Dan: how does the term/concept of "deme" fit into your new, improved
"population" term/concept? How is this term used by population biologists?

Tom Love
Dept. Soc/Anth
Linfield College
McMinnville, OR 97128
tlove at linfield.edu

On Sun, 4 Feb 1996, Dan Stephens wrote:

> In message <Pine.ULT.3.91.960204142913.10036D-100000 at elwha.evergreen.edu>
> Burton Guttman writes:
> >
> > Maureen Ellis asked for "the standardized correct use for the following
> > terms in differentiating birds: Race, morph, phase, population,
> > subspecies, variant, form." I'll reply to the whole gang, in case some
> > people disagree with me.
> >
> > _Population_ refers generally to all the individuals of one species living
> > in one area, but it is vague because "area" has no set limits. If the
> > area has a distinct boundary, as an island does, the limits are more
> > obvious, but since birds are so mobile one can rarely set definite limits
> > on a population.
> >
>
> > If anyone disagrees with these definitions, let's meet in a marsh
> > somewhere and have a good knock-down, drag-out argument.
> >
> Burt, I am not looking for a knock-down, drag-out (and certainly not one
> in a marsh). However, "Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much".
> For a population biologist your definition of a population is wholly inadequate.
>
> A population includes all members of a species living in a particular
> geographical area *and making up one breeding group*. Sometimes this
> clumping or aggregation is easily seen such as in a colony of seabirds on
> an island as you mentioned. Other times these aggregations are due to
> favorable hatitat intermixed with unfavorable areas. For example I show
> my students a population of Yellow-breasted Chats at my banding station.
> They can't see the entire population at once, but they can "see" the riparian
> zone they use for breeding in the summer, extending for about 6 miles along
> the creek.
>
> A population is a specific "step" in the levels of biological organization-
> between an organism and a species. Organisms are organized into populations
> which are organized into species. Populations are immersed in the landscape,
> they interact with their environment in complex and subtle ways. In fact,
> populations can not be separated from their landscapes without destroying them.
>
> Populations, like ecosystems, are difficult to define due to their conceptual
> nature, and geographical nebulousness. I like MacArthur's analogy: 'Populations
> are the actors, ecology is the stage, and evolution is the play'. Populations
> are the units that evolve, they are quite precisely defined, and understanding
> them is essential for biologists studying above the organismal level.
>
> To change the subject slightly: Maureen mentioned that she had learned to use
> the terms juvenile, immature and subadult. I would be interested in her
> definitions. Juvenile/Juvenal is commonly missused: we refer an individual that
> is between its natal down and its first basic plumage (first winter plumage) as
> a juvenile (a noun). This bird is in its juvenal plumage (an adjective). This
> plumage is almost always seen in the late summer and fall. Immature usually
> refers to any plumage that is not adult. Subadult to the plumages between
> juvenal and adult in those species that take several molts to reach their
> definitive adult plumage (e.g. Gulls, Eagles).
>
> Well, back to grading papers.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dan Stephens (509) 662-7443
> Dept. of Biology fax: (509) 664-2538
> Wenatchee Valley College e-mail: dstephen at ctc.edu
> 1300 Fifth Street
> Wenatchee, WA 98801
>
>