Book contents
- Curious About Nature
- Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation
- Curious About Nature
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Foreword
- Part I Getting Curious About Nature
- 1 Fieldwork and Nature: Observing, Experimenting and Thinking
- 2 The Place of Field Studies in Environmental Science
- 3 The History of Fieldwork in the Geosciences
- 4 Pioneering Fieldwork Heroes in the Life Sciences
- 5 The Educational Benefits of Out-of-Classroom Learning
- Part II Essays: Inspiring Fieldwork
- Part III Reflections and Where Next for Field Studies
- Contributing Author Biographies
- Index
- References
2 - The Place of Field Studies in Environmental Science
from Part I - Getting Curious About Nature
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2020
- Curious About Nature
- Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation
- Curious About Nature
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Foreword
- Part I Getting Curious About Nature
- 1 Fieldwork and Nature: Observing, Experimenting and Thinking
- 2 The Place of Field Studies in Environmental Science
- 3 The History of Fieldwork in the Geosciences
- 4 Pioneering Fieldwork Heroes in the Life Sciences
- 5 The Educational Benefits of Out-of-Classroom Learning
- Part II Essays: Inspiring Fieldwork
- Part III Reflections and Where Next for Field Studies
- Contributing Author Biographies
- Index
- References
Summary
Modern environmental science has grown out of natural history. Natural history is as old as the interest of humans in the world around them – indeed, it must have been of overriding importance to the earliest humans, and for most since, whose very survival depended on a close and reasonably accurate knowledge of the resources and hazards of the natural environment around them. This is, of course, the case for any animal: that knowledge derives directly from what is seen and experienced in the field. Field observation has always been and remains the signal feature of natural history.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Curious about NatureA Passion for Fieldwork, pp. 47 - 65Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020