"This authoritative book provides a readable, comprehensive survey of the fundamentals of ecology as a science ... it should be available in every college library as a source of information, a model of clarity, and an inspiration to aspiring ecologists." Journal of Biological Education
After quite some time I’ve finally finished this whole, highly recommended textbook of #Ecology #TheEconomyOfNature by #RickRelyea and #RobertRicklefs! 🌎
When I was an undergrad at MIT, I was fascinated by an ecology course, and for a long time I had wanted to become an ecologist. But I was told back then that molecular ecology was the future, so I spent two years working in a molecular marine lab pipetting solutions, extracting DNA, anxiously doing toxic electrophoresis, and manually decoding the genomic sequence of Cyanobacteria, only to discover that I was really not into molecular lab science and my road to ecology encountered a roadblock there. 🍂
Painstakingly I switched to environmental chemistry, then focusing on atmospheric chemistry and physics, finally finding my true passion in computation and data analytics. Along the way, though, I never gave up on ecology, constantly trying to find connections between life and the atmosphere. I gradually rediscovered this whole exciting emerging field of ecological and biogeochemical modeling that fit wonderfully with my interests and training in atmospheric and Earth system modeling. 🌲
Now, most of my papers, even though still focusing on air pollution and climate change, often address various aspects of ecosystems, vegetation and microbes. So I feel like I should go back to my root and re-study ecology, and perhaps I can at least become an amateur ecologist. 😉
This textbook had a lot of basic ecology and biology information in it such as: mutualism, predator-prey relationships, succession, biomes, etc. Lots of examples and the book came with premade PowerPoints that my professor used.