Perspectives in Ecological Theory

Perspectives in Ecological Theory
Author: Jonathan Roughgarden
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2014-07-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1400860180

This volume presents an overview of current accomplishments and future directions in ecological theory. The twenty-three chapters cover a broad range of important topics, from the physiology and behavior of individuals or groups of organisms, through population dynamics and community structure, to the ecology of ecosystems and the geochemical cycles of the entire biosphere. The authors focus on ways in which theory, whether expressed mathematically or verbally, can contribute to defining and solving fundamental problems in ecology. A second aim is to highlight areas where dialogue between theorists and empiricists is likely to be especially rewarding. The authors are R. M. Anderson, C. W. Clark, M. L. Cody, J. E. Cohen, P. R. Ehrlich, M. W. Feldman, M. E. Gilpin, L. J. Gross, M. P. Hassell, H. S. Horn, P. Kareiva, M.A.R. Koehl, S. A. Levin, R. M. May, L. D. Mueller, R. V. O'Neill, S. W. Pacala, S. L. Pimm, T. M. Powell, H. R. Pulliam, J. Roughgarden, W. H. Schlesinger, H. H. Shugart, S. M. Stanley, J. H. Steele, D. Tilman, J. Travis, and D. L. Urban. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Theory of Ecology

The Theory of Ecology
Author: Samuel M. Scheiner
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2011-07-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0226736865

Despite claims to the contrary, the science of ecology has a long history of building theories. Many ecological theories are mathematical, computational, or statistical, though, and rarely have attempts been made to organize or extrapolate these models into broader theories. The Theory of Ecology brings together some of the most respected and creative theoretical ecologists of this era to advance a comprehensive, conceptual articulation of ecological theories. The contributors cover a wide range of topics, from ecological niche theory to population dynamic theory to island biogeography theory. Collectively, the chapters ably demonstrate how theory in ecology accounts for observations about the natural world and how models provide predictive understandings. It organizes these models into constitutive domains that highlight the strengths and weaknesses of ecological understanding. This book is a milestone in ecological theory and is certain to motivate future empirical and theoretical work in one of the most exciting and active domains of the life sciences.

Comparisons in Human Development

Comparisons in Human Development
Author: Jonathan Tudge
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 382
Release: 1997
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 052148202X

This important volume deals with the issue of how to make comparisons in the field of human development.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy
Author: T. F. H. Allen
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2017-11-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 022648971X

Although complexity surrounds us, its inherent uncertainty, ambiguity, and contradiction can at first make complex systems appear inscrutable. Ecosystems, for instance, are nonlinear, self-organizing, seemingly chaotic structures in which individuals interact both with each other and with the myriad biotic and abiotic components of their surroundings across geographies as well as spatial and temporal scales. In the face of such complexity, ecologists have long sought tools to streamline and aggregate information. Among them, in the 1980s, T. F. H. Allen and Thomas B. Starr implemented a burgeoning concept from business administration: hierarchy theory. Cutting-edge when Hierarchy was first published, their approach to unraveling complexity is now integrated into mainstream ecological thought. This thoroughly revised and expanded second edition of Hierarchy reflects the assimilation of hierarchy theory into ecological research, its successful application to the understanding of complex systems, and the many developments in thought since. Because hierarchies and levels are habitual parts of human thinking, hierarchy theory has proven to be the most intuitive and tractable vehicle for addressing complexity. By allowing researchers to look explicitly at only the entities and interconnections that are relevant to a specific research question, hierarchically informed data analysis has enabled a revolution in ecological understanding. With this new edition of Hierarchy, that revolution continues.

Perspectives in Ecological Theory

Perspectives in Ecological Theory
Author: Ramón Margalef
Publisher:
Total Pages: 128
Release: 1968
Genre: Science
ISBN:

The ecosystem as a cybernetic system. Ecological succession and exploitation by man. The study of pelagic ecosystems. Evolution in the frame of ecosystem organization.

Social Work Practice

Social Work Practice
Author: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 184
Release: 1996-03-30
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0313389381

Pardeck demonstrates that the ecological approach to social work practice stresses effective intervention, and that effective intervention occurs through not only working with individuals, but also with the familial, social, and cultural factors that impact their social functioning. The power of the ecological approach, through focusing on multiple factors for assessment and intervention, is that it integrates empirically based theories from various fields including social work, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Pardeck provides an orientation to the role of social work practitioners within the human services. He differentiates the unique contributions of social work and explains them in terms of the needs and goals of an ecological approach to practice. An ecological approach to practice stresses that effective social work intervention occurs through not only working with individuals, but also with the familial, social, and cultural factors that impact their social functioning. The power of the ecological approach, through focusing on multiple factors for assessment and intervention, is that it integrates empirically based theories from various fields including social work, psychology, and anthropology. The book represents an effort to define the goals, commitments, and approaches that have emerged out of the history of social work and to relate them to similar concepts and values that are central to an ecological approach to practice. Three pervasive and unifying themes run through the book. One is the constant commitment to goals of facilitating human development. Pardeck suggests this is a central ethic that defines and distinguishes an ecological approach to social work practice. The second theme is an affirmation of the basic utility of a systems approach in conceptualizing and intervening in human needs, concerns, and problems. The ecological perspective views human beings as social organisms engaged in patterns of relationships that nurture or inhibit this basic humanity. The third theme is an interactionist view of the importance of person-environment fit as a central dynamic in human functioning. The traditional intra-psychic aspects of human behavior have tended to obscure the immense importance of both nurturing and potentially damaging forces at work in the social environment. This volume will be of considerable interest to social work educators and practitioners as well as their research libraries.

