Human Ecology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. Theory, Method, and Explanation in Human Ecology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-15

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   2. Introduction

      • Daniel G. Bates, Judith Tucker

      Pages 1-9

   3. Explaining Indonesian Forest Fires: Both Ends of the Firestick

      • Andrew P. Vayda

      Pages 17-35

   4. On the Notions of Mother Nature and the Balance of Nature and Their Implications for Conservation

      • Dennis E. Jelinski

      Pages 37-50

   5. Hunter–Gatherers Optimize Their Foraging Patterns Using Lévy Flights

      • Clifford T. Brown, Larry S. Liebovitch, Rachel Glendon

      Pages 51-65

   6. What is Biocultural Diversity? A Theoretical Review

      • Michelle Cocks

      Pages 67-77

   7. The Conservation Catch-22: Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Change

      • Flora Lu

      Pages 79-87

   8. Does Environmental Talk Equal Environmental Knowledge? An Example from Newfoundland

      • Craig T. Palmer, Reed L. Wadley

      Pages 89-100

3. Dynamics of Local Food Procurement Systems

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 101-107

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   2. Tracking the Carbon Footprint of Paleolithic Societies in Mediterranean Ecosystems

      • Mary C. Stiner, Steven L. Kuhn

      Pages 109-125

   3. Burning and Hunting in Australia’s Western Desert

      • Douglas W. Bird, Rebecca Bliege Bird, Christopher H. Parker

      Pages 127-142

   4. The Wild Yam Question: Evidence from Baka Foraging in the Northwest Congo Basin

      • Hirokazu Yasuoka

      Pages 143-154

   5. Life Without Pigs: Decisions, Community Action, and Subsistence Changes Among the Irakia Awa, Papua New Guinea

      • David J. Boyd

      Pages 155-171

   6. Food Security and Pastoralism in the Northern Sahel

      • Jon Pedersen, Tor A. Benjaminsen

      Pages 173-186

4. Agricultural Intensification and Large-scale Population Dynamics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 187-193

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   2. Labor Productivity and Agricultural Development: Testing Boserup

      • Robert C. Hunt

      Pages 195-211

   3. Following Netting: The Cultural Ecology of Viliui Sakha Households in Post-Soviet Siberia

      • Susan Crate

      Pages 213-223

   4. Adaptive Responses to Environmental and Sociopolitical Change in Southern Zambia

      • Lisa Cliggett, Elizabeth Colson, Rod Hay, Thayer Scudder, Jon Unruh

      Pages 225-236

   5. Social and Environmental Impacts of the Rise and Fall of Flue-Cured Tobacco Production in the Copán Valley

      • William M. Loker

      Pages 237-254

This book arose from the need to develop accessible research-based case study material which addresses contemporary issues and problems in the rapidly evolving field of human ecology. Academic, political, and, indeed, public interest in the environmental sciences is on the rise. This is no doubt spurred by media coverage of climate change and global warming and attendant natural disasters such as unusual drought and flood conditions, toxic dust storms, pollution of air and water, and the like. But there is also a growing intellectual awareness of the social causes of anthropogenic environmental impacts, political vectors in determining conser- tion outcomes, and the role of local representations of ecological knowledge in resource management and sustainable yield production. This is reflected in the rapid increase of ecology courses being taught at leading universities in the fa- growing developing countries much as was the case a decade or two ago in Europe and North America. The research presented here is all taken from recent issues of Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Since the journal itself is a leading forum for cont- porary research, the articles we have selected represent a cross-section of work which brings the perspectives of human ecology to bear on current problems being faced around the world. The chapters are organized in such a way to facilitate the use of this volume either to teach a course or to introduce an informed reader to the field.

• Archaeological Method
• Conservation
• Environmental Archaeology
• Environmental Studies
• Pastoralists
• agricultural conservation methods
• carbon footprint
• changing agricultural subsistence methods
• environmental anthropology
• landscape studies
• philosophy

• City University of New York, Department of Anthropology, Hunter College, New York, USA

  Daniel G. Bates

• Shelbyville, USA

  Judith Tucker

Daniel Bates is the editor-in-chief of the journal Human Ecology.

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