Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Defining Ecology -- Changes -- Why Another Ecology Book? -- Who Are Ecologists? -- 1 THE BIG PICTURE -- Water and Energy: Life's Necessities -- The Origin of Life and of Atmospheric Oxygen -- Big Systems -- Lakes -- Lakes Through the Seasons -- Oceans -- Dry Land -- How Independent Are Ecological Systems? -- 2 HOW DO SPECIES SURVIVE? -- Populations -- Individuals and Populations -- Species Diversity -- Species Extinction -- Are All Invasive Species Villains? -- 3 TWO MAJOR CURRENT PROBLEMS -- Global Warming and Endangered Species -- What Can Be Done About Global Warming? -- Protecting Endangered Species -- 4 APPLYING ECOLOGY -- Experts, Pseudoexperts, and How to Tell Them Apart -- The Importance of Being Natural and Vegetarian -- Medicine and Ecology as "Health" Sciences -- Conclusions -- Appendix -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.