List of Textbooks on Ecological Modelling

compiled by Michael Knorrenschild from the internet

In late 1994 I asked about recommendations for (text)books on mathematical models in ecology. The following is a list of the books that have been recommended by list-readers, ordered by author. Bibliographical data is included whereever I could get in hold of them. I boiled down the various comments that have been made on the books to a few keywords in order to keep this list readable; also splitting them in pro's and con's according to my personal judgement (this of course depends on what you ask from a book, pro's can turn into con's and vice versa in a different situation). Many thanks to the people who contributed to this list: Göran Agren, Mark Andersen, John Blood, Berty van Hensbergen, Brian Fath, Patrick Foley, Gordon Fox, Volker Grimm, Lou Gross, *Brian Inouye, Szilveszter Juhos, Jan L. Korrubel, Tarzan Legovic, Tom Martin, Michael McCarthy, Dave McNeely, Jeff Miner, C. W. Ramm, Ali Saysel, Erik Shepard, Dave Smith, Ward B. Strong, Andy Taylor, *Steve Vail, Frank Weiler, Jack Weiss, Jon Wortley (comments from people with a leading "*" were included from an earlier summary on recommended books that I have been sent). Numbers [n] after the entry denote the number of people who mentioned this reference, if it was mentioned more than once, in case you want to go where the crowd goes :-).

If you have any comments or updates regarding this list please let me know by e-mail to
michael.knorrenschild "at" hs-bochum.de

1

Göran I. Ågren and Ernesto Bosatta.
Theoretical Ecosystem Ecology - Understanding Element Cycles.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 250p., ISBN 0-521-58022-6 (hardback, 1997, 1.ed.), ISBN 0-521-64651-0 (paperback, 1998, 2nd ed.), 1997/1998.
+ contains problems, some with solutions,
additional information provided by the publisher.

2

H. Resit Akcakaya, Mark A. Burgman, and Lev R. Ginzburg.
Applied Population Ecology: principles and computer exercises using RAMAS EcoLab 2.0, 2nd Edition.
Sinauer, ISBN 0-87893-028-0, 280 p., incl. CD-ROM, 1999.
additional information provided by the author(s).

3

Roy M. Anderson and Robert M. May.
The Dynamics of Human Host-Parasite Systems.
Princeton Univ. Press, 1986.

4

Edward Beltrami.
Mathematical Models in the Social and Biological Sciences.
Jones & Bartlett, Boston, 197 p., 1993.
+ 3 (out of 6) chapters on ecological models (incl. a fishery model, measles epidemics, red tide model, pollution model, gray squirrel dispersal model, and a game-theoretical fishery model).

5

Ernst Berg and Friedrich Kuhlmann.
Systemanalyse und Simulation für Agrarwissenschaftler und Biologen.
Ulmer, 344p., ISBN 3-8001-4061-6, 1993.
In German; incl. 1 disk; methods and PASCAL-programs for modelling dynamical systems.

6

Howard C. Berg.
Random walks in biology.
Princeton Univ. Press, 164p., new ed., ISBN 0-691-00064-6, 1993.
additional information provided by the publisher.

7

Hartmut Bossel.
Modeling and Simulation.
Wellesley, MA: A. K. Peters, 484 p., 1994.
+ a systems dynamics approach to modeling; so most of the applications are drawn from natural resource modeling; great catalog of elementary systems models; comes with software (the SIMPAS simulator, PC-based) as well as STELLA diagrams
- no exercises; limited bibliography.

8

D. Brown and P. Rothery.
Models in Biology: mathematics, statistics and computing.
Wiley, 708 p., ISBN 0-471-93322-8, 1993.
[3]
+ lots of (ecological) models, statistics and data, many exercises and references, computer supplement available
- ignores age structure.

9

Michael Bulmer.
Theoretical Evolutionary Ecology.
Sinauer, 352 p., ISBN 0-87893-078-7, 1994.
+ focus on basic population modeling, life history evolution, game theory, and evolution of sex. Has exercises
- very little classical population genetics.

10

Mark Burgman, Scott Ferson, and H. Resit Akcakaya.
Risk assessment in conservation biology, volume 12 of Population and Community Biology Series.
Springer, 328p., ISBN 978-0-412-35030-6, 1993.
+ does more than the title might suggest, application of population models to wildlife management
Review in Natural Resource Modeling 8(1): 99-102, 1994
Review in Trends in Ecol. & Evol., mid 1993
additional information provided by the publisher.

