PROLOGUE

The title of this review implies certain biases which I would like to confront at the
outset, suggesting in the process the alternative title "Population Dynamics and
Heterogeneous Environments." Although the principal focus is on models, the
emphasis is on their role in the understanding of ecological questions and not on
their intrinsic mathematical beauty. Further, it would prejudice the inquiry to
regard environmental heterogeneity as a property of an independent background
against which the ecological drama unfolds; in many situations, biological interac-
tions initiate or exaggerate heterogeneity.
The scope is necessarily limited. Because of the simultaneous construction of
closely related reviews in this volume, it is difficult to avoid overlap with the other
entries; indeed, some degree of overlap may be desirable in order to facilitate
transitions between articles. However, I avoid detailed discussion of the response of
the individual or the population to patchy environments; these topics are covered
in the reviews by Wiens (168) and Giesel (40). Similarly, models of the dynamics
of the genetics of populations in heterogeneous environments are not discussed here;
there is a vast literature on this topic (3, 12, 16, 26, 33-36, 38, 47-49, 51, 55, 65,
66, 70, 71, 79, 92, 94, 95, 97a, 102a, 139, 142, 144), sufficient certainly for a separate
review. Finally, the mathematical details are kept to a minimum; for those details
which are omitted, the reader is referred to (82), which is the mathematical comple-
ment to this review. In a few places, the considerations are so congruent that I have
seen fit to borrow sections verbatim from (82)