Ecological Experiments

Download or read book Ecological Experiments written by Nelson G. Hairston and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1989-11-24 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecological Experiments stresses the importance to ecology of field experiments, where variables are manipulated in order to collect data on specific hypotheses, as opposed to the more passive observational method. The book begins by introducing a series of ecological questions that can be addressed experimentally for example, what is the significance of competition among species? The minimal requirements of experimental design that must be met are then introduced, together with examples of good and poor experiments from the ecological literature and a consideration of the trade-offs that may be forced on the experimenter by field conditions. All ecologists, and especially students beginning their careers in field study, will find in this text a good introduction to the experimental foundation of ecology.