Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-27T18:40:57.531Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Community Ecology, Scale, and the Instability of the Stability Concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

E.D. McCoy  and
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
E.D. McCoy
Affiliation:
University of South Florida
Kristin Shrader-Frechette
Affiliation:
University of South Florida
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the Preface to his recent philosophy of biology (1988) and in his earlier Growth of Biological Thought (1982), Ernst Mayr emphasized that recent progress in evolutionary biology is a result of conceptual clarification, not a consequence of improved measurements or better scientific laws. Although complete agreement on the meaning of key concepts is not essential for all communication in science (see Hull 1988, pp. 6-7,513), we likewise believe that conceptual clarification is perhaps the most important key to progress in community ecology. In order to investigate some of the reasons that might explain why community ecology has been unable to arrive at a widely accepted general theory, in this essay we analyze “stability,” one of its most important foundational concepts. After reviewing the stability concept and sketching its associated problems, we assess the epistemological status of four difficulties with the concept.

Type
Part V. Problems in Special Sciences
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1992 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1992 , 1992 , pp. 184 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Work on this project was funded by NSF grant BBS-86-159533, “Normative Concepts in Ecology,” although the opinions expressed are those of the researchers, not the NSF. The authors are grateful to Greg Cooper, Reed Noss, and Dan Simberloff for constructive criticisms of earlier drafts. See Shrader-Frechette and McCoy 1993.

References

Allee, W.C., Park, O., Emerson, A.E., Park, T. and Schmidt, K.P. (1949), Principles of Animal Ecology. Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders.Google Scholar
Andrewartha, H.G. and Birch, L.C. (1954), The Distribution and Abundance of Animal.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Begon, M., Harper, J. and Townsend, C. (1986), Ecology: Individuals, Populations, and Communities. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.Google Scholar
Berryman, A. (1987), “Equilibrium or Nonequilibrium: Is That the Question?” Ecological Society of Americ. 68:500-502.Google Scholar
Blondel, J. (1987), “From Biogeography to Life History Theory: a Multithematic Approach Illustrated by the Biogeography of Vertebrates”, Journal of Biogeograph. 14:405-422.10.2307/2844972CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, R. (1979), Principles of Ecology. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.Google Scholar
Brewer, R.(1988), The Science of Ecology. Philadelphia: Saunders College.Google Scholar
Chesson, P. L. and Case, T. J. (1986), “Nonequilibrium Community Theories: Chance, Variability, History, and Coexistence”, in Community Ecology. Diamond, J. and Case, T.J. (eds.). New York: Harper and Row, pp. 229-239MGoogle Scholar
Clements, F.E. (1905), Research Methods in Ecology. Lincoln, NE: University Publ. Co. Reprinted 1977, New York: Arno Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clements, F.E. and Shelford, V.E., (1939), Bio-ecology. New York: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Colinvaux, P. (1973), Introduction to Ecology. New York: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Colinvaux, P. (1986), Ecology. New York: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Collier, B.D., Cox, G.W., Johnson, A.W. and Miller, P.C. (1973), Dynamic Ecology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Cornell, J.H. and Sousa, W.P. (1983), “On the Evidence Needed to Judge Ecological Stability or Persistence”, American Naturalis. 121:789-824.10.1086/284105CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, M.B. (1986), “Climatic Instability, Time Lags, and Community Disequilibrium”, in Community Ecology. Diamond, J. and Case, T.J. (eds.). New York: Harper and Row, pp. 269-284.Google Scholar
Dice, L.R. (1952), Natural Communities. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egerton, F.N., (1973), “Changing Concepts in the Balance of Nature”, The Quarterly Review of Biology 48: 322-350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. and Birch, L.C. (1967), “The Balance of Nature and Population Control”, American Naturalis. 101:97-124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elton, C. (1930), Animal Ecology and Evolution. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Emerson, A. E. (1954), “Dynamic Homeostasis: a Unifying Principle in Organic, Social, and Ethical Evolution”, Scientific Monthl. 78:67-85.Google Scholar
Forbes, S. A. (1880), “On Some Interactions of Organisms”, Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural Histor. 1: 3-17.Google Scholar
