Preface
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Preface We have always suspected that more readers flip past prefaces than read them; yet, they remain important. In technical and text books, the preface is the only place where authors give us any real glimpse of themselves and the reasons for writing the book, how they think it should be used, and what they hope readers will gain from it. The first edition of Ecology and Field Biology appeared in 1966. The objectives of the first edition were relatively straightforward: to present a balanced introduction to ecology--plant and animal, theoretical and applied, physiological and behavioral, and population and ecosystem. These are the objectives of the sixth edition as well, but the field of ecology has changed and grown. Today, ecology is an essential component of the curriculum in a wide variety of departments, including biology, environmental sciences, forestry and agriculture, wildlife ecology, anthropology as well as being the cornerstone of curriculum in ecology and evolutionary biology. In each of these programs, ecology is a component of often very different courses of study. For example, students within a biology or ecology program have a background in physiology and genetics, whereas students in an environmental sciences department have a background in the physical sciences such as atmospheric sciences or geology. The different context within which ecology is taught in these various programs often results in instructors emphasizing different facets of the larger field of ecology. Our book has grown as the field of ecology has grown. This growth reflects a basic philosophy that this book functions as not only a textbook for use in the classroom, but as a reference book that provides as complete as possible introduction to the ever-broadening field of ecology. Because many curricula restrict ecology to a one-semester or even a quarter course, it is difficult, if not impossible, to adequately cover general ecology in that amount of time. To help the instructor, we have compartmentalized our presentation of topics, to make the sixth edition a flexible text that still retains a logical flow. Over the 30 years since the first edition appeared, ecology has experienced major growth and development. Revisions of the text have reflected those changes. Each revision has been thorough, retaining the best of the old and incorporating new developments and approaches. The revision has resulted in some major shifts in the presentation of certain topics:
The text is divided into nine parts and 32 chapters. Part 1 is introductory and remains much the same as in the fifth edition. Now condensed to one chapter, it provides a brief overview of ecology--what it is, how it developed, and its importance and relevance to current environmental issues--and introduces ecology as an experimental science. Although students may come into an ecology course with some grasp of the scientific method, they bring it from the context of laboratory experimentation, and not a field approach. This chapter introduces students to hypothesis testing and the use and place of predictive models in ecology. Part 2 deals with the physical environment in which life exists. Chapter 2 discusses climate, which greatly influences the environmental conditions under which organisms live. Chapter 3 introduces the characteristics of light, temperature, water, and nutrients. Chapter 4 explores soil, its development, characteristics and its role as a substrate for life in terrestrial environments. Part 3 emphasizes the adaptations of organisms to variations in their physical environment introduced in Part 2. These new chapters provide an introduction to ecophysiology with an emphasis on examining the evolutionary tradeoffs involved in adaptations that allow organisms to successfully survive, grow, and reproduce under varying environmental conditions. Chapter 5 introduces the concepts of adaptation and homeostasis, basic to an appreciation of both physiological ecology and natural selection. Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9 include much of the material found in Chapters 4-8 of the 5th edition. However this material is now organized about trophic groups, dividing autotrophs and heterotrophs, and consumers and decomposers within the latter category. The division of the chapters based on trophic groups emphasizes the fundamental differences in the constraints imposed on different organisms relating to the way in which they acquire carbon and other essential nutrients. Such a division also provides a direct link with later discussions of processes controlling community dynamics in Part 6, and ecosystem productivity and the flow of energy and matter through ecosystems presented in Part 7. Organized in such a manner, these new chapters also provide an introduction to ecophysiology within the context of understanding the structure and dynamics of communities and ecosystems. Chapters 6 emphasizes the photosynthetic process as the means of carbon acquisition for life and its dependence on light. Chapter 7 covers the response of plants to temperature, moisture regimes and nutrient availability. Chapter 8 deals with the means of animal acquisition of carbon and the response of animal life to environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture, and nutrients. Chapter 9 examines decomposers, their role in converting organic matter into inorganic nutrients, and the ultimate release of carbon fixed in photosynthesis, completing the circle started in with photosynthesis in Chapter 6. Parts 4 and 5 examine topics within the general area of population ecology. In this edition we have divided Part 5 (Population Ecology) from the fifth edition into two parts. Part 4 examines Interspecific Population Ecology while Part 5 explores Population Interactions. In Part 4, Chapter 10 covers demography and considers both unitary and modular populations. Chapter 11 explores the