The ecology of place : contributions of place-based research to ecological understanding

479 Pages·2010·6.243 MB·English

by  Ian Billick, Mary V Price, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

The Ecology of Place

the ecology
of pl ace
Contributions of Place-Based Research
to Ecological Understanding
Edited by Ian Billick and Mary V. Price

The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
ian billick is executive director of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Crested
Butte, Colorado. mary v. price is professor emerita of biology at the University of Califor-
nia, Riverside.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2010 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-05042-3 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-05043-0 (paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-05042-4 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-226-05043-2 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The ecology of place : contributions of place-based research to ecological understanding /
edited by Ian Billick and Mary V. Price.
p. cm.
“Papers of the scientific symposium to celebrate the 75th birthday of the Rocky Mountain
Biological Laboratory”—CIP data.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-05042-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-05043-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-05042-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-05043-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Ecology—Longitudinal studies—
Congresses. 2. Ecology—Research—Congresses. I. Billick, Ian, 1966– II. Price, Mary V.
(Mary Vaughan), 1949– III . Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.
QH541.2.E252 2010
577.072—dc22
2010015030
a The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
To the places that draw us outside
and the people who seek to understand them

contents
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
1 The Ecology of Place 1
mary v. price and ian billick
Part 1. The Imprint of Place on Ecology and Ecologists 11
mary v. price and ian billick
2 The Role of Place in the History of Ecology 15
sharon e. kingsland
3 Leopold’s Legacy: An Ecology of Place 40
donald m. waller and susan flader
Part 2. The Idiosyncrasy of Place: Challenges and Opportunities 63
ian billick and mary v. price

4 Ecological Invariance and the Search for Generality in Ecology 69
h. ronald pulliam and nickolas m. waser
5 Convergence and Divergence in Mediterranean-Climate Ecosystems:
What We Can Learn by Comparing Similar Places 93
philip w. rundel
6 Ecological Insights into the Causes of an Adaptive Radiation from
Long-Term Field Studies of Darwin’s Finches 109
peter r. grant and b. rosemary grant
7 Individual Fitness, Social Behavior, and Population Dynamics of
Yellow-Bellied Marmots 134
kenneth b. armitage
8 The Aleutian Archipelago: Addressing the Functional Importance of
Carnivory through Variation in Space and Time 155
james a. estes
Part 3. Building an Understanding of Place 177
mary v. price and ian billick
9 Understanding the Role of Predation in Open Systems: The Value of
Place-Based Research 185
barbara l. peckarsky, j. david allan, angus r. mcintosh,
and brad w. taylor
10 The Ecology of Place in Oak Forests: Progressive Integration of
Pairwise Interactions into Webs 207
richard s. ostfeld and clive g. jones
11 A Sense of Place: Tatoosh 229
robert t. paine, j. timothy wootton, and
catherine a. pfister
12 The Ecology of Place and Natural Resource Management:
Examples from Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems 251
charles g. curtin
Part 4. The Interaction between Local and General Understanding 275
mary v. price and ian billick
13 Case Studies and Ecological Understanding 283
charles j. krebs
14 Responsive Science: The Interplay of Theory, Observation, and

Experiment in Long-Term, Place-Based Research 303
svaˇta m. louda and leon g. higley
15 To Know a Tropical Forest: What Mechanisms Maintain High Tree
Diversity on Barro Colorado Island, Panama? 327
stephen p. hubbell
Part 5. Building the Capacity for Place-Based Research 353
ian billick and mary v. price
16 The Model Ecosystem as a Paradigm of Place-Based Research: The
Intersection of Geology, Ecology, and Economics at the McLaughlin
Reserve 359
paul a. aigner and catherine e. koehler
17 Managing Place-Based Data: The Rocky Mountain Biological
Laboratory as a Case Study 382
ian billick
18 Local People, Scientific Inquiry, and the Ecology and Conservation of
Place in Latin America 403
peter feinsinger, samara álvarez, geovana carreño,
edmundo rivera, rosa leny cuellar, andrew noss,
félix daza, mireiza figuera, edith lanz, lainet garcía,
maikel cañizares, aylin alegre, and alejandra roldán
19 Concluding Remarks: Taking Advantage of the Power of Place 429
mary v. price and ian billick
List of Contributors 439
Index 443