The importance of interactions in the population ecology of the vole Clethrionomys rufocanus

摘要

In their introductory paper, Stenseth et al. (1998a) prominently quote Charles Krebs' (1994) definition of ecology: "Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms." [my emphasis] Small-mammal ecologists must employ a broader interpretation of what constitute the important interactions involved in vole population dynamics. Until we do, both the quality of our science and its relevance to other ecologists will remain limited.