James G. Sanderson and Stuart L. Pimm
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226292724
- eISBN:
- 9780226292861
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226292861.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This book is about the identification and interpretation of nature’s large-scale patterns of species co-occurrence and what we can deduce from them about how nature works. We present Diamond’s ...
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This book is about the identification and interpretation of nature’s large-scale patterns of species co-occurrence and what we can deduce from them about how nature works. We present Diamond’s assembly rules. He suggested that similar species avoid each other, choosing different islands or, on large islands, different elevations within an island, for no better explanation than to avoid each other. Diamond concentrated on birds in two island groups off New Guinea—the Solomons and the Bismarcks. Diamond’s ideaswere vigorously challenged by those who suggested the patterns were simply chance occurrences. In a series of papers, some argued that Diamond’s assembly rules were poorly constructed and that, moreover, his observations did not support them. Certainly, critics made an important contribution to the study of ecological patterns by requiring observed distributions to be compared to carefully constructed null hypotheses. Developing appropriate statistical methods to analyze these patterns in nature is difficult, though it is now a solved problem. We confirm patterns of mutual exclusivity in some island groups, though not all. Finally, we extend these ideas to species along elevational gradients and to applications involving food webs.Less
This book is about the identification and interpretation of nature’s large-scale patterns of species co-occurrence and what we can deduce from them about how nature works. We present Diamond’s assembly rules. He suggested that similar species avoid each other, choosing different islands or, on large islands, different elevations within an island, for no better explanation than to avoid each other. Diamond concentrated on birds in two island groups off New Guinea—the Solomons and the Bismarcks. Diamond’s ideaswere vigorously challenged by those who suggested the patterns were simply chance occurrences. In a series of papers, some argued that Diamond’s assembly rules were poorly constructed and that, moreover, his observations did not support them. Certainly, critics made an important contribution to the study of ecological patterns by requiring observed distributions to be compared to carefully constructed null hypotheses. Developing appropriate statistical methods to analyze these patterns in nature is difficult, though it is now a solved problem. We confirm patterns of mutual exclusivity in some island groups, though not all. Finally, we extend these ideas to species along elevational gradients and to applications involving food webs.
Mark Payne
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226650845
- eISBN:
- 9780226650852
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226650852.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book explores the imaginative identification with animals enabled by aggression and the narcissistic aversion from them manifested as destructiveness. It explores the attraction to the society ...
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This book explores the imaginative identification with animals enabled by aggression and the narcissistic aversion from them manifested as destructiveness. It explores the attraction to the society of other animals that finds expression in stories about human beings who try to join them, and the affects that cluster around the possibility that the human body is susceptible in various ways to becoming animal. The book looks at two different kinds of attempt to imagine the removal of the boundary separating human beings from other animals. A discussion is presented of the correlation between articulate utterance and social complexity in Aristotle's zoological and political works, which leaves open the possibility that birds may be capable of a degree of political organization comparable to that of human beings. The book contrasts Aristotle's curiosity about the social lives of other animals with Aristophanes' Birds, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Rigadoon, in all of which isolated individuals who have fallen out of human society experience some form of fascination with the social groups of animals they discover beyond its confines.Less
This book explores the imaginative identification with animals enabled by aggression and the narcissistic aversion from them manifested as destructiveness. It explores the attraction to the society of other animals that finds expression in stories about human beings who try to join them, and the affects that cluster around the possibility that the human body is susceptible in various ways to becoming animal. The book looks at two different kinds of attempt to imagine the removal of the boundary separating human beings from other animals. A discussion is presented of the correlation between articulate utterance and social complexity in Aristotle's zoological and political works, which leaves open the possibility that birds may be capable of a degree of political organization comparable to that of human beings. The book contrasts Aristotle's curiosity about the social lives of other animals with Aristophanes' Birds, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Rigadoon, in all of which isolated individuals who have fallen out of human society experience some form of fascination with the social groups of animals they discover beyond its confines.
Dale H. Clayton, Sarah E. Bush, and Kevin P. Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226302133
- eISBN:
- 9780226302300
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226302300.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This book provides an introduction to coevolution in both microevolutionary (ecological) and macroevolutionary (historical) time. It emphasizes the integration of cophylogenetic, comparative, and ...