process of population growth. Chapter 12 considers density-dependent and density-independent influences with particular emphasis on the role of intraspecific competition in population regulation. Examples from both plant and animal populations are provided. Topics include dispersal, and that part of social behavior involving social dominance and territoriality as expressions of competitive interactions. As such, much of Chapter 12 deals with behavioral ecology, a topic expanded upon in Chapter 13, with discussions of mating systems, sexual selection, reproductive effort, and parental care. Part 5 concerns interspecific relationships. Chapter 14 examines interspecific competition, while Chapter 15 is an overview of predation theory, including optimal foraging theory. Chapter 16 expands on the general model of predation introduced in Chapter 15 to include discussions of two major predator-prey systems: plant-herbivore and herbivore-carnivore, including cannibalism, intraguild predation, and the reciprocal responses of prey and predator. This chapter includes discussion of predator-prey cycles. The first section of Chapter 17, with an emphasis on coevolution, explores the world of parasitism and disease, as well as social parasitism, including population dynamics and evolutionary responses. The second section deals with mutualism, the coevolution of the various facets of mutualism, its possible origins and effects on interacting populations. Part 5 ends with a consideration of human interactions with natural populations including the effects of exploitation, pest control, population restoration, and extinction. Chapter 19, the former Chapter 21 (Population Genetics) of the 5th edition, has been separated to form its own section, Part 6, to emphasize the role of population genetics in ecology, especially conservation biology and landscape ecology. The single chapter considers the basics of population genetics and their genetics of small and fragmented populations and its relationship to effective population size, and viable populations. Part 7, The Community, covers much of what is considered community ecology, although no distinct line can be drawn between community ecology and the discussion of population interactions that form Part 5. Chapter 20 examines community structure, focusing on the physical and biological structure of communities from a largely descriptive framework. Chapter 21 introduces community dynamics, examining how the structure of communities varies in both time and space. This chapter included much of the material covered in Chapter 30 of the 5th . Chapter 22 examines processes that control community dynamics. In this chapter we examine current theories regarding the underlying mechanisms that structure communities. The topics in this chapter draw directly upon the discussion of species adaptations to variation in the environment presented in Part 2, linking pattern and process across spatial and temporal scales. In addition, the topics of island biogeography, disturbance, patch dynamics, and edge and ecotone environments, previously dispersed among a number of chapters, have now been reorganized as a single unit, Chapter 23, and expanded to provide an introduction to landscape ecology. These topics relate back to the material covered in Chapter 19 on the effects of habitat fragmentation and isolation on the genetics of small populations. Part 8 examines the concept of the ecosystem. Building directly upon the discussion of community ecology in Part 7, the topics of ecosystem structure and energetics presented in Chapters 10 and 11 of the 5th edition have been combined into a single discussion of ecosystem productivity, Chapter 24. The chapter examines trophic structure and the flow of energy through the ecosystem. Discussion of the environmental constraints on primary and secondary productivity link directly with the discussion of constraints and tradeoffs in species adaptations to varying environmental conditions presented in Part 2 of the text. Chapter 25 provides a general discussion of nutrient cycling within ecosystems, examining the interaction between biotic and abiotic factors in regulating the flow of essential nutrients though the ecosystem. The chapter makes the direct link between primary productivity as discussed in Chapter 6 and decomposition, as discussed in Chapter 9, in regulating the flow of energy and matter through ecosystems. The discussion in this chapter draws heavily upon the material in Chapter 9 as it relates to the constraints of climate and litter quality on the rate of nutrient cycling in ecosystems. Particular emphasis is placed on contrasting constraints on the cycling of nutrients in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In addition to presenting a general overview of nutrient cycling and biogeochemistry, the chapter discusses specific biogeochemical cycles from an ecosystem perspective and how the biogeochemical cycles of essential nutrient species are directly linked as components of organic matter. Chapter 26 expands the more localized view of biogeochemical cycles within an ecosystem to provide a global perspective, also examining the impacts of human populations on the regional and global biogeochemical cycles. The final chapter in this Part, Chapter 27, considers the biogeography of ecosystems and its relationship to biodiversity. This chapter leads into Part 9, Comparative Ecosystem Ecology Part 9, Comparative Ecosystem Ecology, has been a hallmark of this text. These chapters provide a comparative study of the major ecosystems relative to the structure and function, including differences in structure, energy flow, nutrient cycling, and adaptations of organisms to those environments. The common thread through all of these chapters is the nitrogen cycle that serves to emphasize the functional differences among the various major ecosystems. The material in Part 9 not only introduces concepts unique to certain ecosystems, such