Theory, Method, and Explanation in Human Ecology -- Explaining Indonesian Forest Fires: Both Ends of the Firestick -- On the Notions of Mother Nature and the Balance of Nature and Their Implications for Conservation -- Hunter–Gatherers Optimize Their Foraging Patterns Using Lévy Flights -- What is Biocultural Diversity? A Theoretical Review -- The Conservation Catch-22: Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Change -- Does Environmental Talk Equal Environmental Knowledge? An Example from Newfoundland -- Dynamics of Local Food Procurement Systems -- Tracking the Carbon Footprint of Paleolithic Societies in Mediterranean Ecosystems -- Burning and Hunting in Australia’s Western Desert -- The Wild Yam Question: Evidence from Baka Foraging in the Northwest Congo Basin -- Life Without Pigs: Decisions, Community Action, and Subsistence Changes Among the Irakia Awa, Papua New Guinea -- Food Security and Pastoralism in the Northern Sahel -- Agricultural Intensification and Large-scale Population Dynamics -- Labor Productivity and Agricultural Development: Testing Boserup -- Following Netting: The Cultural Ecology of Viliui Sakha Households in Post-Soviet Siberia -- Adaptive Responses to Environmental and Sociopolitical Change in Southern Zambia -- Social and Environmental Impacts of the Rise and Fall of Flue-Cured Tobacco Production in the Copán Valley -- Does Climate Change Affect War Frequency? The Case of Eastern China -- Development, Common Property Management, and Conservation -- Local Knowledge and Changing Subsistence Strategies in James Bay, Canada -- After the Cochabamba Water War of 2000: A Common Pool Resource Institution in the Urban Andes -- Gender, Social Difference and Coastal Resource Management in Lowland Philippine Fishing Communities -- Causes of Deforestation in Central Maine, USA -- Environmental and Economic Costs of Biofuels.

This comprehensive sourcebook on human ecology combines 25 source articles published in the journal Human Ecology, enhanced with new research updates and thematic commentary. Intended as a follow up to Case Studies in Human Ecology, this volume includes an entirely new group of articles, with the same accessible, comprehensive coverage that made Case Studies so popular. Human Ecology: Research and Practice covers four important areas: Philosophy, Theory and Methods; Changing Subsistence Practices; Agricultural Intensification and Population Dynamics; and, Common Property Resources and Conservation. As a group, these articles represent the major contributions to the study of Human Ecology since the publication of the previous volume. Each article includes a concise introduction by the Editor, giving necessary and thoughtful context. The volume covers an overview of human ecology as a field within environmental studies, new directions in contemporary research, new methods and techniques, and cultural landscapes. Anyone studying human ecology, environmental studies, landscape studies, or population dynamics, particularly key issues such as conservation and globalization will find this comprehensive reader a valuable resource.