The wealth of the natural sciences no longer consists in the abundance of facts, but in the way they are linked together. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT There is no dearth of books on ecology. Why write yet another? Each person is different, and each views the problems in a different way. Each emphasizes different aspects and describes them in a different style. When I was a student I often found certain books more helpful than others, and I still think it is useful to have a variety of presentations from which to choose. This variety also allows the student to appreciate the diversity within the...

Bioengineering is the branch of biology which applies the methods of engineering and physics to the study of biological phenomena, and the vocabulary of technology to describe them. Particularly with respect to the mechanics of movement and other physiological processes, the advantages of this approach are obvious. But other fields of study also reveal new insights when biotechnical research methods are applied, and one of these is the comparative morphology of biological structures. At the very least, description in technical terms permits complete, concise organization of a field of...