"An evolutionary perspective forms the foundation of the entire textbook, as it is needed to support understanding of major concepts. The textbook begins with a brief introduction to the nature and history of the discipline of ecology, followed by section I, which includes two chapters on earth's biomes-life on land and life in water-followed by a chapter on population genetics and natural selection. Sections II through VI build a hierarchical perspective through the traditional subdisciplines of ecology: section II concerns adaptations to the environment; section III focuses on population ecology; section IV presents the ecology of interactions; section V summarizes community and ecosystem ecology; and finally, section VI discusses large-scale ecology, including chapters on landscape, geographic, and global ecology. These topics were first introduced in section I within its discussion of the biomes. In summary, the book begins with an overview of the biosphere, considers portions of the whole in the middle chapters, and ends with another perspective of the entire planet in the concluding chapter. The features of this textbook were carefully planned to enhance the students' comprehension of the broad discipline of ecology"--