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This book provides an introduction to coevolution in both microevolutionary (ecological) and macroevolutionary (historical) time. It emphasizes the integration of cophylogenetic, comparative, and experimental approaches for testing coevolutionary hypotheses. Recent work in coevolutionary biology has been successful in demonstrating coadaptation between species in response to reciprocal selection. Fewer studies have tested the influence of coadaptation on the diversification of interacting taxa. We review studies that have attempted to do just this. The overriding question addressed is “how do ecological interactions influence patterns of codiversification?”. We focus on the coevolution of interacting species, particularly those involving external parasites that live on hosts. Such parasites include a diverse assemblage of organisms, ranging from herbivorous insects on plants, to monogenean worms on fish, to feather lice on birds. Ectoparasites are powerful models for studies of coevolution because they are easy to observe, mark, and count. Many of the examples in the book involve parasitic lice of birds and mammals. Lice and their hosts are unusually tractable systems for studies that attempt to integrate coevolutionary ecology and history. Some chapters in the book are very broad in scope, introducing coevolutionary concepts that apply to all interacting species. Other chapters are more narrowly focused on the biology and coevolution of lice and their hosts. The overall goal of the book is to integrate coevolutionary concepts with examples of empirical tests of coevolutionary theory in micro- and macro-evolutionary time. The book concludes with a framework for better integration of coadaptation and codiversification.Less
This book provides an introduction to coevolution in both microevolutionary (ecological) and macroevolutionary (historical) time. It emphasizes the integration of cophylogenetic, comparative, and experimental approaches for testing coevolutionary hypotheses. Recent work in coevolutionary biology has been successful in demonstrating coadaptation between species in response to reciprocal selection. Fewer studies have tested the influence of coadaptation on the diversification of interacting taxa. We review studies that have attempted to do just this. The overriding question addressed is “how do ecological interactions influence patterns of codiversification?”. We focus on the coevolution of interacting species, particularly those involving external parasites that live on hosts. Such parasites include a diverse assemblage of organisms, ranging from herbivorous insects on plants, to monogenean worms on fish, to feather lice on birds. Ectoparasites are powerful models for studies of coevolution because they are easy to observe, mark, and count. Many of the examples in the book involve parasitic lice of birds and mammals. Lice and their hosts are unusually tractable systems for studies that attempt to integrate coevolutionary ecology and history. Some chapters in the book are very broad in scope, introducing coevolutionary concepts that apply to all interacting species. Other chapters are more narrowly focused on the biology and coevolution of lice and their hosts. The overall goal of the book is to integrate coevolutionary concepts with examples of empirical tests of coevolutionary theory in micro- and macro-evolutionary time. The book concludes with a framework for better integration of coadaptation and codiversification.
James G. Sanderson and Stuart L. Pimm
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226292724
- eISBN:
- 9780226292861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226292861.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
We return to the Bismarck and Solomon islands, the locations that generated Diamond’s ideas on assembly rules. The null models generate a list of species pairs where the number of observed ...
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We return to the Bismarck and Solomon islands, the locations that generated Diamond’s ideas on assembly rules. The null models generate a list of species pairs where the number of observed co-occurrences is unusual, meaning that thisoccurs in fewer than 5% of the null models. As Diamond’s critics had argued, interspecific competition is unlikely to generate some of these unusual pairs—they are ecologically and taxonomically very dissimilar. We show, however, that such unusual pairs are disproportionately common in pairs that belong to the same genus—exactly the pattern one would predict.Less
We return to the Bismarck and Solomon islands, the locations that generated Diamond’s ideas on assembly rules. The null models generate a list of species pairs where the number of observed co-occurrences is unusual, meaning that thisoccurs in fewer than 5% of the null models. As Diamond’s critics had argued, interspecific competition is unlikely to generate some of these unusual pairs—they are ecologically and taxonomically very dissimilar. We show, however, that such unusual pairs are disproportionately common in pairs that belong to the same genus—exactly the pattern one would predict.
Stanley A. Temple and John R. Cary
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226871714
- eISBN:
- 9780226871745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226871745.003.0022
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter takes advantage of current and historic data to explore changes in the composition of ten Wisconsin bird communities over the past 55 years (1950–2004) and interpret those changes in ...
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This chapter takes advantage of current and historic data to explore changes in the composition of ten Wisconsin bird communities over the past 55 years (1950–2004) and interpret those changes in light of what is known about the birds themselves and their environment. Although species richness in most of those communities has increased over the past several decades, changes in individual species varied a lot, with some showing long-term declines and others increases. Bird communities will continue to change into the future, driven by shifts in climate, land use, and changing landscape patterns.Less
This chapter takes advantage of current and historic data to explore changes in the composition of ten Wisconsin bird communities over the past 55 years (1950–2004) and interpret those changes in light of what is known about the birds themselves and their environment. Although species richness in most of those communities has increased over the past several decades, changes in individual species varied a lot, with some showing long-term declines and others increases. Bird communities will continue to change into the future, driven by shifts in climate, land use, and changing landscape patterns.
