A central problem in ecology is the relative importance of equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions in populations, communities and ecosystems. The prevailing view was for a long time that systems are generally at or near equilibrium, although deviations from equilibrium due to environmental disturbances are possible and even common. In such near-equilibrial systems, consisting of densely packed populations, competition between individuals of the same or different species is believed to be of paramount importance. However, much evidence contradicts this prevailing paradigm. A recent book examines the evidence for equilibrium and nonequilibrium in ecological systems (Klaus Rohde 2005. Nonequilibrium Ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). The book contains a brief discussion of the theoretical background and history (in greater detail discussed in G.C.Cooper, The Science of the Struggle for Existence, Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003), detailed discussions of competition (and the often faulty evidence given for it), a discussion of non-competitive mechanisms responsible for niche restriction and segregation, and detailed examples of equilibrium and nonequilibrium over evolutionary time, in populations and metapopulations, in communties, and in ecosystems. An attempt is made to explain why different communities and ecosystems differ in the degree of equilibrium/nonequilibrium. Finally, “prospects for an ecology of the future” are discussed. Particular attention is paid to latitudinal gradients in species diversity, and to nonequilibrium caused by climate change. Details of the book are available at:
From the only review available to date:
…..this is a useful book that should be read by any ecologist and particularly by any graduate student interested in a refreshingly different perspective of our science than the one dished up too frequently in survey courses and the conservation press.
Peter F. Sale, Conservation Biology 21, 282, 2007.