11

Hal Caswell.
Matrix Population Models.
Sinauer, 328 p., 2nd ed., ISBN 0-87893-096-5, 2000.
[2]
comments on the 1st ed. (1989): + extensive references
- no exercises
2nd revised ed. includes new material on sensitivity analysis, statistics, demographic stochasticity, and applications in conservation biology.
Review in Ecol. Model., Vol. 148, no. 3, 2002, p. 307 - 310
additional information provided by the publisher.

12

Steven C. Chapra.
Surface Water Quality Modelling.
McGraw-Hill, 784 p., ISBN 0-07011-364-5, 1997.

13

Colin W. Clark.
Mathematical Bioeconomics: The Optimal Management of Renewable Resources, 2nd Ed.
Wiley, 400p., ISBN 0-471-50883-7, 1990.

14

Colin W. Clark and Marc Mangel.
Dynamic State Variable Models in Ecology.
Oxford Univ. Press, 302p., ISBN 0-19-512266-6 (hardback), 0-19-512267-4 (paperback), 2000.
additional information provided by the publisher
additional information provided by the author(s).

15

P. Coquillard and David R. C. Hill.
modelisation et simulation d'ecosystemes. Des modeles deterministes aux simulations a evenement discrets.
Masson, 274 p., ISBN 2-225-85363-0, 1997.
- in French, no exercises
additional information provided by the publisher,
additional information provided by the author(s), review.

16

M. R. Cullen.
Linear Models in Biology-Linear Systems Analysis with Biological Applications.
Chichester: Horwood, 213p., ISBN 0-85312-835-9, 0-85312-905-3, 0-470-20206-8, 0-470-20205-X, 1985.
+ all classic linear methods discussed, most examples from ecology; exercises
out of print.

17

Virginia H. Dale (Editor).
Ecological Modeling for Resource Management.
Springer, 328p., ISBN 978-0-387-95493-6, 2003.
additional information provided by the author(s), additional information provided by the publisher.

18

Don L. DeAngelis.
Dynamics of Nutrient Cycling and Food Webs.
Kluwer Academic Publishers, 288 p., ISBN 0-412-29840-6, 1992.
+ extensive collection of models, many references
- no exercises.

19

Leah Edelstein-Keshet.
Mathematical Models in Biology.
SIAM, 586p., ISBN 0-89871-554-7, 1988/2004.
[8]
+ good at how and why models are used, assumes only modest math background, good homework problems, good coverage of continuous models
- not solely about models in ecology, not so good coverage of discrete models, no stochastic models, no Leslie matrix models, many errors in the exercises
additional information provided by the publisher,
additional information provided by the author(s).

20

Scott Ferson and Mark Burgman (editors).
Quantitative Methods for Conservation Biology.
Springer, 322p., ISBN 978-0-387-95486-8, 2002 (2nd printing).
additional information provided by the publisher.

21

Andrew Ford.
Modeling the Environment: An Introduction to System Dynamics Modeling of Environmental Systems.
Island Press, 415 p., 1999.
additional information provided by the author(s).

22

Jay Forrester.
(any of his system dynamics books).

23

J. France and J. H. M. Thornley.
Mathematical Models in Agriculture.
Butterworth, 1984.

24

Michael Gillman and Rosemary Hails.
Introduction to Ecological Modelling: Putting Practice into Theory.
Wiley, 216p., ISBN 978-0-632-03634-9, 1997.
additional information provided by the publisher.

25

Nicholas J. Gotelli.
A primer of ecology.
Sinauer, 206 p., 4th Ed., 2008.
+ basic updating of the Wilson and Bossert classic, at low mathematical level (comment on earlier edition)
additional information provided by the author(s)
additional information provided by the publisher.

26

William E. Grant, Ellen K. Pedersen, and Sandra L. Marin.
Ecology and Natural Resource Management: Systems Analysis and Simulation.
Wiley, 373p., ISBN 0-471-13786-3, 1997.
incl. CD-ROM; additional information provided by the publisher.

27

William E. Grant and Todd M. Swannack.
Ecological Modeling: A Common-Sense Approach to Theory and Practice.
Wiley, 176p., ISBN 978-1-4051-6168-8, 2007.
additional information provided by the publisher.

28

Volker Grimm and S. F. Railsback.
Individual-based Modeling and Ecology.
Princeton Univ. Press, ISBN 0-691-09666-X, 2005.
additional information provided by the publisher.

29

William S. C. Gurney and Roger M. Nisbet. updated Oct 29, 2009
Ecological Dynamics.
Oxford Univ. Press, 352p., ISBN 0-19-510443-9, 1998.
additional information provided by the author(s)
additional information provided by the publisher
errata.

