The Art of Ecology, Writings of G. Evelyn Hutchinson

G. Evelyn Hutchinson, former Sterling Professor of Zoology at Yale, is often called the “father of modern ecology.” His career spanned much of the 20th century and bore witness to the development of ecology into a rigorous mathematical discipline. The Art of Ecology is an eclectic collection of essays, book excerpts, and primary scientific literature by Hutchinson, complete with the original font, figures, and graphs from each excerpt. The selections, which are introduced by historians and scientists, reveal an intellectual breadth unusual in our era of specialization. I came to this book as experimental biologist knowing little of limnology or theoretical ecology, but I was fascinated and inspired by this peek into Hutchinson's world. The editors place Hutchinson’s science in its social context through biographical essays by the contributors and generous selections from Hutchinson’s autobiography The Kindly Fruits of the Earth. Hutchinson’s entertaining anecdotes about the curious characters that shaped his intellectual environment at Yale and Cambridge show his deep interest in the history of ideas. This attention to “intellectual phylogeny” also emerges in his scientific writings. Hutchinson was attracted to limnology because a lake could be considered a microcosm in which biological, chemical, and physical approaches must be integrated to understand the system behavior. In Hutchinson’s words, “many quite disparate things must be done at once.” The theoretical writings that follow show how Hutchinson built on his understanding to transform the field of ecology and create concepts still relevant today. Such deceptively simple questions as “why are there so many kinds of animals?” open the door to deep insights into the ecological niche and why natural biological assemblages deviate from mathematical predictions. This juxtaposition of data and theory allows the reader to follow Hutchinson’s fascinating thought processes. The basis for the title of the collection becomes explicit in the final section of the book, which features a selection of Hutchinson’s essays that discuss museums and the connection between arts and sciences. As Hutchinson explains in “The Naturalist as Art Critic,” only recently have natural and artistic items been consigned to separate museums, and in many ways the purposes of these museums are the same. Natural collections have both scientific and aesthetic value because they provide the raw materials for generalizations about nature while inviting admiration of natural beauty. Further, natural items frequently perceived as beautiful contain in their structure the theory of their own formation, suggesting a very deep link between aesthetic appreciation and scientific discovery. Such interdisciplinary insights tie together the scientific and humanistic aspects of this volume and make Hutchinson’s writing relevant to a wide audience. The Art of Ecology ultimately feels like the kind of museum collection Hutchinson admired — it is scientifically informative and beautiful in its diversity. The multiple facets of Hutchinson’s life and ideas exemplify what many know but are hesitant to admit: Science is justified. Not by the accumulation or application of knowledge, but rather by the joy derived from understanding aspects of an intriguing universe.