A.J., Elements of Physical Biology, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, Md., 1925.
Lotka, A.J., Elements of Mathematical Biology, Dover, New York, 1956.
MacArthur, R.H., Geographical Ecology, Harper and Row, New York, 1972.
MacArthur, R.H. and J.H. Connell, The Biology of Populations, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1966.
Mcintosh, R.P., ‘Ecology since 1900’, in B.J. Taylor and T.J. White, editors, Issues and Ideas in America, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Okla., 1976, pp. 353–372.
McNaughton, S.J. and L.L. Wolf, General Ecology, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1973.
Medawar, P.B., An Unsolved Problem in Biology, Lewis, London, 1952.
Mertz, D.B., The Tribolium model and the mathematics of population growth’, Ann. Review Ecol. and Systematics 3 (1972), 51–78.
Mertz, D.B., ‘Population ecological models’, Evolution 32 (1978), 930–931.
Mertz, D.B., D.A. Cawthon and T. Park, ‘An experimental analysis of competitive indeterminacy in Tribolium’ Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 73 (1976), 1368–1372.
Nicholson, A.J., ‘The balance of animal populations’, Journ. Anim. Ecol. 2 (1933), 132–178.
Nicholson, A.J., ‘An outline of the dynamics of animal populations’, Austr. Journ. Zool. 2 (1954), 9–65.
Nicholson, A.J. and V.A. Bailey, ‘The balance of animal populations’, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 3 (1935), 551–598.
Odum, E.P., Fundamentals of Ecology, W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, Penn., 1953.
Park, T., ‘Experimental competition in beetles, with some general implications’, in J.B. Cragg and N.W. Pirie, editors, The Numbers of Man and Animals, Oliver and Boyd, London, 1955, pp. 69–82.
Park, T., ‘Beetles, competition, and populations’, Science 138 (1962), 1369–1375.
Park, T., P.H. Leslie, and D.B. Mertz, ‘Genetic strains and competition in populations of Tribolium’, Physiol. Zool. 37 (1964), 97–162.
Pearl, R., The Biology of Population Growth, Knopf, New York, 1925.
Pearl, R. and L.J. Reed, ‘On the rate of growth of the population of the United States since 1790 and its mathematical representation’, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 6 (1920), 275–288.
Pianka, E.R., ‘On r- and K-selection’, Amer. Natur. 104 (1970), 592–597.
Pianka, E.R., ‘r and K selection or b and d selection?’, Amer. Natur. 106 (1972), 581–588.
Pianka, E.R., Evolutionary Ecology, Harper and Row, New York, 1974.
Scudo, F.M., ‘Vito Volterra and theoretical ecology’, Theoret. Pop. Biol. 2 (1971), 1–23.
Scudo, F.M. and J.R. Ziegler, ‘Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kostitzin and theoretical ecology’, Theoret. Pop. Biol. 10 (1976), 395–412.
Scudo, F.M. and J.R. Ziegler, editors, The Golden Age of Theoretical Ecology: 1923–1940, Springer–Verlag, Berlin, 1978.
Simberloff, D., ‘A succession of paradigms in ecology: Essentialism to materialism and probabilism’, Synthese 43 (1980), 3–39. Reprinted in the present collection.
Slobodkin, L.B., ‘Preliminary ideas for a predictive theory of ecology’, Amer. Natur. 95 (1961), 147–153.
Sokoloff, A., The Biology of Tribolium with Special Emphasis on Genetic Aspects, Vol. 2, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1974.
Turesson, G., The scope and import of genecology’, Hereditas 4 (1923), 171–176.
Warren, C.E. and G.E. Davis, ‘Laboratory stream research: Objectives, possibilities, and constraints’, Ann. Rev. Ecol. and Systematics 2 (1971), 111–144.
Wright, S., Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. Vol. III. Experimental Results and Evolutionary Deductions, University Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1977.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1982 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mertz, D.B., McCauley, D.E. (1982). The Domain of Laboratory Ecology. In: Saarinen, E. (eds) Conceptual Issues in Ecology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7796-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7796-9_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-1391-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7796-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive