Overview

Over the past two decades, numerous field and experimental studies on the ecology and evolution of animal and plant interactions have been reported by botanists, zoologists, and ecologists. This textbook offers a comprehensive summary of this extensive and widely scattered literature, and in so doing presents the subject as a coherent, accessible discipline. The authors describe familiar areas, such as herbivory and pollination, and discuss new information on subjects such as seed dispersal, the genetics of coevolution, structural and chemical plant defenses, and the implications of human use of animal and plant communities. As they explore these issues, the authors raise provocative questions of fundamental importance: How can an earth teeming with plant-eating animals be so green? Do plants really need animals that pollinate their flowers and disperse their seeds? What happens to tropical plant communities when fruit-eating toucans and monkeys are killed by encroaching humans? By drawing together information on many diverse aspects of the subject--and presenting a challenging and insightful look into the complexities of plant and animal inter-relationships--this unique book represents a vital contribution to the ecological literature.

Full Product Details

9780195063141

Table of Contents

Reviews

This book would make an excellent supplementary text for an undergraduate ecology course. H.F. Howe and L.C. Westley set out to create a college-level text covering the ever-growing literature on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of plant-animal interactions. Drawing upon their own considerable expertise and the most recent publications, they have created not only an admirable introduction to the subject, but a well-balanced and extensive review of the current state of the art in this field --BioScience Howe and Westley have done a service to those of us who want to convey to undergraduates some of the richness of ideas and results on the evolutionary ecology of interactions between plants and animals. --The Quarterly Review of Biology A cogent explanation of scientific methods for testing hypothesis in ecology, including literature reviews, observation, and experimentation. Good examples from existing literature fill the book. . . .I recommend this textbook to supplement general ecology courses or to support a seminar on plant-animal interactions. --Science Books and Films A compactly written introductory text for a subject that is sorely neglected by many standard texts in ecology. . . . This book will certainly help to redress a serious imbalance in the undergraduate ecology curriculum, and represents one of the most rapidly developing areas in the field. --American Scientist Ecologists who would like to see the literature on plant-animal interactions transformed into a useful reference text will welcome the arrival of Ecological Relationships of Plants and Animals by Henry Howe and Lynn Westley. Their book presents an interesting synthesis of the empirical research on herbivory and three types of plant-animal nonsymbiotic mutualisms. The book's strength is its ecological focus, although it also discusses the evolutionary relationships between plants and animals. . . .a first-rate resource on the ecology of terrestrial plant-animal interactions. --Ecology

'As this book covers material that students will almost certainly find attractive, and deals with complex ideas in a simple, straightforward manner, I can thoroughly recommend it.' Times Higher Education Supplement 'The book offers an excellent synthesis at a university level of a subject which is among the richest in new acquisitions and stimulating evolutionistic problems.' Ethology Ecology & Evolution, No. 2, Vol. 4, 1992

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available