Ecological orbits

the long version

"Most people assume that the dramatic failures in managing natural populations are due to human greed and shortsighted government policies. In their new book Ecological Orbits, Ginzburg and Colyvan suggest that the problem is not in ourselves, but rather in our theories about how populations behave. The authors argue that the inertial behavior of biological populations (to grow exponentially unless something restrains them) leads to theories about ecology that are profoundly different from those currently taught to biologists. The misunderstanding by biologists of this inertial behavior is what may have led to the collapse of fisheries around the world, ineffectiveness of game management, and inability to control pest outbreaks. Good ecological theory has to properly account for inertia of biological populations."--Jacket.