This introduction to quantitative methods in community ecology aims to provide an overview of the nature of data collection, followed by detailed explanations of the major statistical techniques applied to problems in population dynamics. It presents information on the use (and abuse) of specific techniques. Examples include communities of both flora and fauna, prey-predator relations, the effects of food supply on populations, and species abundance and overlap models. Also provided are several BASIC microcomputer programs which can be used with the examples given or with other data sets.