From their largely descriptive beginnings about a half century ago, studies on the ecology of small mammals have mushroomed in number, scope, content and complexity. Yet strangely, or perhaps not so strangely if one considers the extent and complexity of ecological interactions, the main problems for which the early workers sought answers still defy complete analysis, and basic hypotheses remain untested if not even untestable. The same holds true for so many branches of animal ecology that it seems to be the complexity of the concepts that frustrates efforts rather than the subject species. Like all branches of science, small mammal ecology has been subject to a series of fashionable approaches, one following another as tech­ nology penetrates previously impregnable regions. Doubtless the future development of our science will be punctuated by wave upon wave of new endeavour in whole fields that are perhaps even yet unidentified. Answers to the complex questions which ecologists ask do not come easily. Increasingly though, they arise in direct proportion to the efforts expended upon their elucidation. Many studies have achieved such a high level of elegance, in terms of manpower and apparatus, that there is a feeling that questions asked when such resources are unavailable are not worth asking. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many a complex model has failed fully to explain the phenomenon for which it was construc­ ted because of a lack of basic field data on the species' natural h~story.

Table of Contents:
1 Life-history strategies.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Evolution and life-history strategies.- 1.3 Demographic components of life-history strategies.- 1.4 Energetic components of life-history strategies.- 1.5 Behavioural components of life-history strategies.- 1.6 Summary.- 1.7 Acknowledgements.- 1.8 References.- 2 Population processes in small mammals.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Distribution.- 2.3 Abundance.- 3 The stability and instability of small mammal populations.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 The regulation of small mammal populations.- 3.3 Case studies of change in small mammal populations.- 3.4 Conclusions.- 3.5 References to Chapters 2 and 3.- 4 Community structure and functional role of small mammals in ecosystems.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Characterization of ‘small mammals’ as a single state variable.- 4.3 Characterization of ‘small mammals’ as different state variables.- 4.4 The structure of small mammal faunas.- 4.5 Some ecological characteristics of small mammals.- 4.6 Evaluation of transfer functions which link the component ‘small mammals’ to other system variables.- 4.7 Energy budgets.- 4.8 The role of small mammals in ecosystems.- 4.9 References.- 5 Ecological importance of small mammals as reservoirs of disease.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Zoonoses involving small mammals.- 5.3 Epidemiology of human diseases involving small mammals.- 5.4 The importance of small mammals as reservoirs of disease.- 5.5 The control of diseases with small mammal reservoirs.- 5.6 Conclusions.- 5.7 References.- 6 Importance of small mammals as pests in agriculture and stored products.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Main types of small mammal problems.- 6.3 Principal means of combating small mammal damage.- 6.4 Towards integrated control programmes.- 6.5 References.- 7 Ecology of bats.-7.1 Habitat.- 7.2 Diet.- 7.3 Reproduction.- 7.4 Population.- 7.5 Community.- 7.6 Relations.- 7.7 Acknowledgements.- 7.8 References.- 8 Ecology of small marsupials.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Breeding strategies of polytocous marsupials.- 8.3 Semelparity — an unique strategy.- 8.4 Contrasting strategies of arboreal leaf eating marsupials.- 8.5 The ecology of invasion — the brush possum in New Zealand.- 8.4 The ecology of extinction — small marsupials of the inland plains of Australia.- 8.5 Acknowledgements.- 8.6 References.