Competition

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Springer Science & Business Media, 30 нояб. 2001 г. - Всего страниц: 552

Competition is one of the most important factors controlling the distribution and abundance of living creatures. Sperm cells racing up reproductive tracts, beetle larvae battling inside single seeds, birds defending territories, and trees interfering with the light available to neighbours, are all engaged in competition for limited resources. Along with predation and mutualism, competition is one of the three major biological forces that assemble living communities. Recent experimental work, much of it only from the last few decades, has enhanced human knowledge of the prevalence of competition in nature. There are acacia trees that use ants to damage vines, beetles that compete in arenas for access to dung balls, tadpoles that apparently poison their neighbours, birds that smash the eggs of potential competitors, and plants that associate with fungi in order to increase access to soil resources. While intended as an up-to-date reference work on the state of this branch of ecology, the many non-technical examples will make interesting reading for those with a general interest in nature.

Greatly expanded from the first prize-winning edition, there are entirely new chapters, including one on resources and another on competition gradients in nature. The author freely ranges across all major taxonomic groups in search of evidence. The question of whether competition occurs is no longer useful, the author maintains; rather the challenge is to determine when and where each kind of competition is important in natural systems. For this reason, variants of competition such as intensity, asymmetry and hierarchies are singled out for particular attention. The book concludes with the difficulties of finding general principles in complex ecological communities, and illustrates the limitations on knowledge that arise out of the biased conduct of scientists themselves.

Competition can be found elsewhere in living systems other than ecological communities, at sub-microscopic scales in the interactions of enzymes and neural pathways, and over large geographic areas in the spread of human populations and contrasting ideas about the world. Human societies are therefore also examined for evidence of the kinds of competition found among other living organisms. Using an array of historical examples, including Biblical conflicts, the use of noblemen's sons in the Crusades, the Viking raids in Europe, strategic bombing campaigns in the Second World War, and ethnic battles of the Balkans, the book illustrates how most of the aspects of competition illustrated with plants and animals can be extended to the interactions of human beings and their societies.

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Содержание

Studying competition
1
11 THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPETITION
2
12 STRESS STRAIN AND THE COSTS OF COMPETITION
5
13 OTHER VIEWS ON THE DEFINITION OF COMPETITION
10
14 KINDS OF COMPETITION
13
THE FIRST COMPETITION EXPERIMENT
33
16 COMPETITIVE DOMINANCE
37
17 COMPETITION AND THE ORGANIZATION OF LIVING SYSTEMS
40
76 CONCLUSION
315
Extending the generality of field experiments
317
81 CRITICISMS REGARDING LACK OF GENERALITY
318
82 DEMONSTRATING GENERALITY OF PATTERN
320
83 USING INCREASED NUMBERS OF SPECIES
321
84 PROVIDING A COMPARATIVE CONTEXT
322
85 USING GENERAL EXPERIMENTAL FACTORS
325
86 ARRANGEMENT ALONG GRADIENTS
326

18 COMPETITION AND HUMAN SOCIETIES
51
19 CONCLUSION
58
Resources
61
21 KINDS OF RESOURCES
66
22 RESOURCES FOR PRIMARY PRODUCERS
71
23 RESOURCES FOR CONSUMERS
83
24 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF FORAGING FOR RESOURCES IN PATCHY ENVIRONMENTS
90
25 EFFECTS OF CHRONIC SCARCITY OF RESOURCES
96
26 RESOURCE LEVELS CHANGE WITH TIME
105
27 HUMANS AND RESOURCES
111
28 CONCLUSION
118
Competition in action
121
31 CASE STUDIES OF INTRASPECIFIC COMPETITION
122
32 CASE STUDIES OF INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION
135
33 LITERATURE REVIEW OF CASE STUDIES
147
34 THE CURRENT SITUATION
150
Choosing the tools
153
41 DESCRIPTIVE COMPARATIVE AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
154
42 DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES
156
43 COMPARATIVE STUDIES
174
44 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
180
45 CHOOSING A RESEARCH PATH
199
Competitive hierarchies
203
51 PATTERNS IN COMMUNITY MATRICES
204
52 EIGHT EXAMPLES OF COMMUNITIES WITH COMPETITIVE HIERARCHIES
209
53 ON THE CONSISTENCY OF HIERARCHIES
228
54 MONOCULTURES AND MECHANISMS
230
55 INTRA ANDINTERGROUP COMPETITION AMONG HUMANS
234
56 CONCLUSION
239
Traits and competitive performance
241
61 RELATIVE ABUNDANCE PATTERNS
242
62 ANTS
245
63 PLANTS
248
64 AMPHIBIANS
254
65 APES
256
66 THE PROBLEM OF COEXISTENCE AND COMPETITIVE SIMILARITY
267
A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING
275
Competition gradients
281
71 THE SEARCH FOR GRADIENTS OF COMPETITION INTENSITY
282
72 EXPERIMENTAL GRADIENTS
301
73 THE UNIVERSAL CONSTANT OF COMPETITION
308
74 ON DISCREPANCIES AND RECONCILIATIONS
311
75 COMPETITION AND SUCCESSION
313
87 PRACTICAL TRADEOFFS
327
88 A LARGE SCALE COMPETITION EXPERIMENT
328
89 CONCLUSION
332
Modelling competition
333
91 KINDS OF MODELS
334
92 THE LOTKAVOLTERRA MODELS
336
93 THE MAcARTHUR MODEL FOR RESOURCE SUBDIVISION
346
94 LOOP ANALYSIS AND APPARENT COMPETITION
348
95 COMPETITION ALONG GRADIENTS
351
96 A RESOURCE COMPETITION MODEL
354
97 A BIOMECHANICAL MODEL
359
98 A SPATIAL MODEL
362
99 A MODEL OF BEHAVIOUR AND HABITAT USE
366
910 COMPETITIVE NEIGHBOURHOOD MODELS
370
THE JABOWA AND FORET MODELS
374
912 THE LATERAL PRESSURE MODEL FOR GLOBAL CONFLICT
378
913 THE RICHARDSON ARMS RACE MODEL
379
914 TWO GRAPHICAL MODELS FOR RESOURCE PARTITIONING
381
915 OBSTACLES TO TESTING MODELS
398
916 CONCLUSION
402
Competition pragmatism and comparison
405
101 A PRAGMATIC APPROACH TO COMPETITION
406
102 THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL PATTERNS IN ASTRONOMY
408
103 COMPARISONS AMONG HABITATS
411
104 CONSTRAINTS ON COMPETITION IN PLANT COMMUNITIES
413
105 CONSTRAINTS ON COMPETITION IN ANIMAL COMMUNITIES
425
106 COMPARISONS AMONG ORGANISMS
437
107 MAKING THEORIES OPERATIONAL FOR HYPOTHESIS TESTING
440
108 EXPERIMENTAL STRESS AND DISTURBANCE GRADIENTS
443
109 METAANALYSIS IN COMPETITION STUDIES
445
1010 THREE KINDS OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE RESOURCE PARTITIONING REVISITED
447
1011 COMPETITON RESOURCES AND TYRANNY
450
Goals and obstacles in the study of competition
457
111 SETTING GOALS
458
112 BRAINS AND THEIR LIMITATIONS
462
113 CHOOSING A QUESTION
465
114 CHOOSING APPROPRIATE MODEL SYSTEMS
473
115 SELECTING A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH
478
116 OBSTACLES TO COMMUNICATION
483
117 CONCLUSION
484
References
487
Index
535
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