THE VALUE OF ECOLOGICAL SURVEYS 31 



conditions greatly modified by man, as in parts of 

 Europe, but in the newer, less modified America. In 

 this respect a parallel exists to the development of 

 our knowledge and the process and genetic interpreta- 

 tion of topography, which has also developed more 

 rapidly in America than elsewhere. The process and 

 genetic method which has developed in this physical 

 science has now spread to the biological sciences and 

 has found a fertile soil there for development on 

 account of the relatively undisturbed biotic conditions 

 which still persist in certain areas. 



In this connection it may be worth while to indicate 

 some of the ecological disadvantages under which the 

 non-ecological surveys are carried on. As a rule, 

 such surveys feel no strong obligation to record fully 

 the conditions of the environment, or its develop- 

 mental processes. The environment is considered as 

 static, and not as a changing medium ; it has no past 

 or future, it has merely horizontal extension. The 

 problem as to its dynamic status, whether in a condi- 

 tion of stress, in the process of adjustment, or in 

 relative equilibrium, is not raised, or if it should be, 

 it could not be handled. The student eager for 

 new and little-known species is not the one to study 

 such relations, at least, as a rule, this has not been 

 his practice. So long as the success of a day's work 

 is measured by the length of the list of novelties 

 secured, rather than by the quality and quantity 

 of ecological relations discovered, such students and 

 surveys will not contribute greatly to our knowledge 

 of the economy of nature in the regions surveyed. 



