CURRENT LITERATURE. 



Guide to the Study of Aninml Ecology. By Charles C. Adams, 

 Ph. D. The Macmillan Company, New York. 1913. Pp. 1-183. 

 Price $1.25. 



While the book of the above title is concerned entirely with 

 animal ecology, yet its general discussion of the aim, content and 

 point of view of ecological study is so apt and so applicable to 

 forest ecology that it seems worth while to present an abstract. 

 Ecology has no aim, but ecologists have. The problems of an 

 ecologist are not fundamentally different from those of any 

 other kind of naturalist. The superficial differences in aim are 

 due to different points of view or methods of approach, rather 

 than to any essential difference in the character of the problems. 

 The relations which different branches of ecolog}' bear to one 

 another may be discussed under three headings, namely, indi- 

 vidual, aggregate and associational ecolog>^ 



The study of individual ecology is the investigation of the de- 

 velopment (process of formation) of the structure, function 

 and behavior of a given individual from the standpoint of its re- 

 lations and responses to the complete environment. Such a study 

 may be limited to a single habitat or locality, or extended through- 

 out the entire geographic range of the form. From this stand- 

 point, the individual studied becomes the hub of the microcosm 

 from which all relations and responses radiate. The organism is 

 thus considered as an agent which, transforming and utilizing 

 substance and energy, produces a varied number of physiological 

 conditions and forms of activity, which, in turn, furnish the basis 

 for the constant process of response between the organism and 

 its environment. 



The study of aggregate ecology is the investigation of the 

 ecological development, relations and responses of animals and 

 plants based upon hereditary or taxonomic units, as in a family 

 community or in genera, families and orders. These groups or 

 aggregates are made the basis for ecological study, as a hive of 

 bees or the genus Pinus. From this approach the activities and 

 responses of the group are traced within the nrea studied or 



