On the Local Distribution of Certain Illinois Fishes: An Essay in Statistical Ecology

Abstract

An animal society is composed of animals habitually occurring together in the same locality and the same class of situations. Such an association is, of course, composed of many species, variously related to their special environment, some attracted to it by one set of conditions and some by another. Although their local haunts may be virtually identical, their ecological relations, if determined in detail, may prove to be very different. A pike and a minnow may be members of the same associate group, to whose habitat, however, the pike is especially attracted by the minnow, and the minnow by the facilities which are offered there for concealment or escape from the pike.