Theodore H. Fleming and W. John Kress
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226253404
- eISBN:
- 9780226023328
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226023328.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Tropical plant-visiting birds and mammals feed on two distinctly different resources: nectar and fruit. This chapter describes the basic nutritional characteristics of the nectar and fruit resource ...
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Tropical plant-visiting birds and mammals feed on two distinctly different resources: nectar and fruit. This chapter describes the basic nutritional characteristics of the nectar and fruit resource bases and how the availability of these resources varies temporally and spatially. It presents quantitative estimates of the biomass of these resources within communities and the biomass of vertebrate nectarivores and frugivores that they support. It begins by summarizing data on the extent to which tropical plants rely on birds and mammals as their primary or exclusive pollinators and seed dispersers.Less
Tropical plant-visiting birds and mammals feed on two distinctly different resources: nectar and fruit. This chapter describes the basic nutritional characteristics of the nectar and fruit resource bases and how the availability of these resources varies temporally and spatially. It presents quantitative estimates of the biomass of these resources within communities and the biomass of vertebrate nectarivores and frugivores that they support. It begins by summarizing data on the extent to which tropical plants rely on birds and mammals as their primary or exclusive pollinators and seed dispersers.
Raf de Bont
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226141879
- eISBN:
- 9780226141909
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226141909.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter analyses the scientific practices involved in the study of a highly mobile research object: birds. More in particular it studies the transformation in bird study brought about by the ...
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This chapter analyses the scientific practices involved in the study of a highly mobile research object: birds. More in particular it studies the transformation in bird study brought about by the foundation of ornithological observatories around 1900. The focus is on the field station of Rossitten, East Prussia. This observatory, the first of its kind, was founded in 1901 and was led, for the first three decades of its existence, by the minister, hunter and practical naturalist Johannes Thienemann. The innovations that Thienemann introduced in ornithology called for specific spatial strategies. These included an optimal use of the natural characteristics of his workplace and the mobilization of a large network of geographically scattered amateurs. At the same time, his work altered the space he shared with the birds – materially, conceptually and culturally. Thienemann’s station proved a crucial tool both in changing ornithology and Rossitten.Less
This chapter analyses the scientific practices involved in the study of a highly mobile research object: birds. More in particular it studies the transformation in bird study brought about by the foundation of ornithological observatories around 1900. The focus is on the field station of Rossitten, East Prussia. This observatory, the first of its kind, was founded in 1901 and was led, for the first three decades of its existence, by the minister, hunter and practical naturalist Johannes Thienemann. The innovations that Thienemann introduced in ornithology called for specific spatial strategies. These included an optimal use of the natural characteristics of his workplace and the mobilization of a large network of geographically scattered amateurs. At the same time, his work altered the space he shared with the birds – materially, conceptually and culturally. Thienemann’s station proved a crucial tool both in changing ornithology and Rossitten.
Jessica Maier
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226127637
- eISBN:
- 9780226127774
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226127774.001.0001
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cartography
This book recounts the history of a genre, the city portrait, through imagery of Rome. Among the most popular categories of early modern print culture, the city portrait was also one of the most ...
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This book recounts the history of a genre, the city portrait, through imagery of Rome. Among the most popular categories of early modern print culture, the city portrait was also one of the most varied, encompassing maps, bird’s-eye views, and other forms of urban representation. Through an exploration of seminal works dating from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, this book interweaves the story of this genre with that of Rome itself, addressing the key figures and specific contexts that shaped each image. Scholars, artists, architects, and engineers who shared a fascination with Rome’s ruins were spurred to develop new graphic modes for depicting the city. The resulting maps delicately balanced measured and pictorial forms of representation, past and present, realism and idealism. Portraits of Rome became canvases for documenting the rapid-fire urban changes initiated by a series of Renaissance and Baroque popes, for projecting ideas about the city’s current and future state, and for romanticizing, aggrandizing, or marginalizing its tangible signs of antiquity—or, for that matter, modernity.Less
This book recounts the history of a genre, the city portrait, through imagery of Rome. Among the most popular categories of early modern print culture, the city portrait was also one of the most varied, encompassing maps, bird’s-eye views, and other forms of urban representation. Through an exploration of seminal works dating from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, this book interweaves the story of this genre with that of Rome itself, addressing the key figures and specific contexts that shaped each image. Scholars, artists, architects, and engineers who shared a fascination with Rome’s ruins were spurred to develop new graphic modes for depicting the city. The resulting maps delicately balanced measured and pictorial forms of representation, past and present, realism and idealism. Portraits of Rome became canvases for documenting the rapid-fire urban changes initiated by a series of Renaissance and Baroque popes, for projecting ideas about the city’s current and future state, and for romanticizing, aggrandizing, or marginalizing its tangible signs of antiquity—or, for that matter, modernity.
