Island Ecology
The islands of the Pacific and East Indies made an enormous and fateful impact on the minds of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace, the fathers of modem evolutionary theory. Since then island floras and faunas have continued to playa central role in the dev
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Vegetation Dynamics Sampling and Recording
John Miles R. Cormack
Further volumes are planned in the areas of modelling, population ecology, paleoecology and crop ecology.
Outline Editors George M. Dunnet
Regius Professor ofNatural History, University of Aberdeen
Charles H. Gimingham Professor of Botany, University of Aberdeen
Editors' Foreword Both in its theoretical and applied aspects, ecology is developing rapidly. In part because it otTers a relatively new and fresh approach to biological enquiry, but it also stems from the revolution in public attitudes towards the quality of the human environment and the conservation of nature. There are today more professional ecologists than ever before, and the number of students seeking courses in ecology remains high. In schools as wel1 as universities the teaching of ecology is now widely accepted as an essential component of biological education, but it is only within the past quarter of a century that this has come about. In the same period, the journals devoted to publication of ecological research have expanded in number and size, and books on aspects of ecology appear in ever-increasing numbers. These are indications of a healthy and vigorous condition, which is satisfactory not only in regard to the progress of biological science but also because of the vital importance of ecological understanding to the wel1-being of man. However, such rapid advances bring their problems. The subject develops so rapidly in scope, depth and relevance that textbooks, or parts of them, soon become out-of-date or inappropriate for particular courses. The very width of the front across which the ecological approach is being applied to biological and environmental questions introduces difficulties: every teacher handles his subject in a ditTerent way and no two courses are identical in content. This diversity, though stimulating and profitable, has the etTect that no single text-book is likely to satisfy fuJly the needs of the student attending a course in ecology. Very often extracts from a wide range of books must be consulted, and while this may do no harm it is time-consuming and expensive. The present series has been designed to otTer quite a large number of relatively small booklets, each on a rt;stricted topic of fundamental importance which is likely to constitute a self-smntained component of more comprehensive courses. A selection can then be ,made, at reasonable cost, of texts appropriate to particular courses or the interests of the reader. Each is written by an acknowledged expert in the subject, and is intended to otTer an up-to-date, concise summary which will be of value to those engaged in teaching, research or applied ecology as well as to students.
Studies in Ecology Island
Ecology M.L. GORMAN Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen
&)LONDON
CHAPMAN AND HALL
A Halsted Press Book, John Wiley & Sons, New York
First published in 1979 by Chapman and Hall Ltd 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE © 1979 M. L. Gorman
ISBN-13: 978-0-412-15540-6
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