Thanks to the folks who sent recommendations for general ecology or plant ecology books and resources, and especially for those who included links! Here is a list with the original comments, sometimes with mine added in brackets. Since I don’t know how many students I’ll have or their backgrounds (non-academic but plant focused adult audience pool), I’ll be giving them the list and suggesting they look at them. I’ll also suggest they browse in a library before buying anything.
Cain, Michael L., William D. Bowman, and Sally D. Hacker. 2013. Ecology. 3rd Ed. (4th Ed. due May, 2018, authors same but start with Bowman). Oxford University Press. It was fairly easy to consume, and had lots of material to draw from...though I believe it was more geared towards theoretical ecology rather than naturalism. Drury, William H. ed. John G.T. Anderson. 1998. Chance and change: ecology for conservationists. University of California Press, Berkeley. Bill Drury, who wrote against models like "Classical succession", and after he died his family asked me to edit his manuscript for an "alternative" Ecology text book. It is by no means perfect, but it seems to have held up pretty well & provokes good discussion among students https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0520211553/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1517321072&sr=8-1 Ennos, Roland. 2016. Trees: a complete guide to their biology and structure. Comstock Publishing Associates It doesn't cover quite the subject matter you're looking for, but I quite enjoyed "Trees: A Complete Guide to Their Biology and Structure" by Roland Ennos. It's fairly small, but technical, almost like a chapter or two from a broader introductory textbook. It gave me a basic overview of the natural history of, well, trees. Gurevitch, Jessica, Samuel M. Scheiner, and Gordon A. Fox. 2006.The Ecology of Plants, 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press/Sinauer Associates. Book intro says it is basic ecology with plant focus. How about The Ecology of Plants? https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/the-ecology-of-plants-jessica-gurevitch/1119336458/2679094480524?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_New+Marketplace+Shopping+Textbooks_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP164998&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzMDTBRDDARIsABX4AWyoh0H0gzlwUz7VH3nCytP5pCsSj0JaOwl_lTQ6bBLS-TssrvgsQSgaAgPREALw_wcB Gotelli, Nicholas J. 2008. Primer of Ecology 4th Ed. Oxford University Press/ Sinauer Associates. good and succinct, but might not be right for your audience. [technical with focus on models] Karban, Richard, Mikaela Huntzinger & Ian S. Pearse. 2014. How to do ecology: a concise handbook 2nd Ed. Princeton University Press. I also really like “How to do Ecology” by Karban and Hartzinger about the process of developing and conducting ecological research, but again, might not be right for this situation. [looks very useful for planning research projects] Keddy, Paul A. 2017. Plant Ecology, origins, processes, consequences. 2nd Ed. Cambridge University Press. New York. [Covers basics but book intro suggests reviewing basic ecology text]. Marchetti, Michael P. & Peter B. Moyle. 2010. Protecting Life on Earth: an introduction to the science of conservation. University of California Press, Berkeley. a short non-majors ecology/conservation biology text. I think we did a solid job at explaining general ecology to nonscience people. you might check it out, although it is not plant centered but there are plant examples. Molles, Manuel C., Jr. 2014. Ecology: Concepts and applications 7th Ed. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Manuel Molles book is good- not sure what edition is out-like the idea that he focuses on students understanding the language of science (figs and table-with helpful annotations-still use some of those in my senior level cons bio class) Relyea, Rick and Robert E. Ricklefs. 2017. The Economy of Nature 8th Ed. W.H. Freeman Publishers. completely redid all of the figures and photos, with lots of plant examples. I am pleased to report that the response from instructors and students has been very positive. [the chapter on line has a terrific discussion of soils, and plants and soil relations] Stokols, Danel. 2017. Social ecology in the digital age: solving complex problems in a globalized world. Academic Press/Elsevier. know you’re interested in identifying a general ecology text, but in case you’re interested in a supplemental text on social and human ecology, this 2018 title might be a relevant resource for you and your students: Social Ecology in the Digital Age - Solving Complex Problems in a Globalized World. Other: often utilize user friendly manuals in the field Blog: I will seriously risk tooting my own horn, but for the past year I've written an almost weekly blog that discusses recent papers in Ecology (about 75%) and in Conservation Biology (the remainder). Each post has background, hypotheses, data and a discussion of why this question is important or of interest. It's designed to be used for instruction at a high school/college level, and should work fine for interested adults, regardless of background. I will admit that there is a strong emphasis on interactions, reflecting my own preferences, but there are a fair number of posts that focus on plants. So you might checkout out at fredsingerecology.com. [I just spent over an hour browsing the blog, really good, PSR] Podcast: In Defense Of Plants available from iTunes and other podcatchers. Also a blog. Wide ranging topics on plants, interactions, researchers. www.indefenseofplants.com Hope these are useful for others, too. Cheers, Pat > On Jan 30, 2018, at 8:18 AM, Patricia Swain Rice <[email protected]> wrote: > > I’m looking for recommendations/suggestions of a general ecology book, > preferably with at least some plant examples to supplement lectures and field > in a > brief introductory ecology class for adults who are interested in and often > quite knowledgeable about (native) plants. Last time I taught introductory > ecology was literally decades ago when Ricklef’s “Economy of Nature” was a > bit less expensive and was the short, ‘simple' book available. Are there new > ones out there that people have experience with or know of? > Thanks. > Cheers, > Pat Swain > retired natural community ecologist