David W. Sample and Michael J. Mossman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226871714
- eISBN:
- 9780226871745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226871745.003.0021
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
Changes in Wisconsin's grasslands have had huge impacts on grassland bird populations. As the original native grassland habitats were altered or destroyed, bird species adapted, exploited newly ...
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Changes in Wisconsin's grasslands have had huge impacts on grassland bird populations. As the original native grassland habitats were altered or destroyed, bird species adapted, exploited newly created agricultural habitats, shifted to other available habitats, or disappeared. This chapter attempts to tell this story of change and adaptation, of loss and gain, and see what it forecasts for us and the grassland birds. The story is told in four parts. The first regards the “recent presettlement” era of about 1700–1850, prior to the major changes wrought by Euro–Americans. The second period is the first century after settlement, 1850–1950. The third period spans 1950 to the present. Finally, the future of grasslands and grassland birds in Wisconsin is considered, noting conservation needs based on projected trends and lessons from the past.Less
Changes in Wisconsin's grasslands have had huge impacts on grassland bird populations. As the original native grassland habitats were altered or destroyed, bird species adapted, exploited newly created agricultural habitats, shifted to other available habitats, or disappeared. This chapter attempts to tell this story of change and adaptation, of loss and gain, and see what it forecasts for us and the grassland birds. The story is told in four parts. The first regards the “recent presettlement” era of about 1700–1850, prior to the major changes wrought by Euro–Americans. The second period is the first century after settlement, 1850–1950. The third period spans 1950 to the present. Finally, the future of grasslands and grassland birds in Wisconsin is considered, noting conservation needs based on projected trends and lessons from the past.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226467597
- eISBN:
- 9780226466958
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226466958.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
Thornton W. Burgess was a successful children's book author. His animal characters and natural history lessons had been enchanting children and their parents for many years. He also had his own show, ...
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Thornton W. Burgess was a successful children's book author. His animal characters and natural history lessons had been enchanting children and their parents for many years. He also had his own show, broadcast throughout Massachusetts. Burgess embraced a cosmopolitan, democratic, and pragmatic attitude toward science popularization. He assumed that the public was eager to learn about science and nature and that radio could assist that quest for understanding, and he was not averse to employing entertainment to enliven his presentations. He also devoted considerable attention to influencing the attitudes of his fellow citizens toward their natural surroundings. In January 1925 Burgess founded the Radio Nature League, an association requiring no dues and asking only that listeners “assist” in wildlife preservation through actions like feeding birds during the winter. Within three weeks of announcement of the League, Burgess had received over five thousand letters, from individuals and entire families in thirty-nine states, Canada, England, and Bermuda, all pledging (per the League's motto) “to do everything possible to preserve and conserve all desirable American Wild Life, including birds, animals, flowers, trees, and other living things; also the natural beauty spots and scenic wonders of all America.” By May over sixteen thousand people had enrolled as members.Less
Thornton W. Burgess was a successful children's book author. His animal characters and natural history lessons had been enchanting children and their parents for many years. He also had his own show, broadcast throughout Massachusetts. Burgess embraced a cosmopolitan, democratic, and pragmatic attitude toward science popularization. He assumed that the public was eager to learn about science and nature and that radio could assist that quest for understanding, and he was not averse to employing entertainment to enliven his presentations. He also devoted considerable attention to influencing the attitudes of his fellow citizens toward their natural surroundings. In January 1925 Burgess founded the Radio Nature League, an association requiring no dues and asking only that listeners “assist” in wildlife preservation through actions like feeding birds during the winter. Within three weeks of announcement of the League, Burgess had received over five thousand letters, from individuals and entire families in thirty-nine states, Canada, England, and Bermuda, all pledging (per the League's motto) “to do everything possible to preserve and conserve all desirable American Wild Life, including birds, animals, flowers, trees, and other living things; also the natural beauty spots and scenic wonders of all America.” By May over sixteen thousand people had enrolled as members.
