Chapter 13 Suggested Readings
Aarssen, L. W. and T. Koegh. 2002. Conundrums of competitive ability in plants: what to
measure? Oikos 96:531–42.
A careful analysis of plant competition studies that calls for greater caution when
estimating competitive ability. The authors emphasize the need for measuring the
allocation of plants to survival and fecundity as indicators of competitive ability.
Byers, J. E. 2000. Competition between two estuarine snails: implications for invasions
of exotic species. Ecology 81:1225–39.
A modern experimental study that reveals the rich details of interspecific competition
between a native and an invasive snail species.
Byers, J. E. 2002. Impact of non-indigenous species on natives enhanced by
anthropogenic alteration of selection regimes. Oikos 97:449–58.
The author reviews how human-caused environmental change can reverse the outcome of
competition among species.
Chuine, E. and E. G. Beaubien. 2001. Phenology is a major determinant of tree species
range. Ecology Letters 4:500–10.
An application of the concepts of realized and fundamental niches at a large geographic
scale, with applications to studies of plant responses to global warming and the spread of
invasive plant species.
Connell, J. H. 1983. On the prevalence and relative importance of interspecific
competition: evidence from field experiments. American Naturalist 122:661-96
Schoener, T. W. 1983. Field experiments on interspecific competition. American
Naturalist 122:240-85.
Schoener, T. W. 1985. Some comments on Connell’s and my reviews of field
experiments on interspecific competition. American Naturalist 125:730-40.
These three classic papers provide thoughtful reviews of the evidence for the significance
of competition as revealed by field experiments and, in the process, they demonstrate the
intricate and subtle road to scientific understanding.
Dayan, T. and D. Simberloff. 2005. Ecological and community-wide character
displacement: the next generation. Ecology Letters 8:875–94.
Comprehensive and rigorous historical review of the concept of character displacement
and of the growing list of its demonstration.
Grant, P. R. 1994. Ecological character displacement. Science 266:746–47.
Schluter, D. 1994. Experimental evidence that competition promotes divergence in
adaptive radiation. Science 266:798–801.
These papers provide some of the best documented examples and concise reviews of the
topic of character displacement.
Harris, D. B. and D. W. Macdonald. 2007. Interference competition between introduced
black rats and endemic Galapagos rice rats. Ecology 88:2330-44.
A thorough experimental study of competition between two rodent species, one invasive
and one endemic.
Heske, E. J., J. H. Brown, and S. Mistry. 1994. Long-term experimental study of a
Chihuahuan Desert rodent community: 13 years of competition. Ecology 75:438–45.
Thibault, K. M. and J. H. Brown. 2008. Impact of an extreme climatic event on
community assembly. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America. 105:3410–15.
These papers report on the first 30 years of one of the most ambitious experiments on
interspecific competition among terrestrial animals and of a growing body of evidence of
the role played by climate in altering the outcome of competitive interactions in this
community.
Lapid, E. D., J. Wielgus, and N. E. Chadwick-Furman. 2004. Sweeper tentacles of the
brain coral Platygyra daedalea: induced development and effects on competitors.
Marine Ecology Progress Series 282:161-71.
A study of the fascinating means by which corals engage in interference competition.
Pulliam, H. R. 2000. On the relationship between niche and distribution. Ecology Letters
3:349–61.
In this paper Pulliam revisits and expands the niche concept, particularly as developed
by Hutchinson. He suggests further research on habitat suitability for species by studying
how demography of species respond to variation in habitat characteristics.
Schoener, T. W. 2009. I.1 Ecological Niche. In S.A. Levin ed. The Princeton Guide to
Ecology. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Schoener’s lead chapter in the comprehensive Princeton Guide to Ecology provides an
expert discussion of the history and richness of the niche concept in ecology.