Jonathan M. Chase, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at Washington University and Mathew A. Leibold, Ph.D., associate professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, are the authors of Ecological Niches. In this work they take on one of the tenets of ecology, niche theory, which holds that species evolve and thrive because of their particular environment and what activities they do to shape that environment, providing them their niche, if you will.

In the book, though, the authors say the old ecological niche theory has about as much relevance to modern ecology as "old Europe" does to the Bush administration.

"We're trying to resurrect niche theory in the modern ecological world," said Chase. "The old theory is based on a species' ability to carve out its own ability to survive, but that is based on species living in a closed and unchanging community.

"But Nature is more variable than the classic models. There are droughts, for example, rainy years, heterogeneous landscapes, and habitats that are disturbed such as wave-swept shores and habitats with frequent wildfires, to name just a few. We think we need a niche theory that incorporates that variability.'

A recent paper published in Ecology Letters by Chase and his wife, Tiffany Knight, Ph.D., a post-doctoral researcher at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, California, illustrates the variability of Chase's niche concept. They took the old saw that rainy weather is the cause of increased mosquito populations and instead showed that the previous year's drought is the cause of high mosquito populations coming out of wetlands in the following year. This is because some wetlands, which are the home to mosq
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Contact: Tony Fitzpatrick
tony_fitzpatrick@wustl.edu
314-935-5272
Washington University in St. Louis
13-Apr-2004