Reviews of our book

 

György Barabás 2017: The Quarterly Review of Biology  92(2): 180-181.

"The book is written from an especially unique and original perspective, not only in terms of its general organization, but also in its particular treatment of various topics such as competitive exclusion and the ecological niche. The book frequently emphasizes that competitive exclusion and directional selection really represent the same fundamental process, be they between species, clones, or alleles. Building on the concept of robust population regulation, the authors present their version of the ecological niche in a chapter that is, in many ways, the cornerstone of the book (ch. 10). Not only do the authors propose a formal niche concept that unifies and makes sense of various traditions in which the word has been historically used, the concept also applies to and remains useful for complex ecological scenarios, e.g., to communities in fluctuating environments or when the interacting species possess age or stage structure. And, all the while, the evolutionary aspect of the niche is emphasized through many examples and a discussion of adaptive diversification."

 

Götzenberger, L., & Lepš, J. 2018: The time is ripe for general theory in community ecology. Conservation Biology32(2), 499-501.

"Nevertheless, we believe the book is more accessible than its cover might suggest, on which fragments of partial differential equations threateningly loom. We found (most of) the book reasonably accessible even with our biological knowledge of mathematics. It will help the mathematically challenged that most of the math is confined to so‐called TBoxes – readers not sufficiently fit to understand all the derivations can easily skip the mathematically explicit parts. In addition to these TBoxes, the authors fence off text into other boxes called “notes” and “warnings,” which keep the main text flowing and provide pertinent details. These boxes contain discussion and demonstrate some caveats and misconceptions, although sometimes in a rather rigorous and authoritative style (e.g., Note 7.1)."

 

María Pérez‐Fernández 2018:  Austral Ecology, 43(3) e6

"What does the book contribute to existing manuals on ecology? On one hand, it presents ecological issues based on their Darwinian principles and based on easy-to-understand mathematical models, stressing importance of the evolution of species or the ecology of ecosystems. The book also adds text boxes and a wealth of illustrations and examples from different organisational levels that clarify the mathematical approaches to the study cases."

 

Robert D. Holt & James H. Peniston  2018: Aiming towards a unified ecology Ecology, early view

"Some countries throw more of a scientific punch than might be suggested by their size. Finland is one example, and Hungary another. In this excellent and thought-provoking advanced textbook, a group of theoretical and empirical Hungarian ecologists aim to articulate a coherent conceptual foundation for ecology."