As profound threats to ecosystems increase worldwide, ecologists must move beyond studying single communities at a single point in time. All of the dynamic, interconnected spatial and temporal processes that determine the distribution and abundance of species must be understood in order to develop new conservation and management strategies. This volume integrates mathematical and biological approaches to these topics. The editors include a wide variety of theoretical approaches and a broad range of field studies, with chapters written by experts in community ecology, ecological modelling, population genetics, and conservation biology. In addition to providing insights into well-known topics such as migration, the authors also introduce some less familiar subjects, including bacterial population genetics and ecotoxicology. For anyone interested in the study, management, and conservation of populations, this book should prove to be a useful resource.