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Part of the book series: Marine Science ((MR,volume 15))

Abstract

Mechanisms of survival fall into two broad categories. To survive in the short term animals must, of course, be adapted to the particular environments in which they live. However, other properties of animal populations can be regarded as “adaptations to the pattern of the environment in space and time” (Levins, 1968) involving flexibility of response to environmental factors, and it is these adaptations which are categorised as strategies. Efficiency and stability are the two features necessary for survival under natural selection (MacArthur, 1955) and it is the purpose of this paper to discuss certain aspects of the ecology of meiofauna populations and communities which ensure the fulfillment of these two criteria.

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© 1981 Plenum Press, New York

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Warwick, R.M. (1981). Survival Strategies of Meiofauna. In: Jones, N.V., Wolff, W.J. (eds) Feeding and Survival Srategies of Estuarine Organisms. Marine Science, vol 15. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3318-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3318-0_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-3320-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-3318-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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