Guide to the study of animal ecology

by Charles C. Adams

Sherrington, C. S.

1906. The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. pp. 411. New York.

The activity of the nervous system is viewed as a regulatory process.

The similar responses to diverse stimuli or the similar results produced by diverse causes are the conditions which make an analysis and the isolation of causes necessary. With departures from the normal and optimum into zones of stimulation and of unfavorable conditions many similar effects or results are produced. The similar results of extremes of high and low temperature as shown in Fischer’s experiments on Lepidoptera, and the effects of high temperatures, aridity, and the lack of oxygen may be cited as examples. Such effects have an important bearing upon the subject of physical and chemical limiting factors which influence individuals, aggregations, and associations.

Blackman, F. F.

1905. Optima and Limiting Factors. Ann. of Bot., Vol. XIX, pp. 281-295.

“When a process is conditioned as to its rapidity by a number of separate factors, the rate of the process is limited by the pace of the ‘slowest’ factor.” p. 289.

1908. The Manifestations of the Principles of Chemical Mechanics in the Living Plant. British Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1908, pp. 1-18.

Adams, Chas. C.

1904. On the Analogy Between the Departure from Optimum Vital Conditions and Departure from Geographic Life Centers. Science, N. S., Vol. XIX, pp. 210-211.