Ecology: From Ecosystem to Biosphere
Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Preface -- Table of Contents -- Chapter 1: The "natures" of ecology -- 1.1 The birth certificate -- 1.2 Is ecology a science? -- 1.3 Ecosystem ecology and/or population ecology? -- 1.4 Ecosystem ecology: holism or reductionism? -- 1.5 Scientific ecology, political ecology and environmental sciences -- 1.6 Ecology and the media -- Part I: Elaboration of the Scientific Approach in Ecosystem Ecology -- Chapter 2: Origin and evolution of the ecosystem concept -- 2.1. The original main streams in ecology -- 2.1.1. Humboldt's plant geography -- 2.1.2. Towards phytosociology -- 2.1.3. Towards synecology -- 2.1.4. The American school: succession and climax -- 2.1.5. Elton's pyramids -- 2.2. The precursors of the ecosystem concept -- 2.2.1. Forbes and the microcosm -- 2.2.2. Thieneman and the Lebenseinheiten -- 2.2.3. Karl Friederichs and the holocoen -- 2.2.4. Sukachev and the biogeocoenosis -- 2.3. Tansley and the roots of the ecosystem concept -- 2.4. Implementation of the ecosystem concept: the tropho-dynamics approach -- 2.4.1. Matter and energy cycles -- 2.4.2. Biological production -- 2.4.3. The International Biological Programme -- 2.5. The ecosystem as an object of research -- 2.6. Is the ecosystem concept a product of western science? -- Chapter 3: Approaches and paradigms of ecosystem ecology -- 3.1. Science and non-science: where is the dividing line? -- 3.2. A goal: the search for order -- 3.2.1. Understanding the natural world -- 3.2.2. Concepts, hypotheses and theories -- 3.2.3. Paradigms -- 3.2.4. Are there laws in ecology? -- 3.3. Metaphors and analogies -- 3.4. Ecosystem ecology: between reductionism and holism -- 3.4.1. The reductionist temptation: building cathedrals -- 3.4.2. The holistic mirage -- 3.4.3. The current practice of ecology.