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AbstractLife on Earth is complex and generally abounds in food webs with other living organisms in terms of an ecological community. Besides such complexity, and the fact that populations of most living organisms have never been studied in terms of their molecular ecology, it is best to tread carefully when describing a given species as a 'generalist', more especially in terms of dietary and habitat breadth. We very much doubt that population homogeneity ever exists—because populations are always undergoing molecular-genetic changes, sometimes rapid, in response to various ecological challenges (e.g. climate, intra- and interspecific competition). In any case, a population may already have begun to undergo cryptic speciation. Such entities can occupy different habitats or exhibit different dietary breadths as a result of various ecological interactions formed over different spatial scales. These scales include everything from local (including islands) to geographic. The fossil evidence reveals that specialisations have existed over vast swathes of time. Besides, as is well documented, evolution only occurs as a result of adaptations leading to specialisation, and ultimately, specialist entitles, i.e. species and lower levels of ecological-evolutionary divergence. Here, focusing on diet, we posit that the terms mono-, oligo-and polyphagous are more accurate in relation to the dietary breadth of animals, with omnivory adopted in the case of organisms with very different food items. Thus, we strongly urge that the dubious and unscientific term 'generalism' be dropped in favour of these more precise and scientifically accurate terms directly relating to levels of phagy.

Cover -- THE RETURN OF NATURE -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Dedication -- Preface -- Introduction -- Part one BEYOND MARX AND DARWIN -- Chapter One: Ecological Materialism -- Chapter Two: The Art of Labor -- Chapter Three: The Movement toward Socialism -- Chapter Four: An Earthly Paradise -- Part Two ENGELS'S ECOLOGY -- Chapter Five: Environmental Conditions of the Working Class -- Chapter Six: The Dialectics of Nature -- Chapter Seven: The Ecology of Human Labor and Social Reproduction -- Part Three TOWARD A CRITICAL HUMAN ECOLOGY -- Chapter Eight: Ecology as a System -- Chapter Nine: The Return of Engels -- Chapter Ten: Dialectics of Art and Science -- Chapter Eleven: A Science for the People -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Names Index -- Subject Index.

AbstractIn this essay, I suggest that Nina Witoszek's semiotic dismantling of Arne Næss' philosophy of deep ecology is more than just an effort to situate Næss within the tradition of his native culture. Her sociological method, perhaps unwittingly, is hostile to the phenomenological possibility of what Næss calls "spontaneous experience". Because the "decoding" of deep ecology takes place in the context of a sign-functional nexus, deep ecology's most valuable asset, the possibility for intimate experience and identification with nature, becomes expropriated within the system of signs. In other words, the cerebral and theoretical force of semiotic analysis may block access to the profound understanding of nature to which Næss' philosophy is dedicated.

Human biology seeks to understand human variation and the biological, environmental, social, and historical influences on that variation. Views of the nature of both variation and environment have changed during the past 100 years. Typological approaches to nature and human diversity shifted to an evolutionary perspective during the first half of the 20th century. In the second half, widespread human biological variation was documented and interpreted in terms of adaptation to the environment. Environmental physiology and reproductive ecology continue to document environmental influences on human biological functioning, but with (1) an expanded concept of environment that acknowledges more fully the interactions among its physical, biotic, and social aspects and (2) an expanded theoretical basis, drawing on evolutionary ecology and life history theory, acknowledging tradeoffs and changing constraints and opportunities over the lifetime. Human biology gains from greater interaction with other fields, such as political ecology, but also contributes to them. [Keywords: biological anthropology, human ecology, adaptation, environmental physiology, reproductive ecology]