Toward a Unified Ecology

The first edition of Toward a Unified Ecology was ahead of its time, and in this equally groundbreaking text, the authors present a new synthesis of their core ideas on evaluating communities, organisms, populations, biomes, models, and management. The book places greater emphasis on post-normal critiques, cognizant of ever-present observer values in the system. The problem is how to work holistically on complex things that cannot be defined, and this book continues to define an approach to the problem of scaling in ecosystems. Provoked by complexity theory, the authors add a whole new chapter on the central role of narrative in science and how models improve them. The book takes data and modeling seriously, with a sophisticated philosophy of science.

Timothy F. H. Allen is professor emeritus of botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Thomas W. Hoekstra is director of Sustainability International in Loveland, Colorado.