Includes bibliographical references (p. [224]-228) and index.

Machine generated contents note: I Introduction -- What is human ecology? -- Sustainable development -- Organization of this book -- 2 Populations and feedback systems -- Exponential population growth -- Positive feedback -- Negative feedback -- Population regulation -- The practical significance of positive and negative feedback -- 3 Human population -- Human population history -- Social mechanisms of population regulation -- The population explosion and quality of life -- 4 Ecosystems and social systems as complex adaptive systems -- Hierarchical organization and emergent properties -- Self-organization -- Stability domains -- Complex system cycles -- 5 Ecosystem organization -- Coadaptation -- Ecosystem design -- Ecosystem homeostasis -- Comparison of natural, agricultural and urban ecosystems -- Landscape mosaics -- 6 Ecological succession -- Ecological succession -- Human-induced succession -- Managing succession -- 7 Coevolution and coadaptation of human social systems and -- ecosystems -- Coadaptation in traditional social systems -- Coevolution of the social system and ecosystem from traditional to -- modern agriculture -- 8 Ecosystem services -- Material cycling and energy flow -- Ecosystem services -- The relation between ecosystem services and intensity of use -- The fallacy that economic supply and demand protect natural resources -- from overexploitation -- 9 Perceptions of nature -- Common perceptions of nature -- Attitudes of religions toward nature -- Notes of caution about romanticizing nature and traditional social -- systems -- 10 Unsustainable human-ecosystem interaction -- Human migrations -- New technologies -- Portable capital in a free market economy -- Tragedy of the commons -- Large inputs to agricultural and urban ecosystems -- Urbanization and alienation from nature -- The rise and fall of complex societies -- Wishful thinking and the precautionary principle -- 11 Sustainable human-ecosystem interaction -- Human social institutions and sustainable use of common property -- resources -- Coexistence of urban ecosystems with nature -- Resilience and sustainable development -- Adaptive development -- 12 Examples of ecologically sustainable development -- Dengue hemorrhagic fever, mosquitoes and copepods: an example of -- eco-technology for sustainable development -- The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program: an example of -- regional environmental management -- Glossary -- Further reading -- Index.