viii
PREFACE
principles of practical relevance. The fist point was made clear in J. B.
Cragg’s f i s t Preface to the Series in 1962, and it must remain the major
theme of the Series. The need for the second has, perhaps, become more
obvious with the development of the subject and also due to the increasing pressure on contributors to the established journals for short
factual articles. These become progressively less comprehensible to those
outside a small circle, a tendency which has undoubtedly contributed to
the success of series such as the present one.
Volume 8 includes four articles which readers may care to match
against these rather high-sounding principles. G. L. Young’s article on
Human Ecokgy is perhaps the first attempt to draw together the many
different themes to which this much-abused title has been applied. It is
remarkable for the breadth of literature covered, especially in fields less
familiar to the biologist,
G. R. Pott’s and G. P. Vickerman’s article on the arable farmland
ecosystem is remarkable for introducing a thorough ecological approach
to an ubiquitous but-to the ecologist-unfamiliar system, for the
biological breadth of its treatment and for the clear relevance to a
number of practical fields which have been ignored by conventional
agricultural science. It answers clearly those who are impatient for
practical results based on hasty generalization and points to an area
which is currently starved of financial support.
William Streifer’s article on “Realistic Models in Population Ecology”
extends horizons by applying a mathematician’s understanding of the
rather heterogeneous and often empirical approaches which together
constitute conventional “population dynamics”. He reveals the common
features of a wide range of classical treatments and carries the whole
subject forward into the present era of widely available facilities for
systems analysis and simulation modelling.
C. J. Kerbs and Judith Myers have not only written a wide-ranging
review of the common properties and the differences between small
mammal population cycles but provide some magnificent examples of
the use in ecology of the planned field experiment. They do not claim
(as many have done) to provide all the answers, but they go a long way
towards posing the answerable questions which will guide us through
the complexities (behavioural, demographic , genetic and environmental)
of a field situation of fascinating complexity.
The reader is entitled to his own views on the relevance of these
articles to his conception of what should constitute ecological science;
it is our hope that they will all be seen to contribute in their different
ways to the general purposes already outlined and, failing that, stimulate others to contribute their views on what is significant in ecology.
June, 1974
A. M~CFADYEN
PREFACE
principles of practical relevance. The fist point was made clear in J. B.
Cragg’s f i s t Preface to the Series in 1962, and it must remain the major
theme of the Series. The need for the second has, perhaps, become more
obvious with the development of the subject and also due to the increasing pressure on contributors to the established journals for short
factual articles. These become progressively less comprehensible to those
outside a small circle, a tendency which has undoubtedly contributed to
the success of series such as the present one.
Volume 8 includes four articles which readers may care to match
against these rather high-sounding principles. G. L. Young’s article on
Human Ecokgy is perhaps the first attempt to draw together the many
different themes to which this much-abused title has been applied. It is
remarkable for the breadth of literature covered, especially in fields less
familiar to the biologist,
G. R. Pott’s and G. P. Vickerman’s article on the arable farmland
ecosystem is remarkable for introducing a thorough ecological approach
to an ubiquitous but-to the ecologist-unfamiliar system, for the
biological breadth of its treatment and for the clear relevance to a
number of practical fields which have been ignored by conventional
agricultural science. It answers clearly those who are impatient for
practical results based on hasty generalization and points to an area
which is currently starved of financial support.
William Streifer’s article on “Realistic Models in Population Ecology”
extends horizons by applying a mathematician’s understanding of the
rather heterogeneous and often empirical approaches which together
constitute conventional “population dynamics”. He reveals the common
features of a wide range of classical treatments and carries the whole
subject forward into the present era of widely available facilities for
systems analysis and simulation modelling.
C. J. Kerbs and Judith Myers have not only written a wide-ranging
review of the common properties and the differences between small
mammal population cycles but provide some magnificent examples of
the use in ecology of the planned field experiment. They do not claim
(as many have done) to provide all the answers, but they go a long way
towards posing the answerable questions which will guide us through
the complexities (behavioural, demographic , genetic and environmental)
of a field situation of fascinating complexity.
The reader is entitled to his own views on the relevance of these
articles to his conception of what should constitute ecological science;
it is our hope that they will all be seen to contribute in their different
ways to the general purposes already outlined and, failing that, stimulate others to contribute their views on what is significant in ecology.
June, 1974
A. M~CFADYEN