Ecological Vignettes: Ecological Approaches to Dealing With Human Predictions

Review: Ecological Vignettes: Ecological Approaches to Dealing With Human Predictions by Eugene P. Odum Reviewed by: Irwin Weintraub Brooklyn College CUNY, New York Odum, Eugene Pleasants. Ecological Vignettes: Ecological Approaches to Dealing With Human Predicaments. Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998. 269pp. US$22.00 paper ISBN: 90-5702-522-11. Ecology is the study of the environment and the organisms and communities that comprise it. The organized symbiotic community is known as an ecosystem. Ecosystems change over time through a process of development and resource renewal and each element, including humans, has a role to play in helping that holistic environment to survive. In Ecological Vignettes, Odum offers readers a panoramic view of the ecosystem and an explanation about how the parts fit together. He begins with a series of vignettes, covering basic ecological principles and the effects of growth, energy, organization, change, behavior, diversity, and nature. Each vignette, which runs about two pages, offers basic facts that readers should know before reading the more detailed discussions in the essays. Interspersed among the vignettes are cartoons with ecological themes that add both wit and urgency to Odum's presentation. Odum informs readers that there are limits to growth, and a great deal of energy is needed to sustain our air, water, soil, food, and life support systems. He emphasizes that human behavior, and our willingness to cooperate with other organisms as they carry out their roles in the ecosystem, play a key role in their ability to survive. He cautions readers that when population density and human infrastructures become large and complex, we must learn how to control growth and the increasing costs of energy and resources needed to maintain the natural order. Following the vignettes are 24 essays in which Odum expands upon the ideas he set forth in the vignettes. The essays were gleaned from his articles in journals, newsletters, and book chapters written during a forty-year career as a professor of ecology and zoology at the University of Georgia. He discusses a range of environmental issues including public policy agendas, watershed and ecosystem management, and the roles of