Here is a spectacular, thought-provoking, and highly informative guide to the fascinating story of ecology. Superb color photographs of animals, plants, and ecosystems reveal the ideas and discoveries that have changed our understanding of life around us. See how plants store their food supply, how dung enriches the soil, how biodiversity is measured, the damage caused by acid rain, and a field-digger wasp capturing a fly. Learn how plants create their own food, how and when the world's human population "exploded," and how your backyard provides a small-scale model of life all over the Earth. Discover the links in the seashore food chain, how the buffalo was saved from extinction, why insects such as locusts are subject to population explosion, and much, much more! Examine all the ways in which animals, plants, energy, and matter are linked together in the cycle of life. The most trusted nonfiction series on the market, Eyewitness Books provide an in-depth, comprehensive look at their subjects with a unique integration of words and pictures.