I'm looking for advice on a more concept-oriented textbook for an introductory first-year course in Ecology & Evolution. There are texts out there but they are a sea of fact-based information with very little concentration on concepts and applications, which is the way I want to teach this course and the way we know is more effective in helping students understand both evolution and ecology. I want something that is not an overwhelming and comprehensive tome but rather a more slimline concept-based book - I can provide plenty of examples and illustrations myself to supplement the emphasis on conceptual learning. Most students in this course will be high-achieving and very capable first-year US College students.
Thanks Andres and Yuan-ge. I am familiar with Begon et al, but it falls in to the category of being an encyclopedic volume that tries to cover everything and take the reader to a more advanced level. I'm looking for something that focuses on core concepts in a more stream-lined way, and covers both ecology and evolution. I feel Begon et al is a reference volume rather than being a quickly readable book that gets straight to the point.
The best introductory book for ecology is written by PD Sharma Rastogi Publication of New Dehli (India)
I would second the Smith and Smith (Ecology and Field Biology). I would also vote for Ricklefs (Economy of Nature), Cain et al (Ecology). However, if you are looking for illustrated introduction to concepts in both ecology and evolution, I would highly recommend Rose and Mueller (Evolution and Ecology of the Organism: http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Ecology-Organism-Michael-Rose/dp/0130104043/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387368507&sr=8-1&keywords=Ecology+and+evolution). Good luck!
Thanks Bazartseren. I am very familiar with Ricklefts and Smith and Smith, and use part of these--but I've found them not to be that accessible to first-year students and don't pull (conceptually) across areas of evolution and ecology sufficiently. I don't know the Rose and Mueller book, so I will check that out. Thanks!
there is a book by Miller and there is another one by Manuel C. Molles
John - your problem is where new textbooks come from. You cannot find one book that covers what you think or want it to and the next thing you know you are writing one ; )
John,
Just curious if you found a textbook that covers both of these topics well at an introductory level?
Joel
John - I had been using versions of the Smith & Smith book for many years. This year I switched to a new book- Ecology 4th edition by Bowman, Hacker and Cain. I looked at it last year but thought it may be too busy. However, I am loving the book this year and I feel like the students are really enjoying the book as well. I would say it is worth checking into.
I am gearing up to teach an intro ecology course as a gen ed (level 100, not science majors) at my college. The texts I have used to teach bio majors will be too dense. I need something approachable for incoming freshman with little to no background in science. I'm leaning towards Charles Krebs' Why Ecology Matters. With 12 chapters, I could tackle one chapter per week, and I can walk through examples in lecture. I'm not at the point where I'm ready to put the order in for the bookstore to make it official, but I'm leaning in that direction. I was previously considering Natural Systems by Eichhorn, but that is just a bit too sparse in my opinion, and does not cover evolution in an approachable manner (my students generally come in to their science gen ed with a very poor understanding of how evolution works, so I prefer a text that walks through it early on). I'll try to remember to update this answer once I've started teaching the course!
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