Ghiselin, M. (1969), The Triumph of the Darwinian Method. Berkeley:University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ghiselin, M. (1974), “A Radical Solution to the Species Problem”, Systematic Zoolog. 23:536-544.10.2307/2412471CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, D. (1975), “The Theory of Diversity-Stability Relationships in Ecology”, The Quarterly Review of Biolog. 50:237-266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, RR. (1986), “Interspecific Competition in Fluctuating Environments” in Community Ecology. J. Diamond and TJ. Case (eds.). New York: Harper and Row, pp. 173-191.Google Scholar
Hall, DJ., Cooper, J.F. and Werner, E.E. (1970), “An Experimental Approach to the Production Dynamics and Structure of Freshwater Animal Communities”, Limnology and Oceanograph. 15: 839-928.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanson, H.C. (1962), Dictionary of Ecology. New York: Philosophical Library.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hengeveld, R. (1988), “Mechanisms of Biological Invasions”, Journal of Biogeography 15: 819-828.10.2307/2845342CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hengeveld, R.. (1989), Dynamics of Biological Invasions. London, UK: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Holling, C.S. (1973), “Resilience and Stability of Ecological Systems,” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematic. 4:1-23.10.1146/annurev.es.04.110173.000245CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbell, SP. and Foster, R.B. (1986), “Biology, Chance, and History and the Structure of Tropical Rain Forest Tree Communities”, in Community Ecology. Diamond, J. and Case, T.J. (eds.). New York: Harper and Row, pp. 314-329.Google Scholar
Hull, D. (1976), “Are Species Really Individuals”, Systematic Zoolog. 25:174-191.10.2307/2412744CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, D. (1978), “A Matter of Individuality”, Philosophy of Science. 45:335-360.10.1086/288811CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, D.(1988), Science as a Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Jordan, OF., Kline, J.R. and Sasscer, D.S. (1972), ‘The Relative Stability of Mineral Cycles in Forest Ecosystems”, American Naturalis. 106:237-253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendeigh, S.C. (1961), Animal Ecology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitcher, P. (1985), Species. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Krebs, CJ. (1972), Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance. 3rd ed (1985). New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Levins, R. (1974), “aThe Qualitative Analysis of Partially Specified Systems”, Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 231:123-138.10.1111/j.1749-6632.1974.tb20562.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levins, R.. (1975), “Evolution in Communities Near Equilibrium”, in Ecology and Evolution of Communities. Cody, M.L. and Diamond, J.M. (eds.). Cambridge:Harvard University Press, pp. 16-50.Google Scholar
Lewin, R. (1986), “In Ecology, Change Brings Stability”, Scienc. 234:1071-1073.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewontin, R. (1969), “The Meaning of Stability”, in Diversity and Stability in Ecological Systems. Brookhaven Laboratory Publication No. 22, G. Woodwell and H. Smith (eds.). Brookhaven: Brookhaven Laboratory.Google Scholar
Lotka, A J. (1925), Elements of Physical Biology. New York: Williams and Wilkins. Reprinted 1956, New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Mclntosh, R.P. (1985), The Background of Ecology: Concept and Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacArthur, R. (1955), “Fluctuations of Animal Populations, and a Measure of Community Stability”, Ecology. 36:533-36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacArthur, R. (1971), “Patterns of Terrestrial Bird Communities”, in Avian Biology. Famer, D.S. and King, J.R. (eds.). New York: Academic Press, pp. 189-221.Google Scholar
MacArthur, R. (1972), Geographical Ecology. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Maurer, B.A. (1987), “Scaling of Biological Community Structure: A Systems Approach to Community Complexity”, Journal of Theoretical Biolog. 127:97-110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
May, R.M. (1972), “Will a Large Complex System Be Stable?” Nature. 238:413-414.10.1038/238413a0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, R.M.(1973), Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Mayr, E. (1982), The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mayr, E.. (1988), Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolutionist. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, J.C. and Hunt, H. W. (1988), “Resource Compartmentation and the Stability of Real Ecosystems”, Nature. 333:261-263.10.1038/333261a0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, D.W., (1988), “Habitat-Dependent Population Regulation and Community Structure”, Evolutionary Ecology 2:253-269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, A.J. (1933), “The Balance of Animal Populations”, Journal of Animal Ecology. 2:132-178.10.2307/954CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, A J . and Bailey, V.A. (1935), ‘The Balance of Animal Populations”, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 551-598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odum, E.P. (1953), Fundamentals of Ecology. Philadelphia: Saunders.Google Scholar