30

James W. Haefner.updated Oct 29, 2009
Modeling Biological Systems: Principles and Applications.
Springer, 480 p., 2nd Ed., ISBN 0-387-25011-5, 2005.
+ contains exercises for each chapter
review of 1st ed. in Forest Ecology and Management 96(1997) 185-187, 2nd ed. comes with CD
additional information provided by the publisher
additional information provided by the author(s).

31

Thomas G. Hallam and S. A. Levin, editors.
Mathematical Ecology: an Introduction, volume 17 of Biomathematics.
Springer, 457p., ISBN 3-540-13631-2, 0-387-13631-2, 1986.
seems to be out of print.

32

Bruce Hannon and Matthias Ruth.
Dynamic Modeling.
Springer, 250p., 1994, 2nd ed: 2001.
systems approach to modeling; covers more than ecological models; is a tutorial in STELLA; comes with software (Mac or Windows)
currently out of stock, additional information provided by the publisher.

33

Bruce Hannon and Matthias Ruth.
Modelling Dynamic Biological Systems.
Springer, 400p., 1997, 2nd printing 1999.
includes CD-ROM with STELLA run-time software (for Mac and Win)
review in Ecological Modelling 109 (1998), no.1,
additional information provided by the publisher.

34

Ray Hilborn and Marc Mangel.
The Ecological Detective - Confronting Models with Data.
Monographs in Population Biology, no. 28. Princeton Univ. Press, 330p., ISBN 0-691-03496-6 (cloth), 0-691-03497-4 (paperback), 1997.
review in ECOMOD Sept. 1998 (the newsletter of ISEM),
additional information provided by the publisher
additional information provided by the author(s).

35

Frank C. Hoppensteadt.
Mathematical methods of population biology, volume 4 of Cambridge studies in mathematical biology.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 149p., ISBN 0-521-23846-3, 0-521-28256-X, 1982.
+ good intro to topic
- population dynamics only
additional information provided by the publisher.

36

Clark Jeffries.
A Workbook in Mathematical Modeling for Students of Ecology.
Springer, 193 p., ISBN 0-8176-3421-5, 1989.
thin, eclectic book; easily covered in a semester; a dynamical systems approach to ecosystem modeling; see review in Ecology Vol. 71:2400-2401 (1990)
+ exercises with solutions
- limited references for each chapter
additional information provided by the publisher.

37

S. E. Jørgensen and G. Bendoricchio.
Fundamentals of Ecological Modelling.
Elsevier Science Publishers, 544p., 3nd edition, 2001.

38

Robert E. Keen and James D. Spain.
Computer simulation in biology: a BASIC introduction.
Wiley, 516p., incl. disk, ISBN 0-471-50971-X, 1992.
[3]
+ assumes only elementary knowledge of calculus and linear algebra, goes from simple growth models to complex simulation models, ecological examples, strong emphasis on programming
- examples are in BASIC.

39

Sharon E. Kingsland.
Modeling Nature.
The Univ. of Chicago Press, 2nd Ed., ISBN 0-226-43728-0 (paperback), 1995.
+ very nice history of ecological modelling with an accent on contributions from USA
- not balanced
additional information provided by the publisher.

40

Mark Kot.
Elements of Mathematical Ecology.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 464p., ISBN-13: 9780521001502 (paperback), ISBN-13: 9780521802130 (hardback), 2001.
additional information provided by the publisher.

41

S. A. Levin, T. G. Hallam, and L. J. Gross, editors.
Applied Mathematical Ecology, volume 18 of Biomathematics.
Springer, ISBN 3-540-19465-7, 1989.

42

Dmitrii O. Logofet.
Matrices and Graphs-Stability Problems in Mathematical Ecology.
CRC Press, 308p., ISBN 0-849-34246-5, 1993.
Deals only with issues of multicomponent and multispecies assemblages with emphasis on Lyapunov stability. Topics include Leslie models, graph-theoretical analysis, food webs, competition, spatial distribution
- no exercises
seems to be out of print.

43

H. Marcus-Roberts and M. Thompson, editors.
Life Science Models.
Springer, 366p., ISBN 0-387-90739-4, 3-540-90739-4, 1983.
seems to be out of print.

44

Robert M. May.
Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems.
Monographs in Population Biology, no. 6. Princeton Univ. Press, 292p., ISBN 0-691-08861-6 (paperback), 2001.
+ classic
- no exercises
2nd ed. 2001: additional information provided by the publisher.

45

John Maynard Smith.
Mathematical Ideas in Biology.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 152p., 1968.
seems to be out of print.

46

John Maynard Smith.
Models in Ecology.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 146p., 1974.
[2]
+ old, but a classic, insightful text
- no exercises
seems to be out of print.

