From individual behaviour to population ecology

by William J. Sutherland

Population dynamics and animal behaviour are two subjects that have developed almost independently, despite widespread acceptance of the idea that they must be related. The major objective of this book is to demonstrate how aspects of the population ecology of vertebrates, such as population size, migration systems, and the response of populations to ecological change, can be directly and realistically related to behaviour. Building on the strong theoretical foundation that now underpins behavioural ecology, the author suggests how to extrapolate from behavioural interactions to population-level phenomena, and explains the reasoning behind his approaches. Each chapter presents a combination of theory and empirical examples, and a chapter on modelling techniques is included. This book will be stimulating and useful to students and researchers in behaviour, population ecology, and conservation biology.