Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 3 March 1989:
Vol. 243. no. 4895, pp. 1145 - 1150
DOI: 10.1126/science.243.4895.1145
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Macroecology: The Division of Food and Space Among Species on Continents

JAMES H. BROWN 1 and BRIAN A. MAURER 2

1 Professor in the Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131.
2 Assistant professor in the Department of Zoology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602.

Analyses of statistical distributions of body mass, population density, and size and shape of geographic range offer insights into the empirical patterns and causal mechanisms that characterize the allocation of food and space among the diverse species in continental biotas. These analyses also provide evidence of the processes that couple ecological phenomena that occur on disparate spatial and temporal scales—from the activities of individual organisms within local populations to the dynamics of continent-wide speciation, colonization, and extinction events.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Parallel ecological networks in ecosystems.
H. Olff, D. Alonso, M. P. Berg, B. K. Eriksson, M. Loreau, T. Piersma, and N. Rooney (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc B 364, 1755-1779
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Macroecology: more than the division of food and space among species on continents.
F. A. Smith, S. K. Lyons, S.K. Morgan Ernest, and J. H. Brown (2008)
Progress in Physical Geography 32, 115-138
   Abstract »    PDF »
The importance of physiological ecology in conservation biology.
C. R. Tracy, K. E. Nussear, T. C. Esque, K. Dean-Bradley, C. R. Tracy, L. A. DeFalco, K. T. Castle, L. C. Zimmerman, R. E. Espinoza, and A. M. Barber (2006)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 46, 1191-1205
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biodiversity and extinction: macroecological patterns and people.
K. J. Gaston (2006)
Progress in Physical Geography 30, 258-269
   PDF »
Evolution of body size in Galapagos marine iguanas.
M. Wikelski (2005)
Proc R Soc B 272, 1985-1993
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biogeography and macroecology.
M. Kent (2005)
Progress in Physical Geography 29, 256-264
   PDF »
Source pool geometry and the assembly of continental avifaunas.
G. R. Graves and C. Rahbek (2005)
PNAS 102, 7871-7876
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Scaling and power-laws in ecological systems.
P. A. Marquet, R. A. Quinones, S. Abades, F. Labra, M. Tognelli, M. Arim, and M. Rivadeneira (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 1749-1769
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Body Size, Performance and Fitness in Galapagos Marine Iguanas.
M. Wikelski and L. M. Romero (2003)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 43, 376-386
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Scaling Population Density to Body Size in Rocky Intertidal Communities.
P. A. Marquet, S. A. Navarrete, and J. C. Castilla (1990)
Science 250, 1125-1127
   Abstract »    PDF »
From the Cover: Ecological basis of extinction risk in birds: Habitat loss versus human persecution and introduced predators.
I. P. F. Owens and P. M. Bennett (2000)
PNAS 97, 12144-12148
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)