Key Concepts in Ecology
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Key Concepts in Ecology is a series of reading lists designed to help ecologists in learning the key topics in ecology! Take a look below at the list of key topics you might typically find in an ecology textbook, each providing a quick introduction to the topic, and a list of suggested BES papers for students to refer to:
Adaptations to variable environments
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Evolution of variable phenotypes ~ Traits to deal with enemies ~ Traits to deal with variable abiotic environment ~ Migration, storage, and dormancy ~ Optimal foraging theory ~ Trait-based ecology
Community structure
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Describing communities ~ Rank-abundance plots ~ kinds of diversity – alpha, beta, gamma diversity ~ Drivers of local diversity – disturbance, resources, interactions
Community succession
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Examples of succession ~ Resilience, resistance, stability, and Alternative stable states ~ Woody encroachment and biome shift
Competition
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Intra- and interspecific competition ~ Lotka-volterra competition models ~ Types of competition ~ Context dependent competition
Complex interactions and foodwebs
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Foodwebs, ecological networks ~ Indirect interactions
~ Trophic cascades
Conservation of global biodiversity
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Ecosystem services and functions ~ Rates of extinction ~ Drivers of extinction ~ Conservation efforts and successes
Ecosystem structure and energy flow
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Drivers of primary production ~ Trophic pyramids ~ Biodiversity-ecosystem function
Landscape ecology and macroecology
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Species-area relationships ~ Island biogeography theory ~ Elevational and latitudinal gradients ~ Macroecological patterns
Life and the physical environment
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Climate and Biomes ~ Terrestrial biomes ~ Aquatic biomes ~ Small-scale variation in climate
Life histories
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Population demography ~ Life history traits and trade-offs ~ Reproductive life history
Movement of elements in ecosystems
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Carbon cycle ~ N cycle ~ P cycle ~ Interactions among species and the C, N, and P cycle
Mutualism and facilitation
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The benefits of mutualisms ~ Defense mutualisms ~ Plant-pollinator mutualsims ~ Plant-seed disperser mutualisms ~ Plant-fungi mutualisms ~ Context dependent mutualisms
Parasitism and infectious disease
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Parasites affect abundance of hosts ~ Simple models ~ Parasite and host population fluctuations ~ Parasite-host coevolution
Physiological ecology
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Water & Salt balance ~ Exchanging gases ~ Obtaining nutrients ~ Dealing with temperature ~ Niche
Populations
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Distribution & abundance ~ Estimating abundance ~ Abundance, occupancy, range size, & body size relationships ~ Dispersal limitation & habitat corridors ~ Small populations ~ Metapopulations
Predation and herbivory
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Predators and herbivores limit abundance ~ Consumers and prey population fluctuations ~ Functional and numerical responses ~ Predator-prey/Herbivore-plant coevolution
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