Observation and Ecology Broadening the Scope of Science to Understand a Complex World /

• Main Authors: Sagarin, Rafe (Author), Pauchard, Aníbal (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC : Island Press/Center for Resource Economics : Imprint: Island Press, 2012.
• Subjects: Environment.; History.; Ecology.; Ecosystems.; Aquatic ecology.; Sustainable development.; Sustainable Development.; History of Science.; Freshwater & Marine Ecology.

The need to understand and address large-scale environmental problems that are difficult to study in controlled environments—issues ranging from climate change to overfishing to invasive species—is driving the field of ecology in new and important directions. Observation and Ecology documents that t...

Table of Contents:

• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I. The Role of Observation in Ecological Science. 1. An Observational Approach to Ecology
• 2. Observational Approaches in Historical Context
• Part II. Using Observations in Ecology. 3. Using All the Senses in Ecology
• 4. Using Technology to Expand Our Observational Senses
• 5. Local, Traditional, and Accidental Ecological Observers and Observations
• Part III. The Challenges Posed by an Observational Approach. 6. Dealing with Too Many Observations, and Too Few
• 7. Is Observation-Based Ecology Scientific?
• Part IV. Beyond Academia: The Power of Observational Approaches. 8. Ecology’s Renewed Importance in Policy
• 9. Opening Nature’s Door to a New Generation of Citizens and Ecologists
• Conclusions
• References
• About the Authors
• About the Contributors
• Index.