An annotated bibliography of books dealing with the history of ecology.

Larry T. Spencer

What follows is a list of books on the history of ecology and/or the reminisences of ecologists that have been published in the 20th century. The books were chosen because they deal directly with the history of ecology or because they have a chapter on the history of ecology. The fact that most of the books are recent indicates that ecology as a science has finally arrived at the point where historians of science think enough of it to spend time writing about its history. It may also indicate the typical trend where as scientists age, they begin to reflect more on the history and philosophy associated with their discipline. Those reflections often end up as a book. The list does not include any books on natural history or natural historians, even though many of those individuals had extensive "ecological" thoughts on the environments they visited.

The call numbers at the end of some of the citations indicate that the book is held by the library of the University of Colorado. Highlighted titles are annotated. Click on the title to see the annotation.

  1. Allen, Garland. 1978. Life science in the twentieth century. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. QH305 .A44
  2. Blair, W. Frank. 1977. Big biology: The US/IBP. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, PA.
  3. Bramwell, Anna. 1989. Ecology in the 20th century: a history. Yale University Press, New Haven.
  4. Brewer, Richard. 1960. A brief history of ecology. Occasional papers of the C. C. Adams Center for Ecological Studies. Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo.
  5. Croker, Robert A. 1991. Pioneer ecologist: The life and work of Victor Ernest Shelford., 1877 – 1968. QH31 .S49 C 76 1991
  6. Edgerton, Frank and R. P. McIntosh, eds. History of American ecology. Arno Press, New York.
  7. Fralish, James S., Rober P. McIntosh and Orie L. Loucks, eds., 1993. John T. Curtis: fifty years of Wisconsin plant ecology. Wisconsin Academy Arts and Letters, Madison.
  8. Golley, Frank Benjamin. 1993. A history of the ecosystem concept in ecology: More than the sum of the parts. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven. QH540.8 .G64 1993
  9. Hagen, Joel. 1992. An entangled bank: The origins of ecosystems ecology. Rutgers Univ. Press, New Brunswick. QH540.8 .H34 1992
  10. Hutchinson, G. Evelyn. 1953. The itinerant ivory tower: Scientific and literary essays. Yale University Press, New Haven. Q171 .H888
  11. _______________ 1979. The kindly fruits of the earth: The development of an embryo ecologist. Yale University Press, New Haven.
  12. Kingsland, Sharon E. 1985. Modeling nature: Episodes in the history of population ecology. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago. QH352 .K56 1985
  13. McIntosh, Robert P. 1985. The background of ecology: concept and theory. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. QH541 .M 386 1985
  14. Mitman, Gregg. 1992. The state of nature: Ecology, community, and American social thought, 1900-1950. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago. QH541.26 .M58 1992
  15. Rodgers, Andrew Denny. 1944. American Botany, 1873-1892: Decades of transition. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.
  16. _______________. 1968. American Botany, 1873-1892: Decades of transition, reprint. Hafner Press, New York. QK21 .N6 R6 1968
  17. Rodgers, Andrew Denny, III. 1944. John Merle Coulter: missionary in science. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton. QK31 .C68
  18. Sheail, John. 1987. Seventy-Five years in ecology. The British Ecological Society. Blackwell, Oxford. QH137 .S427 1987
  19. Soderquist, Thomas. 1986. The ecologists: from merry naturalists to saviours of the nation. Almquist and wiksell, Stockholm.
  20. Tansley, Arthur G. 1952. Mind and life: an essay in simplification. Allen and Unwin, London. BF67 .T35
  21. Tobey, Ronald C. 1981. Saving the prairies: The life cycle of the founding school of American plant ecology, 1895-1955. Univ. California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. QK901 .T6
  22. Worster, Donald. 1977. Nature’s economy: The roots of ecology. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco. QH541 ,W64
  23. _________________. 1994. Nature’s economy: a history of ecological ideas, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. QH540.8 .W67 1994
  24. Worthington, E. Barton, ed. 1975. The evolution of IBP. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. QH9.5 .E92
  25. ______________. 1983. The ecological century: A personal appraisal. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.