Essentials of Ecology. Third Edition

Biographical notes: Luc Hens graduated as a Biologist and later received his PhD in Biology from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) where he is at present Professor and Head of the Human Ecology Department. He also lectures at several other universities abroad. His specific area of research concerns the elucidation of interdisciplinary instruments for sustainable development. He acts as an expert on environmental policy in several advisory councils in Belgium. He is the book review editor for the International Journal on Environmental Pollution, and editor of Environment, Development and Sustainability. He was the vice-dean for educational affairs of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, of which the Human Ecology Department is part. Ecology is a young science. Textbooks on ecology provide summaries and overviews of the knowledge of the subject as it exists today. As ecological knowledge changes fast, ecological textbooks have to adapt. This explains to a large extent the wide variety of content in ecological textbooks on offer today. Essentials of Ecology offers a systematic introduction to the fundamentals of ecology. These entail resources, pollution, extinction and erosion. The focus is on principles and on mechanisms, which results in a book that is more targeted more to understanding, rather than just to analytical description of the phenomena. Moreover, in its last section, the book discusses solutions and mitigating measures. This provides the text with an applied character.