Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

Statistics for Spatial Data.

We may not be able to make you love reading, but archaeology of knowledge will lead you to love reading starting from now. Book is the window to open the new world. The world that you want is in the better stage and level. World will always guide you to even the prestige stage of the life. You know, this is some of how reading will give you the kindness. In this case, more books you read more knowledge you know, but it can mean also the bore is full.

The archaeology of knowledge

In this book, Andrew Harvey sets out to provide a unified and comprehensive theory of structural time series models. Unlike the traditional ARIMA models, structural time series models consist explicitly of unobserved components, such as trends and seasonals, which have a direct interpretation. As a result the model selection methodology associated with structural models is much closer to econometric methodology. The link with econometrics is made even closer by the natural way in which the models can be extended to include explanatory variables and to cope with multivariate time series. From the technical point of view, state space models and the Kalman filter play a key role in the statistical treatment of structural time series models. The book includes a detailed treatment of the Kalman filter. This technique was originally developed in control engineering, but is becoming increasingly important in fields such as economics and operations research. This book is concerned primarily with modelling economic and social time series, and with addressing the special problems which the treatment of such series poses. The properties of the models and the methodological techniques used to select them are illustrated with various applications. These range from the modellling of trends and cycles in US macroeconomic time series to to an evaluation of the effects of seat belt legislation in the UK.

Forecasting, Structural Time Series Models and the Kalman Filter

Aim In a selected literature survey we reviewed studies on the habitat heterogeneity–animal species diversity relationship and evaluated whether there are uncertainties and biases in its empirical support.

Location  World-wide.

Methods  We reviewed 85 publications for the period 1960–2003. We screened each publication for terms that were used to define habitat heterogeneity, the animal species group and ecosystem studied, the definition of the structural variable, the measurement of vegetation structure and the temporal and spatial scale of the study.

Main conclusions  The majority of studies found a positive correlation between habitat heterogeneity/diversity and animal species diversity. However, empirical support for this relationship is drastically biased towards studies of vertebrates and habitats under anthropogenic influence. In this paper, we show that ecological effects of habitat heterogeneity may vary considerably between species groups depending on whether structural attributes are perceived as heterogeneity or fragmentation. Possible effects may also vary relative to the structural variable measured. Based upon this, we introduce a classification framework that may be used for across-studies comparisons. Moreover, the effect of habitat heterogeneity for one species group may differ in relation to the spatial scale. In several studies, however, different species groups are closely linked to ‘keystone structures’ that determine animal species diversity by their presence. Detecting crucial keystone structures of the vegetation has profound implications for nature conservation and biodiversity management.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.0305-0270.2003.00994.x

Animal species diversity driven by habitat heterogeneity/diversity: the importance of keystone structures

(1) A simulation model of grazing mechanics in ruminants shows that, due to the allometric relations of bite size and metabolic requirements to body size, small animals are able to subsist on shorter swards than large animals.

(2) The density of nutrients in the grazed horizon of the modelled swards markedly affected the ability of animals of a given body size to satisfy their energy requirements.

(3) By extension, the allometric relationships would be expected to apply in selective grazing and browsing species in their choice of food items of different size and nutrient content.

(4) The results support the argument that sexual segregation and habitat choice of dimorphic species is an effect of scramble competition for limited resources, the males thus being excluded from mutually preferred swards.

(5) The model provides an explanation for two interspecific phenomena amongst grazers: grazing succession and grazing facilitation.

The allometry of food intake in grazing ruminants

Summary 1. Wild large herbivores provide goods and income to rural communities, have major impacts on land use and habitats of conservation importance and, in some cases, face local or global extinction. As a result, substantial effort is applied to their management across the globe. To be effective, however, management has to be science-based. We reviewed recent fundamental and applied studies of large herbivores with particular emphasis on the relationship between the spatial and temporal scales of ecosystem response, management decision and implementation. 2. Long-term population dynamics research has revealed fundamental differences in how sex/age classes are affected by changes in density and weather. Consequently, management must be tailored to the age and sex structure of the population, rather than to simple population counts. 3. Herbivory by large ungulates shapes the structure, diversity and functioning of most terrestrial ecosystems. Recent research has shown that fundamental herbivore/vegetation interactions driving landscape change are localized, often at scales of a few metres. For example, sheep and deer will selectively browse heather Calluna vulgaris at the edge of preferred grass patches in heather moorland. As heather is vulnerable to heavy defoliation, in the long term this can lead to loss of heather cover despite the average utilization rate of heather in a management area being low. Therefore, while herbivore population management requires a large-scale approach, management of herbivore impacts on vegetation may require a much more flexible and site-specific approach. 4. Localized impacts on vegetation have cascading effects on biodiversity, because changes in vegetation structure and composition, induced by large herbivores affect habitat suitability for many other species. As such, grazing should be considered as a tool for broader biodiversity management requiring a more sophisticated approach than just, for example, eliminating grazing from conservation areas through the use of exclosures. 5. Synthesis and applications . The management of wild large herbivores must consider different spatial scales, from small patches of vegetation to boundaries of an animal population. It also requires long-term planning based on a deep understanding of how population processes, such a birth rate, death rate and age structure, are affected by changes in land use and climate and how these affect localized herbivore impacts. Because wild herbivores do not observe administrative or political boundaries, adjusting their management to socio-political realities can present a challenge. Many developing countries have established co-operative management groups that allow all interested parties to be involved in the development of management plans; developed countries have a lot to learn from the developing world’s example.

