Interspecific Competition in Birds

André Dhondt is the Edwin H. Morgens Professor of Ornithology at Cornell University. He studied biology at Ghent State University where he obtained his Ph.D. After working for F.A.O. in Madagascar and Western Samoa, he returned to his native Belgium to teach at the newly founded Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen, part of Antwerp University. In Antwerp he developed an active research group in population and behavioural ecology and started his long-term field experiments on interspecific competition between great and blue tits. He was a visiting professor in Zaire (now Congo), Algeria and Paris. He moved to the Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University in 1994 where he explored the effects of a newly emerged disease on house finches across North America. He has published more than 250 papers and book chapters and has co-edited a book on Dispersal. He is a member of the Academiae Europaeae and many ornithological and ecological societies.

An excellent addition to the bookshelf of anyone studying the Aves. Reading it is almost like listening to a series of clear and well-prepared lectures. The work has broad relevance; seeing it just as an ornithology resource would be to do it a disservice.

• Preface ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Definitions, models, and on how to measure the existence of interspecific competition ; 3. Space as a limiting resource ; 4. Food as a limiting resource ; 5. Nest sites as a limiting resource ; 6. The effect of intraspecific competition on population processes ; 7. Studies of foraging niches and food ; 8. Field experiments to test the existence and effects of interspecific competition ; 9. Long-term experiments on competition between great and blue tit ; 10. Evolutionary effects of interspecific competition ; 11. Concluding thoughts ; Appendices ; References ; Index