Introduction to Population Biology

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Cambridge University Press, 2004 - Nature - 393 pages
How do plant and animal populations change genetically to evolve and adapt to their local environments? How do populations grow and interact with one another through competition and predation? How does behaviour influence ecology and evolution? Introduction to Population Biology covers all these areas and more. Taking a quantitative and Darwinian perspective, the basic theory of population processes is developed using mathematical models. To allow students of biology, ecology and evolution to gain a real understanding of the subject, key features include: • step-by-step instructions for spreadsheet simulations of many basic equations to explore the outcomes or predictions of models • worked examples showing how the equations are applied to biological questions • problem sets together with detailed solutions to help the reader test their understanding • real-life examples to help the reader relate the theory to the natural world.
 

Contents

Darwins theories of evolution
19
Understanding natural selection
33
Simple population growth models
51
Densitydependent growth and the logistic
68
Population genetics and evolution 85
85
Mutation and the genetic variation
100
Small populations genetic drift
116
Migration gene flow and the differentiation
135
Demography
215
Agespecific reproduction and population
231
Evolution of life histories
245
Interactions between species and
263
Predation
292
Animal behaviour natural selection
318
Sexual selection and mating systems
336
Epilogue
354

haploid
146
Applying zygotic selection models
166
Polygenic inheritance quantitative
186
summary
206
Solutions to problems
367
References
378
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About the author (2004)

DICK NEAL is Professor of Biology, and Associate Dean (Science) in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan.

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