This text studies the ecology of animals, plants and their habitats and promotes awareness of pressing environmental issues. The eight informative chapters deliver environmental messages and supply insights into the natural world and the ecologists who investigate its many mysteries. From a concerned ecological stance, the authors show that human relationships with other organisms and the environment is always complex and can be exhilarating, inspiring, humorous and irritating, depending on perspectives and circumstances. They provide a variety of examples from the natural world in hopes of making readers of all ages more compassionate, more tolerant and more sensitive to other living organisms and their interrelationships. The book celebrates the intrinsic worth of all plants and animals in order to motivate people in a unified effort to preserve the Earth’s rich array of life forms. The preservation of the integrity of our planet’s biodiversity is, the authors illustrate, critical to our own survival.