Essentials of Ecology | 
| Authors: Colin R. Townsend, Michael Begon, John L. Harper
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Category: Book
List Price: $84.95
Buy New: $49.94
You Save: $35.01 (41%)
New (28) Used (7) from $49.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 208871
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 532
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 7.4 x 1
ISBN: 1405156589
Dewey Decimal Number: 577
EAN: 9781405156585
ASIN: 1405156589
Publication Date: March 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: This book is in brand new mint conditon, and never been used. We deliver all over the world within 4-14 working days.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Essentials of Ecology presents introductory ecology in an accessible, state-of-the-art format designed to cultivate the novice student's understanding of, and fascination with, the natural world.
- A significantly updated new edition of this popular introductory ecology textbook
- Outlines the essential principles of ecology from the theoretical fundamentals to their practical applications
- Contains hundreds of new examples, and for the first time, a separate chapter on evolutionary ecology
- Student features include: key concepts; “unanswered questions” sections; history boxes outlining key landmarks in the development of ecology; quantitative boxes explaining mathematical aspects of ecology; chapter-by chapter review questions; and “topical concerns” boxes highlighting ethical, social and political questions in ecology
- Supported by a dedicated website featuring study resources and web research questions (www.blackwellpublishing.com/townsend)
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Warning: step away from this book! January 7, 2007
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
The book shrouds various tatters of the subject matter in dense, poorly worded compound sentences, dressed with excessive full color graphs and charts. It was full of limitless qualifications, redundancies, and undefined terminology (there was no glossary).
If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in a position of having to actually have to wade through this, (for a class, for example), expect to find flatly unexplained contradictions in fact. (EG, the chapter on population sates that the rate of human population increase is steadily increasing, but then go on to repeatedly quotes Joel Cohen who states that it had slowed down in the 1970's).
Trying to study from it was a big enough ordeal to put most people off the subject for life. This textbook's abdication of explanatory rigor is probably one of the reasons the environmental movement has not gotten the popular traction it deserves.
Truly this textbook is a case study in obfuscatory humbug.
Could be better March 16, 2003
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
The content of the book was usually clear. However, there is no glossary at all, and the index is horrible. As a textbook, this is unacceptable. Trying to study from it was a nightmare.
 A very good beginning in Ecology April 5, 2000
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
With this book, the writers adapted there previous release ("Ecology : Individuals, Populations and Communities", third edition) for easily understanding of the matter. But they don't just adapted it, they rewrote it. They focused, for example, on problems that are still unresolved. It has been written for students in ecology but also for everyone who wants to learn more about populations, evolution and ecosystems. I hope it will lead to a better understanding of ecology...
|
|
|