as nutrient spiraling in stream and microbial loops in marine ecosystems. It also provides students with the background information they need to understand the major problems receiving so much attention in ecology and environmental conservation--the destruction of old growth forests, tropical deforestation, wetland values and losses, habitat fragmentation, acidification, and the like. All of these chapters contain a good deal of ecophysiology and evolutionary adaptations as well as ecosystem structure and function. This feature provides the instructor with a source of additional material that can be incorporated with topics in other chapters. Chapter 28 provides an overview of grasslands, tropical savannas, shrublands, deserts, and tundra. Chapter 29 is devoted to various forest ecosystems from the taiga to the tropical rain forest. Chapter 30 provides a survey of lentic and lotic ecosystems, with an emphasis on the differences in the pathways of energy flow and energy flow between the two types of ecosystems and nutrient cycling in flowing water. Also considered are the delineation of wetlands and the effects of dams on lotic systems. Chapter 31 deals with the marine environment from the intertidal zones to the open sea. It includes discussions of hydrothermal vents, role of planktonic microbes in marine food webs, mangroves tidal swamps, and nutrient cycling in coral reef ecosystems. New to the sixth edition is Chapter 32, which explores the topic of global environmental change, specifically the potential impact of rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses on the global climate system. The chapter presents students with an understanding of how forest clearing and the consumption of fossil fuels are altering the global carbon cycle, exploring key processes involved in the exchange of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. The chapter examines how scientists are investigating the potential influence of rising atmospheric concentrations of CO2 on the global climate system, and how changes in the Earth’s climate system will influence sea level, natural ecosystems, agricultural production, and human health. The text also features a set of essays Ecological Applications from Elements of Ecology Updated Edition. They illustrate how the principles of ecology intimately relate to everyday life in ways that most of us never realize.
Back in 1966 the first edition featured the use of spot drawing of organisms in graphs. This feature has now appeared in most other ecology texts. The illustration program, an amalgam of the old and the new, adds a new visual appeal to the text. We have retained many of the superb pen and ink work from the first edition by the late Ned Smith where appropriate and have avoided detracting from it by adding color. All of the remaining illustrations have been redesigned, redrawn and generated on the computer by Robert Leo Smith, Jr. All the photographs, some retained from the 5th edition and some new, have been carefully selected to supplement the text, and not simply add color to it. Many new illustrations and graphs have been added. The maps on the inside covers of the 5th edition -- ones. The distribution of world vegetation based on Holdridge e classification, originally found in inside front cover and. the distribution of world vegetation based on ecoregions from the inside back cover of the 5th edition now make up Appendix D. The Appendix, a feature of all previous editions that has appealed to may users, has been retained in the text, including the list of Journals of Interest to Ecologists, because it is good for students and instructors to know the array of over 170 journals that in one way or another relate to ecology. Appendixes A and B. provide a manual of methodology for:
Appendix C contains the list of journals. Appendix D consists of the Holdridge Life Zone Map and Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World Map l Some reviewers have suggested that the Appendix incorporate computer programs. We did not for several reasons. One is space. The second is that a number of quantitative ecology texts that include computer programs are already available commercially. There are four books that we highly recommend: Ecological Methods by C. Krebs (Benjamin Cummings 1999), Statistical Ecology by Ludwig and Reynolds (1989, Wiley), Applied Population Ecology using RAMAS‚ EcoLab 2nd ed. by Akcakaya et al. (Sinauer Associates), and Conservation Biology with RAMAS‚ EcoLab by Shultz et al. (Sinauer Associates). One of us (RLS) have used basic computer programs in courses, with some reservations. Students are too prone to toss data into a computer program without understanding the underlying principles of the models. To get around this, I have had the students work out diversity indices, ordinations, and population problems without computers first. Only then do they understand what is involved in their calculations. The most difficult and time-consuming part of the text to prepare has been the bibliography, which consists of several thousand titles. New entries needed to be checked against text citation and old titles need to be deleted. Citations of older references have been retained where they are appropriate. Truth does not change over the years. However, a great number of new titles have been cited, necessary to thoroughly update the text. This sixth edition has received input from a number of reviewers listed in the acknowledgments who pointed out inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and weakness and strengths, and suggested changes and the incorporation of new material. Although the manuscript has been reviewed, copyedited, checked and rechecked for typographical and conceptual errors, some will slip through. If you find errors, please call them to my attention. A complete set of supplementary materials is available to support the use of Ecology and Field Biology, Sixth Edition for both students and instructors.
