This book began life as a review article. That article spawned a symposium which was, in turn, greatly expanded to form the present volume. As the project moved through these developmental stages (hopefully, towards attainment of its full maturity), a number of people have provided invaluable assistance to us, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them. Gordon Orians must certainly take a high place in that list. He has been both a friend and mentor to W.E.K., and many of the topics explored in this book have emerged from the resultant dialogue. His thought processes, ideas and...

The study of rare species has long fascinated biologists. Rare and common species may differ in body size, dispersal, reproduction and many other respects. The Biology of Rarity reviews documented patterns of such differences, and considers the methodological difficulties plaguing their interpretation. This book provides an unusually wide ranging picture of how patterns of species differences can be maintained. The authors consider the potential roles of community assembly rules and speciation in biasing the set of species that become rare, of extinction in editing' that set, and the...