The evolution of population ecology

Background/Question/Methods

Population ecology has been argued to be the most fundamental subdiscipline of ecology.  Regardless of agreement on this proposition, consensus does seem to exist that population ecology has more of a clear canon of knowledge than any other aspect of ecology, as indicated by the remarkable similarity in content across textbooks and university classes.  This also means that the history of population ecology tends to be reasonably well-known and documented, with the same core set of historically-important concepts, equations, controversies, and major contributors cited in textbooks and the classroom.   This common core has, however, perhaps obscured key differences in the history of population ecology among different kinds of organisms, that, when excavated, may lead to important insights about the underlying mechanisms driving patterns in population structure and dynamics among organisms. 

Results/Conclusions

A common adage describing the early history of ecology as a modern science is that plant ecology was largely focused on communities and vegetation patterns, while animal ecology  was focused on populations, although this changed substantially with the advent of John Harper and his colleagues and students in the 1960’s and 70’s.  Are these differences historical accidents or a consequence of differences in methodological convenience?  To what extent could they be rooted in more substantial biological differences that have significance for ecological?  Traits such as the more obvious sessile nature of plants (compared to the popularly-studied birds and mammals), indeterminate growth of individuals, clonal habit, huge range of size within species, and complicated reproductive systems all require more complex models than those of classic population dynamics, even in the absence of species interactions.  Nevertheless, some or all of these characteristics also hold for many, if not most, animal populations.  How successful have we been in incorporating these phenomena into models and understanding their role in population dynamics?  What are the important future steps to ensure that population ecology takes into account the essential complexities of real organisms without being lost in the endlessly fascinating minutia of the unique biology of every species?