Assembled here for the first time in one volume are forty classic papers that have laid the foundations of modern ecology. Whether by posing new problems, demonstrating important effects, or stimulating new research, these papers have made substantial contributions to an understanding of ecological processes, and they continue to influence the field today. The papers span nearly nine decades of ecological research, from 1887 on, and are organized in six sections: foundational papers, theoretical advances, synthetic statements, methodological developments, field studies, and ecological experiments. Selections range from Connell's elegant account of experiments with barnacles to Watt's encyclopedic natural history, from a visionary exposition by Grinnell of the concept of niche to a seminal essay by Hutchinson on diversity. Six original essays by contemporary ecologists and a historian of ecology place the selections in context and discuss their continued relevance to current research. This combination of classic papers and fresh commentaries makes Foundations of Ecology both a convenient reference to papers often cited today and an essential guide to the intellectual and conceptual roots of the field. Published with the Ecological Society of America.

Preface Part One - Foundational Papers Defining Ecology as a Science Sharon E. Kingsland 1. Stephen A. Forbes (1887) The Lake as a Microcosm (Bulletin of the Peoria Scientific Association, pp. 77-87. Reprinted in the Bulletin of the Illinois State Natural History Survey 15 (1925): 537-50 2. Henry Chandler Cowles (1899) The Ecological Relations of the Vegetation on the Sand Dunes of Lake Michigan The Botanical Gazette 27 : 97-117, 167-202, 281-308, 361-91 3. Frederic E. Clements (1936) Nature and Structure of the Climax The Journal of Ecology 24 : 252-84 4. H. A. Gleason (1926) The Individualistic Concept of the Plant Association Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 53 : 7-26 5. Joseph Grinnell (1917) The Niche-Relationships of the California Thrasher The Auk 34 : 427-33 6. A. J. Nicholson and V. A. Bailey (1935) The Balance of Animal Populations, Part I Proceeding of the Zoological Society, London, no. 3, pp. 551-98 Part Two - Theoretical Advances The Role of Theory in the Rise of Modern Ecology Leslie A. Real and Simon A. Levin 8. Frank W. Preston (1962) The Canonical Distribution of Commonness and Rarity, Part I Ecology 43 : 185-215, 431-32 9. G. Evelyn Hutchinson (1957) Concluding Remarks Population Studies: Animal Ecology and Demography. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 22 : 415-27 10. Lamont C. Cole (1954) The Population Consequences of Life History Phenomena The Quarterly Review of Biology 29 : 103-37 11. Robert M. May (1974) Biological Populations with Non-Overlapping Generations: Stable Points, Stable Cycles, and Chaos Science 186 : 645-47 12. Robert H. MacArthur and Eric R. Pianka (1966) On Optimal Use of a Patchy Environment The American Naturalist 100 : 603-9 13. Vito Volterra (1926) Fluctuations in the Abundance of a Species Considered Mathematically Nature 118 : 558-60 14. J. G. Skellam (1951) Random Dispersal in Theoretical Populations Biometrika 38 : 196-218 Part Three - Theses, Antitheses, and Syntheses Conversational Biology and Ecological Debate Joel G. Kingsolver and Robert T. Paine 15. A. G. Tansley (1935) The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts and Terms Ecology 16 : 284-307 16. G. E. Hutchinson (1959) Homage to Santa Rosalia; or, Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals? The American Naturalist 93 : 145-59 17. Nelson G. Hairston, Frederick E. Smith, and Lawrence B. Slobodkin (1960) Community Structure, Population Control, and Competition The American Naturalist 94 : 421-25 18. Paul R. Ehrlich and Peter H. Raven (1964) Butterflies and Plants: A Study in Coevolution Evolution 18 : 586-608 19. J. L. Harper (1967) A Darwinian Approach to Plant Ecology The Journal of Ecology 55 : 247-70 20. Thomas W. Schoener (1971) Theory of Feeding Strategies Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 2 : 369-404 Part Four - Methodological Advances New Approaches and Methods in Ecology James H. Brown 21. Lennart von Post (1967 [1916]) Forest Tree Pollen in South Swedish Peat Bog Deposits Pollen et Spores 9 : 378-401. A translation by Margaret Bryan Davis and Knut Faegri of Om skogstradspollen i sydsvenska torfmosselagerfolijder (foredragsreferat) (Geolgiska Foereningen i Stockholm. Foerhandlingar 38 : 384-34), with an introduction by Knut Faegri and Johs. Iversen 22. P. H. Leslie (1945) On the Use of Matrices in Certain Population Mathematics Biometrika 33 : 183-212 23. L. C. Birch (1948) The Intrinsic Rate of Natural Increase of an Insect Population The Journal of Animal Ecology 17 : 15-26 24. C. S. Holling (1959) The Components of Predation as Revealed by a Study of Small Mammal Predation of the European Pine Sawfly The Canadian