Ecology is the study of species and how they interact with one another and their environment. It forms a bridge between biology and environmental sciences and addresses important issues, such as species responses to climate change and maintaining biodiversity and conservation. Ecology is usually considered from the perspective of the specific geographic environment that is being studied at the moment: tropical rain forest, temperate grassland, arctic tundra, benthic marine, the entire biosphere, and so on. Thus you might study the population ecology of lions in an African savanna, an ecosystems study of a marine benthic environment, global nutrient budgets, and so on. The subject matter of ecology is the entire natural world, including both the living and the non living parts. Environmental biology is often considered synonymous for ecology. This book offers a fresh approach to the topic in demonstrating how biological principles are applied to solve ecological and environmental problems.