Gary G. Mittelbach is Professor Emeritus at the Kellogg Biological Station and the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University. He graduated with a B.A. from the University of Iowa (1974) and earned his Ph.D. at Michigan State University (1980). Dr. Mittelbach's research focuses on the evolution and maintenance of biodiversity, with research ranging from experimental studies of fish populations in local lakes to theoretical analyses of global patterns of species diversity. He is an elected Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, an original member of ISI's Highly Cited Researchers, and is the recipient of Michigan State's College of Natural Science Outstanding Faculty Award and the University's W. J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award.

Brian J. McGill is a Professor at the University of Maine in the School of Biology and Ecology and the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. He graduated with a B.A. in mathematics from Harvard University (1988) and, after working in the information technology industry for 9 years, earned his PhD from the University of Arizona (2003). His work focuses on how human-caused global change is impacting biodiversity. His work also focus on large scales and ecoinformatics approaches. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

• 1: Community ecology's roots


• Part I


• The Big Picture: patterns, causes, and consequences of biodiversity


• 2: Patterns of biological diversity


• 3: Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning


• Part II


• The Nitty-Gritty: species interactions in simple modules


• 4: Population growth and density dependence


• 5: The fundamentals of predator-prey interactions


• 6: Selective predators and responsive prey


• 7: The fundamentals of competitive interactions


• 8: Species coexistence and niche theory


• 9: Beneficial interactions in communities: Mutualism and facilitation


• Part III


• Putting the Pieces Together: food webs, ecological networks and community assembly


• 10: Species interactions in ecological networks


• 11: Food chains and food webs: Controlling factors and cascading effects


• 12: Community assembly and species traits


• Part IV


• Patial Ecology: metapopulations and metacommunities


• 13: Patchy environments, metapopulations and fugitive species


• 14: Metacommunities


• Part V


• Species in Changing Environments: ecology and evolution


• 15: Species in variable environments


• 16: Evolutionary community ecology


• 17: Some concluding remarks and a look ahead