47

John Maynard Smith.
Evolution and the Theory of Games.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 224p., ISBN 0521246733 (hardback), ISBN 0-521-28884-3 (Paperback), 1982.
additional information provided by the publisher.

48

C. Müller.
Modelling Soil Biosphere Interactions.
Oxford Univ. Press, 360p., ISBN 0-851-99353-2, 2000.
additional information provided by the publisher.

49

J. D. Murray.
Mathematical Biology: I. An Introduction, volume 17 of Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics.
Springer, 551p., ISBN 0-387-95223-3, 3rd ed., 2002.
additional information provided by the publisher.

50

J. D. Murray.
Mathematical Biology II: Spatial models and Medical Applications, volume 18 of Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics.
Springer, 811p., ISBN 0-387-95228-4, 3rd ed., 2003.
[2]
Review in SIAM Review 32(1990), 487-489
additional information provided by the publisher.

51

Roger M. Nisbet and William S. C. Gurney.
Modelling Fluctuating Populations.
Wiley, 379p., ISBN 0-471-28058-5, 1982.
+ good for discrete models
- out of date.

52

Howard T. Odum and Elizabeth C. Odum.
Modeling for All Scales.
Academic Press, ISBN 0-125-24170-4, 2000.

53

Akira Okubo and S. A. Levin.
Diffusion and ecological problems, volume 14 of Biomathematics.
Springer, 467p., ISBN 0-387-98676-6, 2nd ed., 2001.
additional information provided by the publisher.

54

Bernard C. Patten and Sven E. Jørgensen, editors.
Complex Ecology: The Part-Whole Relation in Ecosystems.
Prentice Hall, 736p., ISBN 0-13-161506-8, 1994.
+ from advanced to philosophical approaches to ecosystem theory
- not for beginners.

55

E. C. Pielou.
Population and Community Ecology: Principles and Methods.
Gordon and Breach, 424 p., ISBN 0-677-03580-2, 1974.
+ lower-level more widely ranging coverage of mathematical ecology than her "Mathematical Ecology"; very clear development of theory
- no exercises
seems to be out of print.

56

E. C. Pielou.
Mathematical Ecology.
Wiley, 385 p., ISBN 0-471-01993-3, 1977.
[3]
covers stochastic and deterministic population models, spatial models, predation, competition, diffusion models, diversity, as well as multivariate statistical techniques such as ordination, CCA, and discriminant analysis
+ a classic, good reference
- out of date, no exercises
seems to be out of print.

57

Anu Ramaswami, Jana B. Milford, and Mitchell J. Small.
Integrated Environmental Modeling: Pollutant Transport, Fate, and Risk in the Environment.
Wiley, 688p., ISBN 978-0-471-35953-1, 2005.
additional information provided by the publisher.

58

Eric Renshaw.
Modelling biological populations in space and time, volume 11 of Cambridge studies in mathematical biology.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 403p., ISBN 0-521-44855-7, 1993.
[3]
An advanced book. Covers discrete and continuous, deterministic and stochastic models. Covers all the standard topics (competition, predator-prey, birth-death processes, epidemics) plus population growth models with time lags and spatial population models
- no exercises
additional information provided by the publisher.

59

Fred S. Roberts.
Discrete Mathematical Models, with applications to Social, Biological and Environmental Problems.
Prentice Hall, 1976.
out of print.

60

Michael R. Rose.
Quantitative Ecological Theory-An Introduction to Basic Models.
Baltimore: J. Hopkins Univ. Press, 203 p., ISBN 0-7099-2289-2, 0-7099-2288-4, 1987.
[2]
Essentially the lecture notes for a course in theoretical ecology. Topics include population growth, competition, predation, simple ecosystems, complex ecosystems, and migration.
+ very clear, intuitive development of the mathematics
- no exercises, primitive typesetting
out of print.

61

Joan Roughgarden, Robert M. May, and S. A. Levin (Editors).
Perspectives in ecological theory.
Princeton Univ. Press, 394p., ISBN 0-691-08507-2, 0-691-08508-0, 1989.
[2]
review
out of print
additional information provided by the publisher.

62

T. Royama.
Analytical Population Dynamics.
Springer, 392p., ISBN 0-412-24320-2 (hardcover, 1992), ISBN 0-412-75570-X (paperback, 1996), 1992/1996.
hardcover: additional information provided by the publisher.

63

David C. Schneider. updated Oct 29, 2009
Quantitative Ecology: Spatial and Temporal Scaling.
Academic Press, 395p. ISBN 0-12-6278652, 2009 (2nd ed.). updated Oct 29, 2009
Focuses entirely on issues of scale in ecology, with very basic models for allometry, spatial scaling and units and dimensionality discussed.

