Abstract
I OBJECTED to Dr. Milne's proposed term “perfectly density-dependent” because neither intraspecific competition nor any other factor to be observed in the field is likely to preserve (in the words of his definition1) “an exact linear (or curvilinear) relationship between increasing action of the factor and increasing density of the species”. The logic of his argument can be made clearer by re-stating it as follows.
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References
Milne, A., Canad. Entom., 89, 193 (1957).
Varley, G. C., Nature, 181, 1780 (1958).
Howard, L. O., and Fiske, W. F., Bull. U.S. Bur. Ent., No. 91 (1911).
Smith, H. S., J. Econ. Entom., 28, 873 (1935).
Solomon, M. E., J. Anim. Ecol., 18, 1 (1949).
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SOLOMON, M. Perfect and Imperfect Density Dependence in Population Dynamics. Nature 182, 1252 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/1821252a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1821252a0
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