Population Biology: Concepts and Models

By Alan Hastings

Book Overview

Population biology has been investigated quantitatively for many decades, resulting in a rich body of scientific literature. Ecologists often avoid this literature, put off by its apparently formidable mathematics. This textbook provides an introduction to the biology and ecology of populations by emphasizing the roles of simple mathematical models in explaining the growth and behavior of populations. The author only assumes acquaintance with elementary calculus, and provides tutorial explanations where needed to develop mathematical concepts. Examples, problems, extensive marginal notes and numerous graphs enhance the book's value to students in classes ranging from population biology and population ecology to mathematical biology and mathematical ecology. The book will also be useful as a supplement to introductory courses in ecology.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0387948538
• ISBN13: 9780387948539
• Release Date: December 1996
• Publisher: Springer
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 1.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great book for beginners

Id say this is a great text for the biologist learning mathematical population biology for the first time. It is also a great text for an early math major (freshman, sophomore, or junior undergrad) to get started with mathematical ecology. The book is very readable, and only some familiarity with calculus is required (basically if you know what a derivative is, you are set to go). That being said, its probably not advanced enough for a graduate student or advanced undergraduate student who already knows differential equations well, or who has already studied some modeling in biology. For this audience I would recommend Mark Kot's book. Basically this is a great book that hooked me into studying mathematical ecology.

great book!

I read this book as a senior in high school and was able to understand all of it. It is a great introduction to population biology with minimal math! The concepts are very interesting and relevent to our modern world.

As clear and concise a population biology text can be!

At last a population biologist who can communicate ideas to the everyday student biologist. The biology and mathematics are completely integrated and well written. Minimal calculus is necessary to understand and use the mathematics behind population biology. Thanks Al.

a gentle but thorough introduction to a fascinating field

The field of mathematical biology has a long and storied history of examining relationships between species and scales since before Fisher's 1930 monograph "The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection." Although the excellent text by Edelstein-Keshet is still widely used, on the recommendation of a colleague I recently picked up a copy of the new (1997) text authored by Alan Hastings, out of UC Davis. A 220 page book published by Springer, its title is Population Biology: Concepts and Models. Available in paperback, the volume is divided into Single Species (with sections on density-independent and density-dependent population growth, population genetics, evolution of life histories) and Interacting Species (with sections on interactions, competition, predator-prey, host-parasitoid relationships and diseases). While detailing these concepts, the author includes bite-size reviews of matrix algebra, differential equations, stability computations, phase plane analysis and other topical quantitative techniques. I found the book eminently readable, which says a lot coming from someone who staggered through 18 semester hours of calculus and "Diff EQ" over 20 years ago. This book will be of great help to "ecologists ... [who] often avoid [population biology] literature, put off by its apparently formidable mathematics" (to quote from the back cover).