Table of Contents
Introduction 12
The Story of Evolution
Time is insignificant and never a difficulty for nature 20
Early theories of evolution
A world previous to ours, destroyed by catastrophe 22
Extinction and change
No vestige of a beginning-no prospect of an end 23
Uniformitarianism
The struggle for existence 24
Evolution by natural selection
Human beings are ultimately nothing but carriers for genes 32
The rules of heredity
We've discovered the secret of life 34
The role of DNA
Genes are selfish molecules 38
The selfish gene
Ecological Processes
Lessons from mathematical theory on the struggle for life 44
Predator-prey equations
Existence is determined by a slender thread of circumstances 50
Ecological niches
Complete competitors cannot coexist 52
Competitive exclusion principle
Poor field experiments can be worse than useless 54
Field experiments
More nectar means more ants and more ants mean more nectar 56
Mutualisms
Whelks are like little wolves in slow motion 60
Keystone species
The fitness of a foraging animal depends on its efficiency 66
Optimal foraging theory
Parasites and pathogens control populations like predators 68
Ecological epidemiology
Why don't penguins' feet freeze? 72
Ecophysiology
All life is chemical 74
Ecological stoichiometry
Fear itself is powerful 76
Nonconsumptive effects of predators on their prey
Ordering the Natural World
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous 82
Classification of living things
By the help of microscopes nothing escapes our inquiry 84
The microbiological environment
If you do not know the names of things, the knowledge of them is lost 86
A system for identifying all nature's organisms
"Reproductively isolated" are the key words 88
Biological species concept
Organisms clearly cluster into several primary kingdoms 90
A modern view of diversity
Save the biosphere and you may save the world 92
Human activity and biodiversity
We are in the opening phase of a mass extinction 96
Biodiversity hotspots
The Variety of Life
It is the microbes that will have the last word 102
Microbiology
Certain tree species have a symbiosis with fungi 104
The ubiquity of mycorrhizae
Food is the burning question 106
Animal ecology
Birds lay the number of eggs that produce the optimum number of offspring 114
Clutch control
The bond with a true dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth can ever be 116
Animal behavior
Redefine "tool", redefine "man", or accept chimpanzees as humans 118
Using animal models to understand human behavior
All bodily activity depends on temperature 126
Thermoregulation in insects
Ecosystems
Every distinct part of nature's works is necessary for the support of the rest 132
The food chain
All organisms are potential sources of food for other organisms 134
The ecosystem
Life is supported by a vast network of processes 138
Energy flow through ecosystems
The world is green 140
Trophic cascades
Islands are ecological systems 144
Island biogeography
It is the constancy of numbers that matters 150
Ecological resilience
Populations are subjected to unpredictable forces 152
The neutral theory of biodiversity
Only a community of researchers has a chance of revealing the complex whole 153
Big ecology
The best strategy depends on what others are doing 154
Evolutionarily stable state
Species maintain the functioning and stability of ecosystems 156
Biodiversity and ecosystem function
Organisms in a Changing Environment
The philosophical study of nature connects the present with the past 162
The distribution of species over space and time
The virtual increase of the population is limited by the fertility of the country 164
The Verhulst equation
The first requisite is a thorough knowledge of the natural order 166
Organisms and their environment
Plants live on a different timescale 167
The foundations of plant ecology
The causes of differences among plants 168
Climate and vegetation
I have great faith in a seed 170
Ecological succession
The community arises, grows, matures, and dies 172
Climax community
An association is not an organism but a coincidence 174
Open community theory
A group of species that exploit their environment in a similar way 176
The ecological guild
The citizen network depends on volunteers 178
Citizen science
Population dynamics become chaotic when the rate of reproduction soars 184
Chaotic population change
To visualize the big picture, take a distant view 185
Macroecology
A population of populations 186
Metapopulations
Organisms change and construct the world in which they live 188
Niche construction
Local communities that exchange colonists 190
Metacommunities
The Living Earth
The glacier was God's great plow 198
Ancient ice ages
There is nothing on the map to mark the boundary line 200
Biogeography
Global warming isn't a prediction. It is happening 202
Global warming
Living matter is the most powerful geological force 204
The biosphere
The system of nature 206
Biomes
We take nature's services for granted because we don't pay for them 210
A holistic view of Earth
Plate tectonics is not all havoc and destruction 212
Moving continents and evolution
Life changes Earth to its own purposes 214
The Gaia hypothesis
65 million years ago something killed half of all the life on the Earth 218
Mass extinctions
Burning all fuel reserves will initiate the runaway greenhouse 224
Environmental feedback loops
The Human Factor
Environmental pollution is an incurable disease 230
Pollution
God cannot save these trees from fools 236
Endangered habitats
We are seeing the beginnings of a rapidly changing planet 240
The Keeling Curve
The chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life 242
The legacy of pesticides
A long journey from discovery to political action 248
Acid rain
A finite world can support only a finite population 250
Overpopulation
Dark skies are now blotted out 252
Light pollution
I am fighting for humanity 254
Deforestation
The hole in the ozone layer is a kind of skywriting 260
Ozone depletion
We needed a mandate for change 262
Depletion of natural resources
Bigger and bigger boats chasing smaller and fewer fish 266
Overfishing
The introduction of a few rabbits could do little harm 270
Invasive species
As temperatures increase, the delicately balanced system falls into disarray 274
Spring creep
One of the main threats to biodiversity is infectious diseases 280
Amphibian viruses
Imagine trying to build a house while someone keeps stealing your bricks 281
Ocean acidification
The environmental damage of urban sprawl cannot be ignored 282
Urban sprawl
Our oceans are turning into a plastic soup 284
A plastic wasteland
Water is a public trust and a human right 286
The water crisis
Environmentalism and Conservation
The dominion of man over nature rests only on knowledge 296
Humankind's dominance over nature
Nature is a great economist 297
The peaceful coexistence of humankind and nature
In wildness is the preservation of the world 298
Romanticism, conservation, and ecology
Man everywhere is a disturbing agent 299
Human devastation of Earth
Solar energy is both without limit and without cost 300
Renewable energy
The time has come for science to busy itself with the Earth itself 306
Environmental ethics
Think globally, act locally 308
The Green Movement
The consequences of today's actions on tomorrow's world 310
Man and the Biosphere Programme
Predicting a population's size and its chances of extinction 312
Population viability analysis
Climate change is happening here. It is happening now 316
Halting climate change
The capacity to sustain the world's population 322
Sustainable Biosphere Initiative
We are playing dice with the natural environment 324
The economic impact of climate change
Monocultures and monopolies are destroying the harvest of seed 326
Seed diversity
Natural ecosystems and their species help sustain and fulfill human life 328
Ecosystem services
We are living on this planet as though we have another one to go 330
Waste disposal
Directory 332
Glossary 340
Index 344
Quote Attributions 351
Acknowledgments 352
