Understanding Nature

Shorter than most Ecology textbooks used in college courses today - presents all of the important core information without being unnecessarily wordy or lengthy. It presents Ecology in relatable terms. Students taking a college ecology course often consist of pre-health professionals, environmental science majors, and standard biology majors, so the book presents ecology in simple language and in ways that any student can use in real life. Streamlined format includes the necessary information but framed through a unique ecotherapy lens. Serves a particular need that no other ecology textbook really addresses, specifically the focus on natural history and its role in connecting us to the ecological world around us. Includes traditional ecological knowledge as well as the history of scientific ecological knowledge. The field exercises are a strong selling point that is missing from the standard ecology textbooks in the current market. Another selling point is the suggested research topics, hypotheses, and vignettes embedded within or at the end of chapters. It is important for some college programs to provide data collection opportunities for quantitative analysis and tests of hypotheses. There is a strong need for a textbook such as this which bridges the gap between students taking ecology to become ecologists and the other majority of students who are taking ecology as a requirement that will use the knowledge to become informed citizens. A book such as this could be highly accepted by faculty who teach a majority of pre-health or non-majors students.