Papers
Below, I list books and papers that I have enjoyed reading and impacted my scientific career. I considered them foundational to the discipline of ecology and conservation of biodiversity (and some others). Each of them represent novel ideas and advances, and thus, valuable “food for thought” to invest some time reading them. Although these lists are by no means comprehensive, I made these readings available as a resource for others. In most cases, if you hover with your cursor over the titles, you will be able to access the papers and often the books. Enjoy the readings!
Anderson, J.G.T. 2017. Why ecology needs natural history. American Scientist 105: 290-297.
Bartholomew, G.A. 1986. The role of natural history in contemporary biology. BioScience 36: 324-329.
Brown, J.H. 1971. Mammals on mountaintops: nonequilibrium insular biogeography. American Naturalist 105: 467-478. (islands as model systems)
Brown, J.S., J.W. Laundré & M. Gurung. 1999. The ecology of fear: optimal foraging, game theory, and trophic interactions. Journal of Mammalogy 80: 385-399. (non-lethal effects)
Caughley, G. 1994. Directions in conservation biology. Journal of Animal Ecology 63: 215-244.
Charnov, E., G. Orians & K. Hyatt. 1975. Ecological implications of resource depression. American Naturalist 110: 247-259. (predator/prey behavior and foraging strategies)
Chamberlain, T.C. 1965. The method of multiple working hypothesis. Science 148: 754-759.
Costanza, R., R. d’Arge, R. de Groot, S. Farber, M. Grasso, B. Hannon, K. Limburg, S. Naeem, R.V. O’neill, J. Paruelo, R.G. Raskin, P. Sutton & M. Van Den Belt. 1997. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387: 253-260.
Crooks, K. & M. Soulé. 1999. Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a fragmented system. Nature 400: 563-566.
Dayton, P.K. 2003. The importance of the natural sciences to conservation. American Naturalist 162: 1-13.
Errington, P.L. 1945. Some contributions of a fifteen-year study of the northern bobwhite to a knowledge of population phenomena. Ecological Monographs 15: 1-34.
Errington, P.L. 1946. Predation and vertebrate populations. Quarterly Review in Biology 21: 221-245. (surplus killing, compensatory mortality, etc.)
Fahrig, L. 2003. Effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 34: 487-515.
Greene, H.W. 1986. Natural history and evolutionary biology. Pp. 99-108 in Predator–prey relationships: perspectives and approaches from the study of lower vertebrates (Feder, M.E. & G.V. Lander, eds.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
Grinnell, J. 1917. The niche-relationships of the California Thrasher. Auk 34: 427-433. (niche/habitat concept)
Hairston, N.G., F.E. Smith & L.B. Slobodkin. 1960. The community structure, population control, and competition. American Naturalist 94: 421-425 (Why is the world green?)
Harding, G.J. The tragedy of the commons. Science 162: 1243-1248. (open access resources)
Hurlbert, S.H. 1984. Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecological Monographs 54: 187-211. (research design)
Hutchinson, G.E. 1957. Concluding remarks. Cold Spring Harbor Symposium in Quantitative Biology 22: 415-427. (species diversity)
Hutchinson, G.E. 1959. Homage to Santa Rosalia or why are there so many kinds of animals? American Naturalist 93: 145-159. (niche theory)
Levin, S.A. 1992. The problem of pattern and scale in ecology. Ecology 73: 1943-1967.
Levine, R.V. 1990. The pace of life. American Scientist 78: 450-459.
Lewins, R. 1966. The strategy of model building in population biology. American Scientist 54: 421-431.
Lima, S.L. & L.M. Dill. 1990. Behavioral decisions made under the risk of predation: a review and prospectus. Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 619-640.
Lima, S.L. 1998. Nonlethal effects in the ecology of predator-prey interactions. BioScience 48: 25-34.
MacArthur, R.H. 1958. Population ecology of some warblers of northeastern coniferous forests. Ecology 39: 599-619. (niche partitioning and coexistence)
Paine, R.T. 1966. Food web complexity and species diversity. American Naturalist 100: 65-75. (trophic cascades and field experiments in ecology)
Paine, R.T. 1969. A note on trophic complexity and community stability. American Naturalist 103: 91-93. (keystone species)
Pianka, E.R. 1970. On r- and K-Selection. American Naturalist 104: 592-597. (life history strategies)
Platt, J.R. 1964. Strong inference. Science 146: 347-353.
Pulliam, H.R. 1988. Sources, sinks, and population regulation. American Naturalist 132: 652-661.
Ricketts, T.H. 2001. The matrix matters: effective isolation in fragmented landscapes. American Naturalist 158:87-99.
Robinson, S.K., F.R. Thompson III, T.M. Donovan, D.R. Whitehead & J. Faaborg. 1995. Regional forest fragmentation and the nesting success of migratory birds. Science 267:1987-1990.
Romesburg, C. 1981. Wildlife science: gaining reliable knowledge. Journal of Wildlife Management 45: 293-313. (the hypothetico-deductive method in ecology)
Root, R.B. 1967. The niche exploitation pattern of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Ecological Monographs 37: 317-350. (guild concept)
Schmidly. D.J. 2005. What it means to be a naturalist and the future of natural history at American universities. Journal of Mammalogy 86: 449-456.
Schoener, T.W. 1974. Resource partitioning in ecological communities. Science 185: 27-39. (coexistence and niche partitioning)
Soga, M & K.J. Gaston. 2016. Extinction of experience: The loss of human-nature interactions. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 14: 94-101.
Terborgh, J., L. Lopez, P. Nuñez, M. Rao, G. Shahabuddin, G. Orihuela, M. Riveros, R. Ascanio, G.H. Adler, T.D. Lambert & L. Balbas. 2001. Ecological meltdown in predator-free forest fragments. Science 294: 1923-1926.
Tewksbury, J.J., J.G.T. Anderson, J.D. Bakker, T.J. Billo, P.W. Dunwiddie, M.J. Groom, S.E. Hampton, S.G. Herman, D.J. Levey, N.J. Machnicki, C. Martínez del Rio, M.E. Power, K. Rowell, A.K. Salomon, L. Stacey, S.C. Trombulak, T.A. Wheeler. 2014. Natural History’s Place in Science and Society. BioScience 64: 300-310.
Terborgh, J., K. Feeley, M. Silman, P. Nuñez & B. Balukjian. 2006. Vegetation dynamics of predator-free land-bridge islands. Journal of Ecology 94: 253-263. (trophic cascades)
Van Horne, B. 1983. Density as a misleading indicator of habitat quality. Journal of Wildlife Management 47: 893-901. (density ≠ fitness)
Vitousek, P.M., H.A. Mooney, J. Lubchenco & J.M. Melillo. 1997. Human domination of Earth’s ecosystems. Science 277: 494-499.
White, L. 1967. The historical roots of our ecological crisis. Science 155: 1203-1207. (the Judeo-Christian religion is blamed)
Wilcove, D.S. 1985. Nest predation in forest tracts and the decline of migratory songbirds. Ecology 66: 1211-1214. (habitat fragmentation, nest predation and bird decline)