Allee effects are relevant to biologists who study rarity, and to conservationists and managers who try and protect endangered populations. This book provides an overview of the Allee effect, the mechanisms which drive it and its consequences for population dynamics, evolution and conservation.

Allee effects are (broadly) defined as a decline in individual fitness at low population size or density. They can result in critical population thresholds below which populations crash to extinction. As such, they are very relevant to many conservation programmes, where scientists and managers are often working with populations that have been reduced to low densities or small numbers. There are a variety of mechanisms that can create Allee effects including mating systems, predation, environmental modification, and social interactions. The abrupt and unpredicted collapses of many exploited populations is just one illustration of the need to bring Allee effects to the forefront of conservation and management strategies. Allee Effects in Ecology and Conservation provides a concise yet authoritative overview of the topic, collating and integrating a widely dispersed literature from various fields - marine and terrestrial, plant and animal, theoretical and empirical, academic and applied. This accessible text, with its clear and simple explanations of both empirical observations and theoretical predications is particularly suitable for professional and academic ecologists requiring an overview of the state-of-the-art in Allee effect research, as well as for graduate students in population ecology and conservation biology. It will also be of relevance to a wide readership of professionals in conservation and management requiring a concise summary of the topic.

"A bold and successful attempt to illustrate the theoretical foundations of all of the subdisciplines of ecology, including basic and applied, and extending through biophysical, population, community, and ecosystem ecology. Encyclopedia of Theoretical Ecology is a compendium of clear and concise essays by the intellectual leaders across this vast breadth of knowledge."--Harold Mooney, Stanford University "A remarkable and indispensable reference work that also is flexible enough to provide essential readings for a wide variety of courses. A masterful collection of authoritative papers that convey the rich and fundamental nature of modern theoretical ecology."--Simon A. Levin, Princeton University "Theoretical ecologists exercise their imaginations to make sense of the astounding complexity of both real and possible ecosystems. Imagining a real or possible topic left out of the Encyclopedia of Theoretical Ecology has proven just as challenging. This comprehensive compendium demonstrates that theoretical ecology has become a mature science, and the volume will serve as the foundation for future creativity in this area."--Fred Adler, University of Utah "The editors have assembled an outstanding group of contributors who are a great match for their topics. Sometimes the author is a key, authoritative figure in a field; and at other times, the author has enough distance to convey all sides of a subject. The next time you need to introduce ecology students to a theoretical topic, you'll be glad to have this encyclopedia on your bookshelf."--Stephen Ellner, Cornell University “Everything you wanted to know about theoretical ecology, and much that you didn’t know you needed to know but will now! Alan Hastings and Louis Gross have done us a great service by bringing together in very accessible form a huge amount of information about a broad, complicated, and expanding field.”--Daniel Simberloff, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

1. Demographic and environmental stochasticity -- 2. Extinction dynamics -- 3. Age structure -- 4. Spatial structure -- 5. Population viability analysis -- 6. Sustainable harvesting -- 7. Species diversity -- 8. Community dynamics.

Trait-based ecology is rapidly expanding. This comprehensive and accessible guide covers the main concepts and tools in functional ecology.

Phylogeny is a potentially powerful tool for conserving biodiversity. This book explores how it can be used to tackle questions of great practical importance and urgency for conservation. Using case studies from many different taxa and regions of the world, the volume evaluates how useful phylogeny is in understanding the processes that have generated today's diversity and the processes that now threaten it. The urgency with which conservation decisions have to be made as well as the need for the best possible decisions make this volume of great value to researchers, practitioners and policy-makers.

This book reviews the relationship of mating systems with other aspects of vertebrate biology. It presents many stimulating new perspectives and ideas on mating systems studies. While many of the authors present some of their own research, in all cases they underline the general relevance of their work and speculate on future directions of scientific inquiry.