Cover: Ecology: The Economy of Nature, 10th Edition by Rick Relyea

Ecology: The Economy of Nature

Tenth  Edition©2025  Rick Relyea

About

Table of Contents

About the Author
Preface
1 An Introduction to Ecology
Part I: Climates, Climate Change, and Biomes
2 Global Climates
3 Global Climate Change
4 Terrestrial and Aquatic Biomes
Part II: Adaptations to Environments
5 Evolutionary Ecology
6 Adaptations to Aquatic Environments
7 Adaptations to Terrestrial Environments
8 Adaptations to Variable Environments
Part III: Life Histories, Reproductive Strategies, and Social Behaviors
9 Life Histories
10 Reproductive Strategies
11 Social Behaviors
Part IV: Populations
12 Population Distributions
13 Population Growth and Regulation
14 Population Dynamics over Time and Space
Part V: Species Interactions
15 Predation and Herbivory
16 Parasitism and Infectious Diseases
17 Competition
18 Mutualism
Part VI: Communities and Ecosystems
19 Community Structure: Biodiversity and Food Webs
20 Community Succession
21 Energy Flow in Ecosystems
22 Nutrient Cycling in Ecosystems
Part VII: Global Ecology
23 Landscape Ecology and Global Biodiversity
24 Conservation of Global Biodiversity
Appendices
Reading Graphs
Statistical Tables
Answers to Working with Ecological Data
Glossary
Index

Rick Relyea

Rick Relyea is the David Darrin Senior ‘40 Endowed Chair in Biological Sciences and the director of the Darrin Freshwater Institute at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He received a BS in environmental forest biology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, an MS in wildlife management from Texas Tech University, and a PhD in ecology and evolution from the University of Michigan. He has authored more than 200 scientific articles and book chapters and presented research seminars throughout the world. Rick was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh for 15 years, where he was named the Chancellor’s Distinguished Researcher and received the Tina and David Bellet Teaching Excellence Award. In 2014, he moved to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to direct The Jefferson Project, which is the most technologically advanced research endeavor to study freshwater lakes. Rick has a strong interest in high school education, including hosting high school science teachers who conduct research in his laboratory. He is co-author of Environmental Science for the AP® Course, also published by BFW publishers.