Foundations of ecology : classic papers with commentaries / editors, Leslie A. Real and James H. Brown.

"Published in association with the Ecological Society of America."

Includes bibliographical references.

Part 1. Foundational papers: Defining ecology as a science / Sharon E. Kingsland -- The lake as a microcosm / Stephen A. Forbes (1887) -- The ecological relations of the vegetation on the sand dunes of Lake Michigan / Henry Chandler Cowles (1899) -- Nature and structure of the climax / Frederic E. Clements (1936) -- The individualistic concept of the Plant Association / H.A. Gleason (1926) -- The Niche-relationships of the California Thrasher / Joseph Grinnell (1917) -- The balance of animal populations, Part I / A.J. Nicholson and V.A. Bailey (1935) -- The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology / Raymond L. Lindeman --
Part 2. Theoretical advances: The role of theory in the rise of modern ecology / Leslie A. Real and Simon A. Levin -- The canonical distribution of commonness and rarity, Part I / Frank W. Preston (1962) -- Concluding remarks / G. Evelyn Hutchinson (1957) -- The population consequences of life history phenomena / Lamont C. Cole (1954) -- Biological populations with non-overlapping generations: stable points, stable cycles, and chaos / Robert M. May (1974) -- On optimal use of a patchy environment / Robert H. MacArthur and Eric R. Pianka (1966) -- Fluctuations in the abundance of a species considered mathematically / Vito Volterra (1926) -- Random dispersal in theoretical populations / J.G. Skellam (1951) --
Part 3. Theses, antitheses, and syntheses: Conversational biology and ecological debate / Joel G. Kingsolver and Robert T. Paine -- The use and abuse of vegetational concepts and terms / A.G. Tansley (1935) -- Homage to Santa Rosalia-- or, Why are there so many kinds of animals? / G.E. Hutchinson (1959) -- Community structure, population control, and competition / Nelson G. Hairston, Frederick E. Smith, and Lawrence B. Slobodkin (1960) -- Butterflies and plants: a study in coevolution / Paul R. Ehrlich and Peter H. Raven (1964) -- A Darwinian approach to plant ecology / J.L. Harper (1967) -- Theory of feeding strategies / Thomas W. Schoener (1971) --
Part 4. Methodological advances: New approaches and methods in ecology / James H. Brown -- Forest tree pollen in south Swedish peat bog deposits / Lennart von Post (1967 [1916]) -- On the use of matrices in certain population mathematics / P.H. Leslie (1945) -- The intrinsic rate of natural increase of an insect population / L.C. Birch (1948) -- The components of predation as revealed by a study of small mammal predation of the European Pine Sawfly / C.S. Holling (1959) -- Thermodynamic equilibria of animals with environment / Warren P. Porter and David M. Gates (1969) -- An ordination of the Upland Forest communities of Southern Wisconsin / J. Roger Bray and J.T. Curtis (1957) -- The strategy of ecosystem development / Eugene P. Odum (1969) --
Part 5. Case studies in natural systems: Lessons from nature: case studies in natural systems / Robert K. Peet -- The influence of rainfall, evaporation and atmospheric temperature on fluctuations in the size of a natural population of Thrips Imaginis (Thysanoptera) / J. Davidson and H.G. Andrewartha (1948) -- Energy flow in the salt marsh ecosystem of Georgia / John M. Teal (1962) -- Climatic changes in Southern Connecticut recorded by pollen desposition at Rogers Lake / Margaret B. Davis (1969) -- Pattern and process in the plant community / Alex S. Watt (1947) -- Population ecology of some warblers of northeastern coniferous forests / Robert H. MacArthur (1958) -- Predation, body size, and composition of Plankton / John Langdon Brooks and Stanley I. Dodson (1965) --
Part 6. Experimental manipulations in lab and field systems: Manipulative experiments as tests of ecological theory / Jane Lubchenco and Leslie A. Real -- Selection experiments on industrial melanism in the Lepidoptera / H.B.D. Kettlewell (1955) -- Experimental studies of interspecies competition. I. Competition between populations of the flour beetles, Tribolium confusum Duvall and Tribolium castaneum Herbst / Thomas Park (1948) -- Experimental studies on predation: dispersion factors and predator-prey Oscillations / C.B. Huffaker (1958) -- The influence of interspecific competition and other factors on the distribution of the Barnacle Chthamalus stellatus / Joseph H. Connell (1961) -- Food web complexity and species diversity / Robert T. Paine (1966) -- Experimental zoogeography of islands: the colonization of empty islands / Daniel S. Simberloff and Edward O. Wilson (1969) -- Effects of forest cutting and herbicide treatment on nutrient budgets in the Hubbard Brook Watershed-Ecosystem / Gene E. Likens, F. Herbert Bormann, Noye M. Johnson, D.W. Fisher, and Robert S. Pierce (1970).

Assembled here for the first time in one volume are forty classic papers that have laid the foundations of modern ecology. Whether by posing new problems, demonstrating important effects, or stimulating new research, these papers have made substantial contributions to an understanding of ecological processes, and they continue to influence the field today.