The Ecology of Bird Communities

A major study of avian community ecology.

The two volumes of John Wiens' Ecology of Bird Communities, first published in 1992, are recognised as having applications and importance beyond the study of birds to the wider study of ecology in general. The books contain a detailed synthesis of our understanding of the patterns of organisation of bird communities and of the factors that may determine them, drawing from studies from all over the world. The author, however, does more than simply review findings in bird community ecology. By emphasizing how proper logic and methods have or have not been followed and how different viewpoints have developed historically and have led to controversy, he extends the scope of these books far beyond the study of birds. Volume 1 Foundations and Patterns explores why avian community ecologists ask the questions they do and what philosophical and methodological approaches they have used to answer such questions. Most of the book is devoted to a critical evaluation of what is known about the nature and organisation of bird communities.

Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. The Foundation of Avian Community Ecology: 1. The development of avian community ecology; 2. Determining pattern and process: the logical structure of community ecology; 3. The importance of methodology; Part II. The Patterns of Avian Communities: 4. The assembly of communities; 5. Numbers of species and their abundances; 6. Niche theory and guilds; 7. Ecomorphological patterns of communities; 8. Distributional patterns of species; 9. Habitat distributions of species; 10. Resources and their use; 11. Density compensation and niche shifts; 12. Convergence of species and communities; 13. Bioenergetic approaches to communities; 14. A re-examination of the recent history of avian community ecology; References; Author index; Subject index.

The two volumes of John Wiens' The Ecology of Bird Communities, first published in 1992, have applications and importance to the whole field of ecology. Volume 1, Foundations and Patterns, is mainly devoted to a critical evaluation of what is known about the nature and organisation of bird communities.