Louis Gross & Alan Hastings 
Encyclopedia of Theoretical Ecology 

This major reference is an overview of the current state of theoretical ecology through a series of topical entries centered on both ecological and statistical themes. Coverage ranges across scales—from the physiological, to populations, landscapes, and ecosystems. Entries provide an introduction to broad fields such as Applied Ecology, Behavioral Ecology, Computational Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Epidemiology and Epidemic Modeling, Population Ecology, Spatial Ecology and Statistics in Ecology. Others provide greater specificity and depth, including discussions on the Allee effect, ordinary differential equations, and ecosystem services. Descriptions of modern statistical and modeling approaches and how they contributed to advances in theoretical ecology are also included. Succinct, uncompromising, and authoritative—a ‘must have’ for those interested in the use of theory in the ecological sciences.

Table of Content

Adaptive Dynamics

Adaptive Landscapes

Adaptive Vigilance Behavior

Age Structure

Allee Effects

Allometry and Growth

Animal Dispersal see Dispersal, Animal

Apparent Competition

Applied Ecology

Assembly Processes

Bayesian Statistics

Behavioral Ecology

Belowground Processes

Beverton–Holt Model

Bifurcations

Biogeochemistry and Nutrient Cycles

Birth–Death Models

Bottom-Up Control

Branching Processes

Cannibalism

Cellular Automata

Chaos

Coevolution

Compartment Models

Competition, Apparent see Apparent Competition

Computational Ecology

Conservation Biology

Continental Scale Patterns

Cooperation, Evolution of

Delay Differential Equations

Demographic Stochasticity see Stochasticity, Demographic

Demography

Difference Equations

Differential Equations, Delay see Delay Differential Equations

Differential Equations, Ordinary see Ordinary Differential Equations

Differential Equations, Partial see Partial Differential Equations

Discounting in Bioeconomics

Disease Dynamics

Dispersal, Animal

Dispersal, Evolution of

Dispersal, Plant

Diversity Measures

Dynamic Programming

Ecological Economics

Ecological Networks see Networks, Ecological

Ecological Stoichiometry see Stoichiometry, Ecological

Economics, Ecological see Ecological Economics

Ecosystem-Based Management see Marine Reserves and Ecosystem-Based Management

Ecosystem Ecology

Ecosystem Engineers

Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem Valuation

Ecotoxicology

Energy Budgets

Environmental Heterogeneity and Plants

Environmental Stochasticity see Stochasticity, Environmental

Epidemiology and Epidemic Modeling

Evolutionarily Stable Strategies

Evolutionary Computation

Facilitation

Fisheries Ecology

Food Chains and Food Web Modules

Food Webs

Foraging Behavior

Forest Simulators

Frequentist Statistics

Functional Traits of Species and Individuals

Game Theory

Gap Analysis and Presence/Absence Models

Gas and Energy Fluxes across Landscapes

Genetic Drift see Mutation, Selection, and Genetic Drift

Geographic Information Systems

Harvesting Theory

Heterogeneity, Environmental see Environmental Heterogeneity and Plants

Hydrodynamics

Individual-Based Ecology

Information Criteria in Ecology

Integrated Whole Organism Physiology

Integrodifference Equations

Invasion Biology

Landscape Ecology

Marine Reserves and Ecosystem-Based Management

Markov Chains

Mating Behavior

Matrix Models

Meta-Analysis

Metabolic Theory of Ecology

Metacommunities

Metapopulations

Microbial Communities

Model Fitting

Movement: From Individuals to Populations

Mutation, Selection, and Genetic Drift

Networks, Ecological

Neutral Community Theory

Niche Construction

Niche Overlap

Nicholson Bailey Host Parasitoid Model

Nondimensionalization

NPZ Models

Nutrient Cycles see Biogeochemistry and Nutrient Cycles

Ocean Circulation, Dynamics of

Optimal Control Theory

Ordinary Differential Equations

Pair Approximations

Partial Differential Equations

Phase Plane Analysis

Phenotypic Plasticity

Phylogenetic Reconstruction

Phylogeography

Plant Competition and Canopy Interactions

Plant Dispersal see Dispersal, Plant

Population Ecology

Population Viability Analysis

Predator–Prey Models

Presence/Absence Models see Gap Analysis and Presence/Absence Models

Programming, Dynamic see Dynamic Programming

Quantitative Genetics

Reaction–Diffusion Models

Regime Shifts

Reserve Selection and Conservation Prioritization

Resilience and Stability

Restoration Ecology

Ricker Model

Selection see Mutation, Selection, and Genetic Drift

Sex, Evolution of

Single-Species Metapopulations see Metapopulations

Single-Species Population Models

SIR Models

Spatial Ecology

Spatial Models, Stochastic

Spatial Spread

Species Ranges

Stability Analysis

Stage Structure

Statistics in Ecology

Stochasticity

Stochasticity, Demographic

Stochasticity, Environmental

Stoichiometry, Ecological

Storage Effect

Stress and Species Interactions

Succession

Synchrony, Spatial

Top-Down Control

Toxicology, Environmental see Ecotoxicology

Transport in Individuals

Two-Species Competition

Urban Ecology

About the author

Alan Hastings is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California Davis in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. He is the Editor-in-Chief for the Theoretical Ecology Series (Academic Press) and the Journal of Mathematical Biology. Louis Gross is a Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Mathematics, and Director of the Institute of Environmental Modeling at the University of Tennessee.