The Population Ecology of Cycles in Small Mammals: Mathematical Theory and Biological Fact

by James Patrick Finerty

For the next decade, this book probably will be treated as the most definitive work on population cycles. Because the author gives a readable, well-balanced review of the history and the mathematical analysis of cycles. The book is well illustrated and provides a good introduction to the literature through 1978.

234 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[andrew y · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few months ago I was wondering how animals control their populations and this old thesis appeared and I decided to give it a shot and also no one has ever reviewed it on goodreads which is exciting.

So this read like a mathematician who got tricked into studying ecology and it turns out that’s exactly what it was. I really enjoyed a few pieces, especially the breakdowns of which species are prone to cycling, but I loathed the final chapter where he essentially proves that loop analysis and/or structured feedback diagrams do what they by definition do. Not really groundbreaking. I do wonder what has happened in the field in the 40 years since this was written but also maybe this was enough.

Don’t miss the vicious slam about how “theoretical tools in ecological sciences are far in excess of what we know” and his general conclusion that he hopes this book proves math and/or hard science of any kind has a place in the dialog around ecological science, despite being ignored to date. I love that lol.