Elements of Ecology (6th Edition)

KEY BENEFIT: Elements of Ecology, Sixth Edition maintains its engaging, reader-friendly style as it explains the basic principles of ecology. The text is updated to include new chapters on current ecological topics; new part introductions to connect the subfields of ecology; and new in-text features to encourage students to interpret the ecological data, research, and models used throughout the text. Abundant, accessible examples illustrate and clarify the text's emphasis on understanding ecological patterns within an evolutionary framework. Additionally, the text employs new study questions requiring students to make connections and apply their knowledge.

KEY TOPICS: Introduction and Background, The Nature of Ecology, Adaptation and Evolution, The Physical Environment, Climate, The Aquatic Environment, The Terrestrial Environment, Organismal Ecology, Plant Adaptations, Animal Adaptations, Life History Patterns, Population Ecology,Properties of Populations, Population Growth, Interspecific Population Regulation, Metapopulations, The Ecology of Species Interactions,Competition, Predation, Parasitism and Mutualism, Community Ecology,Community Structure, Factors Influencing the Structure of Communities, Community Dynamics, Landscape Ecology, Ecosystem Ecology, Ecosystem Energetics, Decomposition and Nutrient Cycling, Biogeochemical Cycles, Biogeographical Ecology,Terrestrial Ecosystems, Aquatic Ecosystems, Land-Water Interface, Large-scale Patterns of Biodiversity, Human Ecology, Population Growth, Resource Use, and Sustainability, Habitat Decline, Biodiversity, and Conservation Ecology, Global Climate Change.

MARKET: For all readers interested in the basic principles ecology.

Robert L. Smith holds a B.S. in Animal Science, an M.S. in Wildlife Biology along with a Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology from Cornell University. Currently, he is a professor of Ecology at West Virginia University. He has spent over 30 years teaching Ecology and conducting field research throughout the world.

His teaching responsibilities have involved mostly undergraduate courses in general ecology and graduate courses in population ecology and wildlife management. His research has included forest-fire related problems in southern West Virginia, vegetational development and succession on abandoned and reclaimed surface mines, the relation between forest vegetational structure and the forest bird community, and forest habitat assessment and habitat evaluation procedures based on vegetational structure.

Smith has served as a consultant to congressional committees, workshops on environmental education and energy and environmental problems, the National Landmarks program of the U.S. Department of Interior, National Research Council Task Forces on wildlife and fisheries issues and ecological classification systems for implementing environmental quality evaluation procedures. He is the author of numerous articles and reviews as well as the author of three ecology texts: Ecology and Field Biology, Elements of Ecology and Ecology of Man: An Ecosystem Approach, Harper and Row, New York.