The Ecology of Place Contributions of Place-Based Research to Ecological Understanding

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Synopsis

Ecologists can spend a lifetime researching a small patch of the earth, studying the interactions between organisms and the environment, and exploring the roles those interactions play in determining distribution, abundance, and evolutionary change. With so few ecologists and so many systems to study, generalizations are essential. But how do you extrapolate knowledge about a well-studied area and apply it elsewhere?

Through a range of original essays written by eminent ecologists and naturalists, The Ecology of Place explores how place-focused research yields exportable general knowledge as well as practical local knowledge, and how society can facilitate ecological understanding by investing in field sites, place-centered databases, interdisciplinary collaborations, and field-oriented education programs that emphasize natural history. This unique patchwork of case-study narratives, philosophical musings, and historical analyses is tied together with commentaries from editors Ian Billick and Mary Price that develop and synthesize common threads. The result is a unique volume rich with all-too-rare insights into how science is actually done, as told by scientists themselves.

Book details

Author:
Ian Billick, Mary V. Price
ISBN:
9780226050447
Related ISBNs:
9780226050430, 9780226050423
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press
Pages:
480
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
No
Date of addition:
2020-10-31
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2010
Copyright by:
N/A 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Nonfiction, Science