Applying ecology 1st ed.

Applying Ecology is an undergraduate textbook providing a resume of the current theories in ecology and how they help us to monitor and modify ecosystems under threat. Each chapter begins by reviewing the relevant ecological theory and goes on to show how this is used in various practical applications. The text uses this theory to structure student thinking as an aid to their understanding of current practice. Similarly the book is able to show how theory and application benefit from the insights of each other.

Following a brief survey of several central ecological theories, a logical development of the subject from the cellular to the ecosystem level is used. This begins by considering the biochemical and cellular basis of pollutant assimilation and toxicity, and the variety of methods used in biological monitoring. The use of tolerant organisms in biological remediation and reclamation is followed by a consideration of the problems of releasing genetically engineered organisms into the environment. Simple population models are used to illustrate the problems of setting fish quotas, conserving single species and the control of pests.

With chapters on the conservation of habitats, the modelling of pollutant impact on ecosystems and the ecology of waste treatment, this textbook is the first to review the relationship between ecology in theory and practice.