This Book Addresses The Structure Of Regional (large-scale) Ecological Assemblages Or Communities, And The Influence This Has At A Local (small-scale) Level. This Macroecological Perspective Is Essential For The Broader Study Of Ecology Because The Structure And Function Of Local Communities Cannot Be Properly Understood Without References To The Region In Which They Are Situated. The Book Reviews And Synthesizes The Issues Of Current Importance In Macroecology, Providing A Balanced Summary Of The Field That Will Be Useful For Biologists At Advanced Undergraduate Level And Above. These General Issues Are Illustrated By Frequent Reference To Specific Well-studied Local And Regional Assemblages, An Approach That Serves To Relate The Macroecological Perspective (which Is Perhaps Often Difficult To Comprehend) To The Everyday Experience Of Local Sites. Macroecology Is An Expanding And Dynamic Discipline. The Broad Aim Of The Book Is To Promote An Understanding Of Why It Is Such An Important Part Of The Wider Programme Of Research Into Ecology.--jacket. The Macroecological Perspective -- Scale And Avian Ecology -- A Wider Perspective -- The Macroecological Approach -- Testing Macroecological Hypotheses -- The Avifauna Of Britain And This Book -- Species Richness -- Species Richness At The Smallest Scales -- Species Richness At Larger Scales -- Making Sense Of The Numbers -- Size Of Area -- Why Do Larger Areas Contain More Species? -- Isolation -- Local-regional Richness Relationships -- Latitude -- Why Oh Why? -- Area Again -- Energy -- Time Hypotheses -- A 'primary Cause'--holy Grail Or Wild Goose? -- Longitude -- Altitude -- Range Size -- Species-range Size Distributions -- Range Size Measures -- Patterns In The Distribution Of Range Sizes -- Determinants Of Species-range Size Distributions -- Random Sampling -- Range Position -- Metapopulation Dynamics -- Vagrancy -- Niches -- Speciation, Extinction And Temporal Dynamics -- Synthesis -- Patterns Of Range Overlap -- Nestedness -- Turnover -- Rapoport's Rule -- Implications Of Patterns In Range Overlap For Eastern Wood -- Abundance -- Abundance-range Size Relationships -- The Structure Of Abundance-range Size Relationships -- What Generates Abundance-range Size Relationships? -- Synthesis -- Species-abundance Distributions -- Data -- Descriptive Models -- Mechanistic Models Based On Niche Partitioning -- Other Mechanistic Approaches -- Synthesis: Abundance, Range Size And Their Distributions -- Body Size -- The Distribution Of Body Sizes -- Body Size Measures -- Scale And The Body Mass Distribution. Kevin J. Gaston, Tim M. Blackburn. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 301-348) And Index.