CONTENTS
List of Illustrations = xi
Preface to the Second Edition = xv
List of Acronyms = xxv
PART ONE ECOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY : HISTORY, THEORY, AND METHOD
1 People in Ecosystems = 3
Human Adaptability as a Response to Constraints = 5
Modeling = 10
Energy = 13
Matter = 16
Information = 19
Ecosystems and Global Change = 20
Summary = 22
Recommended Readings = 23
Notes = 25
2 Theories of Human-Habitat Interaction up to the 1950s = 27
Environmental Determinism = 28
Human Adaptation to Environment = 32
Nature as Limiting Factor : Malthus and Possibilism = 38
Summary = 43
Recommended Readings = 44
Notes = 45
3 From Cultural Ecology to Environmental Anthropology = 47
Steward's Cultural Ecology = 47
Applications of the Cultural Ecological Method = 50
The Approach of Ecological Anthropology = 58
The Ethnoecological Approach = 63
Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change = 64
Historical Ecology = 68
Political Ecology = 69
Summary = 70
Recommended Readings = 72
Notes = 73
4 Fundamental Concepts and Methods = 75
The Challenge of Scale and Levels of Analysis = 75
Ecosystemic Relationships = 78
Soils and Plant Productivity = 86
Physiological Responses = 91
Social / Cultural Regulatory Adjustments = 99
Information and Decisions : Toward Actor-Based Approaches = 102
Summary = 106
Recommended Readings = 108
Notes = 110
PART TWO STUDIES OF HUMAN ADAPTABILITY
5 Human Adaptability to Arctic Zones = 113
The Arctic Ecosystem = 114
Adaptation to Cold Stress = 119
Coping with Snow and Sea Ice = 126
Adaptation to Prolonged Light and Darkness = 128
Coping with Low Biological Productivity = 132
Impacts of Global Change in the Arctic = 137
Summary = 143
Recommended Readings = 145
Notes = 147
6 Human Adaptability to High Altitudes = 149
Mountain Ecosystems = 150
Adaptation to Hypoxia = 155
Adaptability to Cold Stress in the Andes = 165
Aridity and Low Productivity = 169
Climate Change and High-Altitude Ecosystems = 175
Summary = 176
Recommended Readings = 177
Notes = 179
7 Human Adaptability to Arid Lands = 181
Desert Ecosystems = 182
Adjustments to Dry Heat = 187
Utilization of Resources = 192
Irrigation = 200
Change in Desert Ecosystems = 212
Summary = 214
Recommended Readings = 216
8 Human Adaptability to Grasslands = 219
Grasslands Ecosystems = 221
Herd Management = 229
Relations with Cultivators = 242
Adaptive Strategies in the Northern Plains = 243
Global Change and the Future of Grasslands and Pastoralism = 251
Summary = 252
Recommended Readings = 255
9 Human Adaptability to the Humid Tropics = 259
Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystems = 261
Coping with Ecosystem Complexity = 269
Adaptability to Humid Heat = 292
Global Change Processes and Alternatives to Deforestation = 293
Summary = 300
Recommended Readings = 301
Notes = 303
PART THREE NEW DIRECTIONS
10 New Directions in Environmental Anthropology = 307
Human Adaptability to Global Environmental Change = 307
The Use of Remote Sensing in Anthropology = 309
Urban Ecology = 321
Experimental Approaches in Environmental Anthropology = 325
Common Property Resources and the Study of Institutions = 328
Political Economy and Human Adaptability = 330
Notes = 332
Epilogue = 333
Glossary = 339
Bibliography = 357
Index = 431