Does population ecology have general laws?

• Published in: Oikos Vol. 94; no. 1; pp. 17 - 26
• Main Author: Turchin, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copenhagen Munksgaard International Publishers 01.07.2001; Munksgaard International Publishers, Ltd
• Subjects: Costs and Gains of Recent Progress in Ecology; Ecological modeling; Ecology; Inertia; Logical postulates; Physics; Population density; Population dynamics; Population ecology; Population growth; Trophic relationships

There is a widespread opinion among ecologists that ecology lacks general laws. In this paper I argue that this opinion is mistaken. Taking the case of population dynamics, I point out that there are several very general law-like propositions that provide the theoretical basis for most population dy...