"Clark ... and Mangel ... offer, as its title implies, a self-teaching introduction to the construction, testing, and application of dynamic state variable models. These are highly flexible individual optimization models of behavior involving restraints and tradeoffs as they affect individual fitness. This model approach employs the computational techniques of backward and forward iteration to arrive at some understanding of a phenomenon that cannot be studied directly. The first three chapters cover the basics of developing and using mechanistic dynamic state variable models. ... The remaining nine chapters provide examples of the use of dynamic state variable models in a variety of contexts ... The book demands some minimal proficiency in mathematics and skill in computer programming. A useful reference and manual for ecology, behavioral and conservation biology, and evolutionary ecology scientists. Graduate students; faculty and researchers."--Choice "Clark ... and Mangel ... offer, as its title implies, a self-teaching introduction to the construction, testing, and application of dynamic state variable models. These are highly flexible individual optimization models of behavior involving restraints and tradeoffs as they affect individual fitness. This model approach employs the computational techniques of backward and forward iteration to arrive at some understanding of a phenomenon that cannot be studied directly. The first three chapters cover the basics of developing and using mechanistic dynamic state variable models. ... The remaining nine chapters provide examples of the use of dynamic state variable models in a variety of contexts ... The book demands some minimal proficiency in mathematics and skill in computer programming. A useful reference and manual for ecology, behavioral and conservation biology, and evolutionary ecology scientists. Graduate students; faculty and researchers."--Choice