The Theory of Ecological Communities

"This is a much-needed synthesis on the key processes shaping ecological communities. Vellend puts his theoretical framework in historical context, presents testable hypotheses derived from the theory, and evaluates them in an extensive review of the empirical literature. Vellend's framework and synthesis will help community ecologists make significant progress in our understanding of how nature works."--Diego P. Vázquez, Argentine Institute for Dryland Research and National University of Cuyo

"Many people have suggested that community ecology is a morass of unique cases. Vellend's book audaciously challenges this view. Borrowing from evolution, he proposes just four general rules to cover all of community ecology. He fleshes this out with detailed examples, R code, and a mapping between his framework and traditional concepts. All community ecologists will have to respond to Vellend in their work, as this is the rare book that will dominate the discussion for years to come."--Brian McGill, University of Maine

"With clear and succinct definitions of complex ideas, this book constructs a theory of ecological communities based on fundamental processes of selection, drift, dispersal, and speciation. Vellend offers a useful framework that includes evolution as well as ecological factors and he makes a significant contribution to the field."--Marcel Holyoak, University of California, Davis

"This book is a selective review of the sprawling field of community ecology. Vellend provides an impressive conceptual synthesis that helps students and practitioners pull together the discipline's wide range of perspectives into a coherently organized whole."--Robert Holt, University of Florida