Ecological Understanding: The Nature of Theory and the Theory of Nature - Hardcover

Pickett, Steward T.A.; Kolasa, Jurek; Jones, Clive G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 012554720X ISBN 13: 9780125547208

Publisher: Academic Press, 1994

Synopsis

Ecology is an historical science in which theories can be as difficult to test as they are to devise. This volume, intended for ecologists and evolutionary biologists, reviews ecological theories, and how they are generated, evaluated, and categorized. Synthesizing a vast and sometimes labyrinthine literature, this book is a useful entry into the scientific philosophy of ecology and natural history. The need for integration of the contributions to theory made by different disciplines is a central theme of this book. The authors demonstrate that only through such integration will advances in ecological theory be possible. Ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and other serious students of natural history will want this book.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Ecology is an historical science in which theories can be as difficult to test as they are to devise. Ecological Understanding, intended for ecologists and evolutionary biologists, reviews ecological theories and how they are generated, evaluated, and categorized. Synthesizing a vast and sometimes labyrinthine collection of literature, this book is a useful entry into the scientific philosophy of ecology and natural history. The need for integration of the contributions to theory made by different disciplines is a central theme, and the authors demonstrate that only through such integration will advances in ecological theory be possible.
Ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and other serious students of natural history will find this book an invaluable addition to their academic library.

Review:

"Given our growing need for ecologists and other environmental scientists with an ecumenical view of their subject, and a sensitive awareness of its complexities and inherent multiplicity of spatial and temporal scales, Pickett, Kolasa and Jones' book is especially timely."
--From the Foreward by ROBERT M. MAY, Oxford University, U.K.
"A thought-provoking book."
--BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
"Since many ecologists may think that physics is the science, Ecology Understanding offers a refreshing alternative.... Ecology Understanding offers the reader an interesting and thoughtful discussion of theory development, ecological integration, and scientific understanding from a philosophical viewpoint."
--THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY

About this edition

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 012554720X
• ISBN 13: 9780125547208
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 206