Ecology studies interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment in nature and is also concerned with the effects that organisms have on the inanimate environment. It is concerned with not only what kind of air a species must have but also what effect that species has on the air. This book is not an elementary ecology textbook. A textbook would be longer and more didactic. Ideally it would present a survey of what is being done by the 7,600 members of the American Ecological Society and their students and collaborators, and it would prepare students for more advanced, specialized books covering one or more of the sixteen subdivisions.
