If You Use a Screen Reader
This content is available through Read Online (Free) program, which relies on page scans. Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.
Journal Article
Evolution: The Missing Ingredient in Systems Ecology
Craig Loehle and Joseph H. K. Pechmann
The American Naturalist
Vol. 132, No. 6 (Dec., 1988), pp. 884-899
Published
by: The University of Chicago Press for The American Society of Naturalists
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2462267
Page Count: 16
You can always find the topics here!
Topics: Ecosystems, Ecological genetics, Ecosystem models, Evolutionary theories, Ecological selection, Synecology
Were these topics helpful?
Select the topics that are inaccurate.
Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.
Abstract
Although applying evolutionary theory to questions about ecosystem structure and function is not simple, it is essential. For example, certain hypotheses of ecosystem optimality seem to require the operation of group selection or coevolution at levels above the individual. Such assumptions should not go untested, and an examination of evolutionary mechanisms in an ecosystem context could lead to new insights. Explaining ecosystem properties that are clearly additive or collective in terms of classical individual selection may often be straightforward. Practical aspects of constructing ecosystem models, including hierarchy applications, stability analysis, and parameter estimation, are also amenable to input from evolutionary theory. The concept of an evolutionarily based strategy space for model parameters should prove particularly fruitful. Applying evolutionary theory should help establish greater credibility for systems ecology and facilitate unification of what should be a holistic science.
The American Naturalist © 1988 The University of Chicago Press