The Balance of Nature?: Ecological Issues in the Conservation of Species and Communities

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is an excellent book for ecologists in general

Rating:
Summary: An influential work
Review: Well, at least influential for me. Stuart Pimm's "Balance of Nature" is intended for an audience of professional ecologists and (like most academic texts) demands patient, thoughtful reading, but is well worth the effort.

Why influential? Throughout my rather lengthy graduate school "career," I've been struck by the tension between simple academic ecological theory and the stunning complexity of real-world systems. Pimm tackles this condumdrum by focusing on the relationship between species richness and system stability, explaining why the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

If your ecological education has not already made you suspicious of popular (but naive) concepts of "natural" stability and balance, then this book will open your eyes. Recommended.