The history of ecology as a science, and of the Environmental Revolution, has been written in several recent books as seen through the eyes of those who themselves took part in the events. Here we have a different contribution, prepared by a historian who is a staff member of the British Institute of Terrestrial Ecology. The life story of the first Ecological Society to be established in the world does not span the earliest formative years of ecology but its roots are effectively described in Part 1 of the book. It is pointed out, for example, that students of vegetation such as Humboldt and MacGilivray anticipated Darwin in perceiving the complexity and interrelationships of Nature, which is the essence of Ecology. Around the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, botanical surveys of Scotland and northern England, of Europe and North America, stimulated the formation of ecological societies-in 1913 of the BES in Britain, with the Ecological Society of North America following two years later. The original members of BES numbered 115, based on the pre-existing British Vegetation Committee. Membership did not exceed 500 until after the second world war, but in 1987 the score was 4,373, nearly 40% of them being resident outside the United Kingdom. Parts 2, 3, and 4, of the book divide the 75 years' history into three parts of a quarter-century each. Having started as a branch of botany, terrestrial plant ecology dominated the early years, with Arthur Tansley in the forefront. However, the viewpoint broadened during the first period, 1913-38: in 1916 J.C. Willis contributed 'Age and Area' to ecological thinking, while soon F.E. Fritsch approached the subject from the viewpoint of algology (now more often called phycology), F.W. Oliver from palaeobotany, and W.H. Pearsall revealed the successional development in lakes. Meanwhile agricultural science turned towards ecology: Sir Daniel Hall and Sir John Russell, as successive directors of Rothampsted Experimental Station, and Sir George Stapledon, were prominent in the relationships between soil and plant, while geology had contributed in the formation of soils and the sub-fossil remains of plants in peat and other organic sediments. Animals were more difficult to study owing to their awkward attribute of mobility, but in America C.C. Adams had published 'A Guide to the Study of Animal Ecology' in 1913, whereafter Julian Huxley initiated animal behaviour as a science in 1914 with his study of the Great Crested Grebe (Pediceps cristatus), and P.A. Buxton's 'Animal Life in Deserts' appeared in 1912-the last two being published in Britain. It was not, however, until 1927, with the publication of Charles Elton's 'Animal Ecology', that the BES took serious note of animals. Research in that branch expanded rapidly and the Journal of Animal Ecology was added in 1932 to the pre-existing Journal of Ecology. Though it is not mentioned in this book, it is pertinent to recall that a number of ecological principles which apply to animals had been adopted by marine and fisheries scientist...
