The Ecological World View

This new textbook fills an important niche by offering a lively overview of the principles of ecology for a broad audience including college level science and biology students as well as readers interested in the fundamentals of ecological science. Filled with many vivid examples of topic issues and current events, The Ecological World View develops a basic understanding of how the natural world works and of how humans interact with the planet's natural ecosystems. It briefly and lucidly covers the history of ecology and describes the general approaches of the scientific method, then takes a wide-ranging look at basic principles of population dynamics and applies them to everyday practical problems. Each chapter is devoted to an important environmental story that has been covered in the media in order to illustrate how the science works in real situations.

Charles Krebs is Emeritus Professor of Zoology at the University of British Columbia and Professor in Ecology at the Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra. He is author of Ecology: the Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance (fifth edition) and Ecological Methodology (second edition), among other books.

Preface

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Ecology
Chapter 2: Geographic Ecology
Chapter 3: What Limits Geographic Distribution?
Chapter 4: Behavioral Ecology: Evolution in Action
Chapter 5: Population Dynamics -- Abundance in Space
Chapter 6: Population Dynamics -- Abundance in Time
Chapter 7: Negative Species Interactions -- Predation, Herbivory and Competition
Chapter 8: Negative Species Interactions -- Infection and Parasitism
Chapter 9: Positive Interaction Between Species -- Mutualism and Commensalism
Chapter 10: Population Regulation and the Balance of Nature
Chapter 11: Community Dynamics -- Succession
Chapter 12: Community Dynamics -- Biodiversity
Chapter 13: Community Dynamics -- Food Webs
Chapter 14: Community Dynamics -- Disturbance Ecology
Chapter 15: Ecosystem Ecology -- Energy Flows and Production
Chapter 16: Ecosystem Ecology -- Nutrient Recycling
Chapter 17: Landscape Ecology -- Intermingled Ecosystems
Chapter 18: Harvesting Populations -- How to Fish Sustainably
Chapter 19: Pest Control: Why We Cannot Eliminate Pests
Chapter 20: Conservation Biology: Endangered Species and Ecosystems
Chapter 21: Ecosystem Health and Human Impacts

References
Index