1. Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments vii
4. 1. Introduction 1
5. Part I. Approaches, Ideas, and Theories in Community Ecology
6. 2. How Ecologists Study Communities 9
7. 3. A Brief History of Ideas in Community Ecology 20
8. Part II. The Theory of Ecological Communities
9. 4. The Pursuit of Generality in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 39
10. 5. High- Level Processes in Ecological Communities 49
11. 6. Simulating Dynamics in Ecological Communities 69
12. Part III. Empirical Evidence
13. 7. The Nature of Empirical Evidence 93
14. 8. Empirical Evidence: Selection 107
15. 9. Empirical Evidence: Ecological Drift and Dispersal 138
16. 10. Empirical Evidence: Speciation and Species Pools 158
17. Part IV. Conclusions, Reflections, and Future Directions
18. 11. From Process to Pattern and Back Again 175
19. 12. The Future of Community Ecology 182
20. References 193
21. Index 225
22. Backmatter 231