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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

By
Michael Church
Edited by
Tim Burt  and
Des Thompson
Tim Burt
Affiliation:
Durham University
Des Thompson
Affiliation:
Scottish Natural Heritage
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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.

Type
Chapter
Information
Curious about Nature
A Passion for Fieldwork
 , pp. 47 - 65
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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