Gregory Cooper

Must There Be aB alance of Nature

The balance of nature concept is an old idea that manifests itself in anumber of forms in population and community ecology. This paper focuseson population ecology, where controversy surrounding the balance ofnature takes the form of perennial debates over the significance ofdensity dependence, population regulation, and species interactions suchas competition. One of the most striking features of these debates, overthe course of the previous century in ecology, is the tendency to arguethe case on largely conceptual grounds. This paper explores twoquestions. Why this tendency to settle on conceptual grounds what is soobviously an empirical issue? Are there any good conceptual arguments tobe had in this area?

The competition controversy in community ecology

There is a long history of controversy in ecology over the role of competition in determining patterns of distribution and abundance, and over the significance of the mathematical modeling of competitive interactions. This paper examines the controversy. Three kinds of considerations have been involved at one time or another during the history of this debate. There has been dispute about the kinds of regularities ecologists can expect to find, about the significance of evolutionary considerations for ecological inquiry, and about the empirical credentials of theoretical studies of competition. Each of these elements is examined with an eye toward gaining philosophical clarification of the issues involved. In the process, certain shortcomings of contemporary philosophical theories are revealed. In particular, I argue that plausibility arguments based on background considerations are an important part of the model building tradition, but that current accounts of the structure and evaluation of scientific theories do little to illuminate this side of theoretical ecology.

Theoretical Modeling and Biological Laws

Recent controversy over the existence of biological laws raises questions about the cognitive aims of theoretical modeling in that science. If there are no laws for successful theoretical models to approximate, then what is it that successful theories do? One response is to regard theoretical models as tools. But this instrumental reading cannot accommodate the explanatory role that theories are supposed to play. Yet accommodating the explanatory function, as articulated by Brandon and Sober for example, seems to involve us once again in a reliance on laws. The paper concludes that we must rethink both the nature of laws and theoretical explanation in biology.

The Explanatory Tools of Theoretical Population Biology

What is the role (or roles) of mathematical theory in ecology and evolutionary biology? How does the construction of such theory advance our understanding? The lack of clear answers to this pair of questions has been a source of controversy both within the sciences themselves, and in the philosophical discussions of these sciences as well. In an attempt to shed some light on these issues, I look at what some biologists have had to say on the matter and at some particular examples. I then draw some morals about the constraints on a successful philosophical treatment of the problem and on the limitations of current philosophical approaches to this type of theoretical explanation.

Ecosystem Management, Environmental Values and Lake Issyk-Kul

The concept of an ecosystem entered ecology when Tansley [1] coined the phrase to emphasize the cohesion of the physical and biological characteristics of the earth’s biota. While the term was new, however, the idea was not. Limnologists, in particular, had been treating lakes and rivers from an ecosystem perspective for decades prior to this [2] [3]. In more recent times, the ecosystem concept has been making its way from the science of ecology proper into the arena of environmental policy. Ecosystem management has emerged as the strategy of choice among a broad range of environmental decision-makers. Here, as well, the biology of fresh waters has led the way. Since at least 1972, when the United States passed the Clean Water Act calling for restoration of the biological integrity of the nation’s lakes and streams, environmental managers have self-consciously been managing these water resources from an ecosystem perspective.