In 1978 a London publisher specializing in bibliographies asked me to write a guide to the ecological literature. I had to reply that no one could possibly do such a thing. Yet the Handbook of Contemporary Developments in World Ecology, edited by Edward J. Kormondy and J. Frank McCormick (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981), with authors from all over the world, is as close to such a guide as is likely ever to be published. Nevertheless, it falls short of being as comprehensive as its title might lead one to expect. The editors were unable to find ecologists in Canada, Finland, France, India, Ireland, and Spain to write chapters on the development of ecology in their respective countries. They were told in some other countries that not enough ecological work had been done to justify a chapter. Consequently, there are only five chapters for the Western Hemisphere; there are fourteen for Europe, not counting the Soviet Union, which has its own geographic subdivision; there are two for Oceania (Australia and New Zealand); five for Africa; and seven for Asia (including Taiwan, but not mainland China). In addition to these 34 chapters, there are three on the application of ecology to the solution of environmental problems, and live appendixes on ecological journals, major source books, bibliographic and abstracting services, professional organizations, and major research units.
Practically all of the chapters on ecology in particular countries include a summary history for this century; a few of the authors discuss developments in the last century as well. Thus, although written by ecologists for other ecologists, there is abundant material to entice the historian. However, to avoid being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of detail, historians must bring to the reading an informed perspective. It would be a simple matter merely to skim the pages in quest of bits of information on a predetermined theme, and the book should be used for such purposes. However, the volume as a whole invites thought on the comparative development of ecology in different countries, and it is to this subject that I devote the remainder of this essay.
Even in the absence of chapters on several important countries, it is