Geographical Ecology

Rating:
Summary: The Grand Summation of the 20th Century's Greatest Ecologist
Review: Robert MacArthur, along with his mentor, G. Evelyn Hutchinson, is regarded by many as the greatest ecologist of the 20th Century. He made significant contributions to our understanding of ecological niches, interspecific competition, and perhaps most importantly, provided a unique means of looking at species diversity as a complex interaction between speciation (or species immigration) and extinction rates, so brilliantly shown in the MacArthur-Wilson theory of equilibrium island biogeography. MacArthur applied originally his graduate training in applied mathematics at Brown University to ecological questions which had interested him since college, while earning his doctorate in biology as a student of Hutchinson's at Yale University. Without question, MacArthur raised the stature of ecology from descriptive natural history to a complex mathematical science keenly interested in the interactions, abundance and distribution of animals and plants. His seminal research still casts a long shadow on modern ecology, nearly thirty years after his untimely death from cancer in 1972.

Although written as an advanced text for undergraduate and graduate ecology students, "Geographical Ecology" is best understood as the eloquent final testament in which MacArthur described those aspects of ecology - competition, the structure and organization of animal communities and species diversity - which had defined his research since his tenure as Hutchinson's student. MacArthur opens the book with an introduction to physical aspects of the environment, which is soon followed by an excellent chapter on competition. Most of the text is devoted to discussing the theory of equilibrium island biogeography and its ramifications for analyzing species diversity, including extensive overviews of species distributions and patterns of species diversity. He also succinctly ties in competition with equilibrium theory. At the end of many chapters he includes appendices in which he discusses much of the mathematical reasoning behind these ecological concepts; however one need not know either calculus nor linear algebra to appreciate MacArthur's eloquent discussion of these subjects. At the very end, he describes the importance of history in determining biogeographic patterns with respect to long-term ecological and geologic time scales (Regrettably, this is an issue which many ecologists have ignored until quite recently; one notable exception is MacArthur's former doctoral student, Michael Rosenzweig, himself a distinguished ecologist.).

Students of ecology and evolutionary biology as well as those interested in the history and philosophy of science will find "Geographical Ecology" an important tome. It is certainly one of the most influential texts ever published on ecology.