Theoretical Perspectives for Direct Social Work Practice

Theoretical Perspectives for Direct Social Work Practice
Author: Nick Coady, PhD
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
Total Pages: 575
Release: 2007-10-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0826110932

Praise for the first edition "Finally, a social work practice text that makes a difference! This is the book that you have wished for but could never find. Although similar to texts that cover a range of practice theories and approaches to clinical practice, this book clearly has a social work frame of reference and a social work identity." --Gayla Rogers, Dean of the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary The major focus of this second edition is the same; to provide an overview of theories, models, and therapies for direct social work practice, including systems theory, attachment theory, cognitive-behavioral theory, narrative therapy, solution-focused therapy, the crisis intervention model, and many more. However, this popular textbook goes beyond a mere survey of such theories. It also provides a framework for integrating the use of each theory with central social work principles and values, as well as with the artistic elements of practice. This second edition has been fully updated and revised to include: A new chapter on Relational Theory, and newly-rewritten chapters by new authors on Cognitive-Behavioral Theory, Existential Theory, and Wraparound Services New critique of the Empirically Supported Treatment (EST) movement Updated information on the movement toward eclecticism in counseling and psychotherapy A refined conceptualization of the editors' generalist-eclectic approach

The Ecology of Human Development

The Ecology of Human Development
Author: Urie BRONFENBRENNER
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0674028848

Here is a book that challenges the very basis of the way psychologists have studied child development. According to Urie Bronfenbrenner, one of the world's foremost developmental psychologists, laboratory studies of the child's behavior sacrifice too much in order to gain experimental control and analytic rigor. Laboratory observations, he argues, too often lead to "the science of the strange behavior of children in strange situations with strange adults for the briefest possible periods of time." To understand the way children actually develop, Bronfenbrenner believes that it will be necessary to observe their behavior in natural settings, while they are interacting with familiar adults over prolonged periods of time. This book offers an important blueprint for constructing such a new and ecologically valid psychology of development. The blueprint includes a complete conceptual framework for analysing the layers of the environment that have a formative influence on the child. This framework is applied to a variety of settings in which children commonly develop, ranging from the pediatric ward to daycare, school, and various family configurations. The result is a rich set of hypotheses about the developmental consequences of various types of environments. Where current research bears on these hypotheses, Bronfenbrenner marshals the data to show how an ecological theory can be tested. Where no relevant data exist, he suggests new and interesting ecological experiments that might be undertaken to resolve current unknowns. Bronfenbrenner's groundbreaking program for reform in developmental psychology is certain to be controversial. His argument flies in the face of standard psychological procedures and challenges psychology to become more relevant to the ways in which children actually develop. It is a challenge psychology can ill-afford to ignore.

The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)

The Theory of Ecological Communities (MPB-57)
Author: Mark Vellend
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2020-09-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0691208999

A plethora of different theories, models, and concepts make up the field of community ecology. Amid this vast body of work, is it possible to build one general theory of ecological communities? What other scientific areas might serve as a guiding framework? As it turns out, the core focus of community ecology—understanding patterns of diversity and composition of biological variants across space and time—is shared by evolutionary biology and its very coherent conceptual framework, population genetics theory. The Theory of Ecological Communities takes this as a starting point to pull together community ecology's various perspectives into a more unified whole. Mark Vellend builds a theory of ecological communities based on four overarching processes: selection among species, drift, dispersal, and speciation. These are analogues of the four central processes in population genetics theory—selection within species, drift, gene flow, and mutation—and together they subsume almost all of the many dozens of more specific models built to describe the dynamics of communities of interacting species. The result is a theory that allows the effects of many low-level processes, such as competition, facilitation, predation, disturbance, stress, succession, colonization, and local extinction to be understood as the underpinnings of high-level processes with widely applicable consequences for ecological communities. Reframing the numerous existing ideas in community ecology, The Theory of Ecological Communities provides a new way for thinking about biological composition and diversity.

International Relations Theory and Ecological Thought

International Relations Theory and Ecological Thought
Author: Eric Laferrière
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134710682

Ecological crises have never been higher on the international political agenda. However, ecological thought and international relations theory have developed as separate disciplines. This ground-breaking study looks at the relationship between ecological thought and international relations theory arguing that there are shared concerns: peace, co-operation and security. The authors ask what ecological crisis can teach IR theorists as well as what ecological perspectives have been adopted by governments and international NGOs.