Chapter 1 - Novel Approaches to the Study of Population Dynamics

Abstract

This chapter discusses the study of population dynamics as an old discipline with roots that antedate the modern science of ecology. Population dynamics is a subject with a history of provoking heated debate among ecologists. Throughout the twentieth century, interest in the debate has ebbed and flowed, the exact focus has shifted, and the terminology has evolved. The study of population dynamics has been approached from a variety of angles. Once the temporal variability of a large number of species has been calculated, one may look for characteristics that are associated with variability. Since the 1970s when field experimentation in ecology became popular, studies of mechanisms, the factors that influence population change, became increasingly prevalent. The link between mechanisms and the dynamical patterns in nature is often made through mathematical models. Regulation is the process that translates mechanisms such as predation or dispersal into the long-term dynamical patterns of temporal constancy or persistence that are so often observed in nature. Populations may also be stabilized as a result of metapopulation dynamics. The best ecology is often accomplished through a mix of observation, mechanistic studies, and process-oriented studies. Herbivorous insects have been central to the question of population regulation and stability from the early debates on density dependence up through the modern discussions of the prevalence of different sorts of regulation in nature. One of the most refreshing aspects of the renaissance of population dynamics is the absence of polarizing debate. Theory in population ecology has never been scarce.