No textbook is the product of the author alone. Although the author writes the text, the material of which it is composed represents the work of hundreds of ecological researchers who have spent life times in the field and laboratory. Their published works on experimental results, observations, and conceptual thinking provide the raw material out of which a textbook is fashioned. Revisions of a textbook depend heavily on the input of users. The sixth edition has received the input from a number of instructors and students who pointed out inconsistencies, inaccuracies, suggested changes and the incorporation of new material. We took their suggestions seriously, and incorporated many of them; the book is much improved from their input. We are deeply grateful to the following reviewers who provided detailed critiques and helpful suggestions: Judy E. Bluemer, Morton College, Cicero, IL; Michelle A. Briggs, Lycoming College, Williamsport, PA; Dan Binkley, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; Richard D. Brown, Northern Virginia Community College, Stirling, VA; Young D.Choi, Purdue University, Calumet Hammond, IN; Patricia J. Clark, Cumberland College, Williamsburg, KY; John Cruzan, Genera College, Beaver Falls, PA; Diane Dudzinski, Washington State Community College, Marietta, OH; William L. Hallahan, Nazareth College, Rochester, NY; Shannon Kuchel, Colorado Christian University, Lakewood, CO; John C. Maerz, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY; Vicky Meretsky Indiana University, Bloomington, IN; Juliana Mulroy, Denison University, Granville, OH; Howard S. Neufeld, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC; T. J. Sarro, Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY; Robert E. Stockhouse II, Pacific University, Grove, OR; Morrel H. Sweet II, Texas A M University, College Station, TX. In his role as fact checker, Scott Elliott, University of Washington, picked up a number inaccuracies easily overlooked by authors and copy editors. John Sencindiver of the Soil Science Department, West Virginia University critically reviewed Chapter 4 Soils and provided many helpful suggestions for its improvement. Jay Zieman, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia provided photos and artwork resources for the examples of seagrass dynamics in Chapter 21 Barbara J. Bentz, Entomologists and Project Leader the Rocky Mountain Research Station, U. S. Forest Service at Logan Utah was extremely helpful in providing photo resources for examples of herbivory in the Rocky Mountain Region. Dan Binkley Colorado State University thoroughly reviewed Chapter 29 Forests, resulting in its reorganization and improvement in content. TMS thanks the students of EVSC 320, Fundamental of Ecology at the University of Virginia for acting as subjects in a never-ending experiment in teaching ecology to undergraduates Their responses, critiques, and suggestions are reflected in the reorganization and content of this text. The essays, which appeared in Elements of Ecology 4th ed. are a collaborative effort among Tom Smith, Todd Dennis, a postdoctoral student in Environmental Science, and Elizabeth Zayatz, who played the role of technical editor for the essays. As in the past, this text is sort of a family industry, but even more so with this edition. My first son Robert Leo, Jr. a graphic artist, rendered all of the color graphics under considerable time pressure while working on two other book projects as well. His familiarity with the text, artistic ability, and skill at computer graphics allowed a close collaboration in the development of illustrations, not possible otherwise. My second son Thomas Michael, Associate Professor, Environmental Science Department, University of Virginia, who had input into the previous two editions and developed the Holdridge Life Zone Map in the fifth edition has joined as co-author. He brings to this text a fresh approach, new ideas, a global approach, an understanding of the needs and problems of both major and nonmajor students in an ecology course The book could not have arrived at its present stage without the help, encouragement, and especially patience of the staff at Benjamin Cummings and Electronic Publishing Services. Elizabeth Fogarty Acquisition Editor kept the faith the project would be completed within the deadline in spite of the time-consuming major changes in the text and small, annoying unanticipated interruptions in the flow of work experienced by the authors. Erika Buck, who traded the publishing world for graduate school, initially served as Project Editor and got the revision for the 6th edition under way. Ginnie Simione-Jutson Senior Project Editor took over the revision project and set up the ground rules and schedules, and handed the project over to: Heather Dutton Developmental Editor Project Editor who had the task of keeping the project running smoothly and gently prodding the three of us to keep moving. Chriscelle Merquillo secured and corresponded with the reviewers and both she and Anne Hikido reviewed the incoming chapters, and made sure text, captions, figures, and tables were complete before sending the material on to production. Scott Hitchcock of Electronic Publishing Services task of pulling manuscript and art through final stages of the book coordinating copy editing, page proofs and art and keeping the three of us on a very tight schedule that sometimes seemed almost impossible to meet.. Francis Hogan of Electronic Publishing Services did an excellent job of selecting many new photos needed for color illustrations. It was a real choosing photos to match our specific requirements for each subject. Through it all our spouses, wives Alice and Nancy, had to endure the time demand imposed upon us by book production Alice took care (and still does) of all the problems of living, while I devoted full time including weekend and evenings working on this book. She has patiently endured book widowhood for years. To her I am very grateful. Dedication
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