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The first introductory text to outline the fundamental ecological principles which provide the foundation for understanding environmental issues. A strong framework of applied ecology is used to explore specifics such as habitat fragmentation, acid deposition, and the emergence of new human diseases.
I. BIODIVERSITY AND THE PHYSICAL SETTING. 1. Ecology and the Power of Natural Selection. 2. Chance, Change and Evolution. 3. The Great Wealth of Life: Biodiversity. 4. Climate. 5. Ecosystems, Nutrient Cycles, and Soil. II. POPULATION AND COMMUNITY ECOLOGY. 6. The Ecological Efficiency of Living Things. 7. Who Needs Sex Anyway? 8. Populations and Resources: A Balancing Act. 9. The Power of Predators. 10. Peopling Earth. III. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY. 11. Biomes. 12. Aquatic Ecosystems. 13. Why Wetlands Aren't Worthless. 14. Making Connections: Fisheries. 15. Succession. 16. Community Change. 17. Climate Change and Global Warming. 18. Fragmentation. 19. Reserve Design. IV. ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY. 20. Feeding the World. 21. Pollution: The Other Face of Fertilizers and Pesticides. 22. Atmosphere, Air Pollution, and Ozone. 23. The Use and Supply of Energy. 24. How Does Acid Deposition Affect Ecosystems? 25. Human Disease: Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives. 26. Environmental Economics. 27. Environmental Legislation and Policy. 28. Peering into the Future. Glossary. References. Photo Credits. Index.
Mark B. Bush is an Associate Professor of conservation biology at the Florida Institute of Technology. His B.S. and Ph.D. degrees were earned at the University of Hull in England. Between undergraduate and graduate school, Bush spent several years working for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers as a specialist in conservation education. Professor Bush has spent more than 20 years in ecological research and has worked in some of the world's most remote locations. He runs an active research laboratory investigating climate change in Central and South America through the analysis of fossil pollen and charcoal. His field sites include Amazonia, the Andes, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and the islands of Krakatau, Indonesia. He is an authority on the history of South and Central American tropical ecosystems, and on island biogeography. He has lived in the United States since 1987, spending four years as a researcher at the Ohio State University, a year as a Mellon Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, and four yeas teaching ecology and environmental science at Duke University, prior to moving to the Florida Institute of Technology in 1996. Professor Bush is actively involved in local conservation, serving on two boards determining conservation policy at the county level. He is also a member of an advisory board to Conservation International helping to establish appropriate conservation responses to climate change. Professor Bush is a member of Sigma Xi, the Ecological Society of America, the Society of Wetland Scientists, and numerous environmental organizations. His hobbies include butterfly breeding, scuba diving, kayaking, and hiking.
