Ecology is the most fascinating and most important field of human inquiry. A major reason for its compelling interest is that ecology tries to see nature as a whole, with all its interconnections. This approach yields knowledge and insights that offer humans their best chance for saving the biosphere as we know it. Any ecology text that does not convey both the intellectuall fascination of the science and the necessity of its societal applications aims too low.

This is a textbook of ecology. Its framework is the principles of the science. I have tried to cover these at all levels, from the ecology of the individual to that of the ecosystem. Applied or practical as pects are discussed throughout in connection with the appropriate ecological principles, and the last three chaptwes deal specifically with the practitcal application of ecological knowledge.

1. Ecology as a Science
2. Ecology of Individual Organisms: Principles
3. Ecology of Individual Organisms: Important Abiotic Factors
4. Population Ecology: Growth and Density
5. Population Ecology: Oranization and Evolution
6. The Population Community Ecology Interface: Herbivory and Predation
7. The Population-Community Ecology Interface: Parasitism, Commensalosm, and Saprobism
8. The Population-Community Ecology Interface: Competition and Related Coaction
9. The Population-Community Ecology Interface: Mutualism
10. Community and Ecosystem Ecology: Strucuture and Diversity
,ect.