New to this Edition
All 23 chapters of the book have been revised following the suggestions of numerous reviewers. An attempt was made to address reviewers' concerns, to update material where needed, add missing perspectives, correct errors, and generally freshen the treatment. Additional suggested readings, drawn mainly from literature published since the publication of the third edition, have been added to each chapter.
Chapter 8, "Population Genetics and Natural Selection," has been thoroughly rewritten based on reviewer feedback. The principle concepts listed in the chapter have been revised or replaced. The historical treatment has been reduced and replaced with more modern examples, particularly molecular approaches to the study of populations. The contribution of environment to phenotypic variation is more clearly stated and supported for students. The discussion of the process of natural selection has been expanded under a concept new to this edition. The major forms of natural selection are included in this expanded treatment. The dependence of evolution by natural selection on the extent of genetic variation is discussed, including the concept of heritability. The discussion of heritability is supported by an explanation of how heritability may be estimated using regression analysis. This discussion is presented as one of a series of presentations in a new feature for this edition called "Investigating the Evidence."New! "Investigating the Evidence" Boxes
"Investigating the Evidence" are unique boxed discussions that are new to the third edition. This series of discussions is intended to supplement the concept discussions by presenting a broad outline of the process of science. An attempt has been made to tie all of the boxes to the subject matter covered in the chapters in which they appear. The series of boxes begins in chapter 1 with an overview of the scientific method, providing a conceptual context for the boxes in the next 22 chapters.
The boxed readings in chapters 2 and 3 introduce statistics through explanations of the sample mean and sample median. Laboratory and field experiments are discussed in chapters 4 and 13 respectively. Sampling is discussed in chapters 5 and 16. Variation within samples and populations are covered in chapters 6 and 20. Chapters 7 and 8 present relationships between two variables through scatter plots and regression analysis. An introduction to statistical testing begins in chapter 9, with the introduction of variance/mean ratios as a means of assessing patterns of distribution. This discussion ties in with that in chapter 10, where null and alternative hypotheses and the concept of statistical significance are introduced. The "Investigating the Evidence" box in chapter11 introduces the chi-square test of goodness of fit, which is then used in chapter 12 to examine statistically the population distributions first introduced in chapter 9. Chapter 14 begins a series aimed at making statistical comparisons of populations through discussions of standard error (chapter 14), confidence intervals (chapter 15), using confidence intervals to compare populations (chapter 17), and the t-test (chapter 18). In chapter 19, the assumptions of statistical tests based on the normal distribution are presented. Chapters 20 and 21 introduce comparisons of populations in which measurements or observations are not distributed normally. Chapter 22 revisits the concept of sample size for large-scale studies. Finally, chapter 23 covers electronic literature searches for students interested in learning more about the dynamic discipline of ecology.
While each box describes only a small part of the scientific process, taken together, the boxes provide a concise but substantial introduction to the philosophy, techniques, and practice of ecological science. This feature is intended to help students understand and appreciate the hundreds of ecological studies reviewed throughout the text.
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2005 McGraw-Hill Higher Education