/pdf/review-the-management-of-wild-large-herbivores-to-meet-40jjmrg0d6.pdf

REVIEW: The management of wild large herbivores to meet economic, conservation and environmental objectives

A simulation model is used to quantify relationships between diet quality, digestive processes and body weight in ungulate herbivores. Retention time of food in the digestive tract is shown by regression to scale with W0.27, and to be longer in ruminants than in hindgut fermenters. Allometric relationships between whole gut mean retention time (MRT, h) and weight (W) were: MRT=9.4 W0.255 (r 2=0.80) for hindgut fermenters and MRT=15.3 W0.251 (r 2=0.76) in ruminants. Longer retention of ingesta by large-bodied ruminants and hindgut fermenters increases digestive efficiency relative to small animals and permits them to survive on lower-quality foods. Compared with ruminants, hindgut fermenters' faster throughput is an advantage which outweighs their lower digestive efficiency, particularly on poor quality foods, provided that food resources are not limiting. This suggests that the predominance of ruminants in the middle range of body weights results from their more efficient use of scarce resources under conditions of resource depletion. Considering only physical limitations on intake, the model shows that the allometric coefficient which scales energy intake to body mass is 0.88 in ruminants and 0.82 in hindgut fermenters. The advantages of large body size are countered by disadvantages where food quantity is limited, and we suggest that the upper limit to ungulate body size is determined by the ability to extract nutrients from feeding niches during the nadir of the seasonal cycle of resource quality and abundance.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4219903.pdf

Modelling the nutritional ecology of ungulate herbivores: evolution of body size and competitive interactions

The Ecology and Management of Grazing Systems

1. The species composition and spatial distribution of small insects (Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera) and arachnids (Araneae, Opiliones, and Pseudoscorpiones) were investigated in three indigenous, upland grasslands identified as the National Vegetation Classification Festuca–Agrostis–Galium typical subcommunity (code U4a), Festuca–Agrostis–Galium, Vaccinium–Deschampsia subcommunity (code U4e), and Nardus stricta species-poor sub-community (code U5a), on which grazing management was manipulated experimentally.

2. Two hypotheses were tested that predicted arthropod diversity in upland grasslands. The habitat heterogeneity hypothesis predicts that the species number and abundance of arthropods will have an asymptotic relationship with increasing numbers of plant species and greater structural heterogeneity in the vegetation. The symbiosis between patches hypothesis states that the species number and abundance of arthropods will express a unimodal relationship with the grain size of sward patches created by grazing. The sward patches must be large enough to be apparent to, and support populations of, arthropods, but small enough that interspersed tussocks provide shelter from weather and a deterrent to disturbance by grazers.

3. The hypotheses were tested by sampling arthropods from the geometrical patterns represented by the individual tussocks and intermediate sward components of three indigenous grasslands produced by different grazing treatments. Paired samples of arthropods were taken by motorized suction sampler, the first of the pair from the grazed sward and the second, the accumulated samples from the surrounding triad of tussocks (U4a and U5a grasslands) or hummocks (U4e grassland). The paired samples were taken from six randomly-selected locations across both replicates of each of the grazing treatments.

4. Arthropod species composition and abundance were compared between the paired sward and tussock samples and in turn with measures of the vertical and horizontal components of vegetation structure, i.e. the variance in vegetation height per unit area and the area covered by tussock compared with sward.

5. There were consistently more species and a greater abundance of arthropods associated with tussocks than with swards and the average species number and abundance for the combined pair of samples declined with increased grazing pressure. The relationship between vertical and horizontal components of vegetation structure and the species number and abundance of selected arthropods was asymptotic as opposed to unimodal, supporting the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis, rather than the symbiosis between patches hypothesis.

6. Small and relatively sedentary insects and arachnids are more sensitive to grazing intensity and species of grazer in these upland, indigenous grasslands than are larger Coleoptera and Araneae, which respond less directly to varied grazing management. The overall linear reduction of small herbivorous and predatory arthropods with increased grazing intensity was buffered in grasslands with substantial tussock patches.

Iain J. Gordon

Papers

The allometry of food intake in grazing ruminants

REVIEW: The management of wild large herbivores to meet economic, conservation and environmental objectives

Modelling the nutritional ecology of ungulate herbivores: evolution of body size and competitive interactions

The Ecology and Management of Grazing Systems

Distribution and abundance of small insects and arachnids in relation to structural heterogeneity of grazed, indigenous grasslands