64

Jerald Schnoor.
Environmental Modeling: Fate and Transport of Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil.
Wiley, 704p., ISBN 978-0-471-12436-8, 1996.
additional information provided by the publisher.

65

Lee A. Segel.
Modeling Dynamic Phenomena in Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Cambridge Univ. Press, 1984.
additional information provided by the publisher.

66

Alexei Sharov.
Quantitative Population Ecology.
On-Line Course.

67

Kristina Smitalova and Stefan Sujan.
A Mathematical Treatment of Dynamical Models in Biological Science.
New York: Ellis Horwood, 183p., ISBN 0-13-221771-6, 80-224-0245-1, 1991.
Deals exclusively with the mathematical theory of community models - single species, two-species, and n-species ending with a chapter on chaos theory in ecology.
+ many references
- no exercises.

68

A. M. Starfield and A. L. Bleloch.
Building models for conservation and wildlife management.
Burgess Intl., ISBN 0808777904, 2nd Ed. (paperback), 1991.
[2]
+ easy to read, plenty of good explanation.

69

A. M. Starfield, K. A. Smith, and A. L. Bleloch.
How to model it: problem solving for the computer age.
McGraw-Hill, 206p., ISBN 0-07-005897-0, 1990.
+ good introduction to the modelling process in general, comes (in the 2nd ed.) with a disk that contains the spreadsheet examples and WinEXPERT (a small expert system).

70

G. L. Swartzman and S. P. Kaluzny.
Ecological Simulation Primer.
New York: MacMillan, 370p., 1987.
out of print.

71

G. W. Suter, editor.
Ecological Risk Assessment.
Lewis Publishers, ISBN 0-873-71875-5, 1992.
additional information provided by the publisher.

72

Y. Takeuchi, Y. Iwasa, and K. Sato, editors.
Mathematics for Life Sciences and Medicine.
Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering. Springer, 227p., ISBN 978-3-540-34425-4, 2006.
additional information provided by the publisher.

73

Y. Takeuchi, Y. Iwasa, and K. Sato, editors.
Mathematics for Ecology and Environmental Sciences.
Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering. Springer, 183p., ISBN 978-3-540-34427-8, 2007.
additional information provided by the publisher.

74

John H. M. Thornley and Ian R. Johnson.
Plant and Crop Modelling: A Mathematical Approach to Plant and Crop Physiology.
Blackburn Press, 2000.
first print 1990, additional information provided by the publisher.

75

Stefan Trapp and Michael Matthies.
Chemodynamics and Environmental Modelling.
Springer, 285 p., ISBN 3-540-63096-1, 1998.
includes disk (for IBM PC).

76

Philip M. Tuchinsky.
Man in Competition with the Spruce Budworm-An Application of Differential Equations.
Birkhäuser, 77 p., 1981.
+ careful derivation of one of the classic mathematical models in ecology, exercises with solutions.

77

S. Tuljapurkar and Hal Caswell.
Structured-population models in marine, terrestrial and freshwater systems.
Springer, 656p., ISBN 0-412-07271-8, 1997.
additional information provided by the publisher.

78

John H. Vandermeer.
Elementary Mathematical Ecology.
Wiley, 294p. 1981; Malabar, Fla: Krieger, 1990, 294p., ISBN 0-89464-465-3, 1981.
[3]
table of contents: Exponential and Logistic Equations, Population Projection Matrices, Discrete Models of Population Changes, Life Tables I and II, Analysis of Spatial Pattern, Interspecific Competition, Pred-Prey Theory, Species Diversity, Dynamics of Multiple Species Assemblages, programmed learning text
+ lots of exercises with solutions
- boils away a great deal of the biology in favor of the math, holes in coverage.

79

W. C. Walton.
Groundwater Modeling Utilities.
Lewis Publ., ISBN 0-8371-679-5, 649p., 1992.
Modflow, Modpath, Moc, Sutra, Intersat/Intertrans; 173p. text, plus examples, exercises, source codes for utilities additional information provided by the publisher.

80

Ch. Wissel.
Theoretische Ökologie.
Springer, 299p., ISBN 3-540-50848-1, 1989.
In German.

81

Peter Yodzis.
Introduction to theoretical ecology.
New York (etc.): Harper & Row, 384 p., ISBN 0-06-047369-X, 1989.
[4]
+ good intuitive development of the equations, many exercises and references
seems to be out of print.

This Page is copyright © 1999-2009 Michael Knorrenschild. Permission to make digital/hard copy of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the copyright notice and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of Michael Knorrenschild. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists requires prior specific permission and/or a fee.