Ecology of Place

Contributions of Place-Based Research to Ecological Understanding

Billick Ian, Price Mary V.

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.

Reviews

"'The Ecology of Place' is an important and novel contribution to the literature that will stimulate much discussion among both ecological theoreticians and empiricists" – Gordon H. Orians, University of Washington

"'The Ecology of Place' brings together top names from the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology to offer a novel collection that considers how place-based research in ecology contributes to basic scientific understanding. The range of essays, as well as their quality, is noteworthy, and the subjects they cover are timely and important. A celebration of fieldwork and its insights, this book draws worthy attention to what the research of ecologists can tell us about our world" – Paul R. Ehrlich, President of the Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University, and author of Humanity on a Tightrope

"An impressive volume, clearly presented and well integrated to show what has been achieved when ecologists study particular natural environments for long periods... This excellent book is well suited for ecology seminar discussions. Highly recommended" – Choice

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