14 THE STUDY OF PLANT COMMUNITIES * Chapter I 



tigators today with sufficient training or experience to deal ade- 

 quately with the entire field of biology. This explains why special- 

 ists usually concentrate on either plant ecology or animal ecology, 

 and why textbooks emphasize either plants or animals, even though 

 all organisms should be considered. In an introduction to the sub- 

 ject, however, it is probably advantageous to restrict the subject 

 matter for effective discussion. We shall, therefore, be concerned 

 primarily with the ecology of plants, although their relationships 

 to animals will not be ignored. Furthermore, the major emphasis 

 will be upon natural groupings or communities of plants and the 

 reasons for finding them as we do. 



BROAD TRAINING DESIRABLE 



At first thought, the diversity of subject matter included in the 

 scope of ecological application is discouraging. It ranges through 

 all the sciences, but obviously one person can hardly become mas- 

 ter of all scientific knowledge. Specialists, however, working on 

 different phases of a problem, can contribute to its solution, pro- 

 vided they all have the same objectives and points of view. Most 

 ecologists are specialists in some phase of the subject, but the 

 ecological approach provides the necessary unity for holding their 

 interests together. A truly complete ecological training is impos- 

 sible; yet it is possible to acquire a broad enough training to appre- 

 ciate the importance of subject matter in fields with which one 

 may not be entirely familiar. 



An appreciation of ecology necessitates certain fundamentals of 

 training for a background. The specialist then expands his knowl- 

 edge along lines of interest. A basic biological foundation is, of 

 course, a necessity, with taxonomy and physiology as absolute 

 prerequisites because of their constant use. Because ecological 

 problems frequently range through any of the biological fields 

 from morphology to pathology to genetics, the advantages of an 

 extensive preparation should be evident. 



The desirability of a basic understanding of physics and chem- 

 istry need hardly be emphasized since both have their obvious 

 uses in the interpretation of environmental conditions as well as in 

 applications to physical and physiological problems. Some knowl- 

 edge of geology is very useful, and, for certain types of work, a 