Odum, E.P.(1963), Ecology. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.Google Scholar
O'Neill, R.V., DeAngelis, D.L., Waide, J.B. and Allen, T.F.H. (1986), A Hierarchical Concept of Ecosystems. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Orians, G.H., (1975), “Diversity, Stability and Maturity in Natural Ecosystems”, in Unifying Concepts in Ecology, W.H., VanDobben and Lowe-McConnell, R.H. (eds.). The Hague, Netherlands: W. Junk, pp. 139-150.10.1007/978-94-010-1954-5_11CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oosting, H J . (1958), The Study of Plant Communities. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company.Google Scholar
Paine, R.T. (1966), “Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity” American Naturalist 100: 65-75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patten, B.C. (1962), “Species Diversity in Net Phytoplankton of Raritan Bay”, Journal of Marine Researc. 20:57-75.Google Scholar
Pianka, E.R. (1988), Evolutionary Ecology. 4th ed. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Pielou, E.C. (1974), Population and Community Ecology: Principles and Methods. New York: Gordon and Breach.Google Scholar
Pimm, S.L. (1982), Food Webs. London: Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pimm, S.L.(1984), “he Complexity and Stability of Ecosystems”, Nature. 307:321-326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pimm, S. L. and Redfern, A. (1988), “The Variability of Population Densities”, Nature. 334:613-614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pulliam, R. (1988), “Sources, Sinks, and Population Regulation”, American Naturalist. 132:653-661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reddingius, J. and den Boer, PJ. (1970), “Simulation Experiments Illustrating Stabilization of Animal Numbers by Spreading of Risk”, Oecologi. 5:240-284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ricklefs, R.E. (1973), Ecology. Newton, MA: Chiron Press.Google Scholar
Ricklefs, R.E. (1987), “Community Diversity: Relative Roles of Local and Regional Processes”, Science. 235:167-171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenberg, A. (1985), The Structure of Biological Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutledge, R.W.; Basore, B.L. and Mulholland, R. J. (1976), “Ecological Stability: an Information Theory Viewpoint”, Journal of Theoretical Biolog. 57:355-371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Santos, S.L. and Bloom, S.A. (1980), “Stability in an Annually Defaunated Estuarine Soft-Bottom Community”, Oecologia. 46:290-294.10.1007/BF00346254CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shrader-Frechette, K. and McCoy, E. (1993), Method in Applied Ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shugart, H.H. Jr. and West, D.C. (1981), “Long-Term Dynamics of Forest Ecosystems”, American Scientis. 69: 647-652.Google Scholar
Smith, R.L. (1980), Ecology and Field Biology. 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Smith, R.L.(1986), Elements of Ecology. 2nd ed. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Strong, D.R. (1986), “Population Theory and Understanding Pest Outbreaks”, in Ecological Theory and Integrated Pest Management Practices. Kogan, M. (ed.). New York: Wiley & Sons, pp. 37-58.Google Scholar
Tansley, A.G. (1935), “The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts and Terms”, Ecolog. 16:284-307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Emden, H.F., and Williams, G.F., (1974), “Insect Stability and Diversity in Agro-Ecosystems”, Annual Review of Entomolog. 19:455-475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, D. (1989), “Diversity and Stability”, in Ecological Concepts. Cherrett, J.M. (ed.). London: Blackwell, pp. 115-145.Google Scholar
Whittaker, R.H. (1970), Communities and Ecosystems.New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Wiens, J.A. and Rotenberry, J.T. (1981), “Censusing and the Evaluation of Avian Habitat Occupancy”, Studies in Avian Biolog. 6:522-532.Google Scholar
Wimsatt, W. (1980), “Randomness and Perceived-Randomness in Evolutionary Biology”, Synthes. 43: 287-329.Google Scholar
Wimsatt, W.(1987), “False Models and Means to Truer Theories”, in Neutral Models in Biology. M.H. Nitecki and A. Hoffman (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 23-55.Google Scholar
Winemiller, K.O. (1989), “Must Connectance Decrease with Species Richness?” American Naturalis. 134:960-968.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, M. (1987), “Are Communities Ever Stable?” Symposium of the British Ecological Society. 353-370.Google Scholar
Wu, L.S.Y. (1977), “The Stability of Ecosystems—A Finite-Time Approach”, Journal of Theoretical Biolog. 66: 345-359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar