Malcolm Press is Professor in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield. Nancy Huntly is at the Center for Ecological Research and Education at Idaho State University. Simon Levin is Moffett Professor of Biology at Princeton University, New Jersey.

• Part I. Evolution and Population Biology: 1. Genetics and ecology L. Partridge; 2. Testing Antonovic's five tenets of ecological genetics: experiments with bacteria at the interface of ecology and genetics R. E. Lenski; 3. Sociality and population dynamics T. H. Clutton-Brock; 4. Studies of the reproduction, longevity and movements of individual animals I. Newton; Part II. Functional and Community Ecology: 5. Specificity, links and networks in the control of diversity in plant and microbial communities A. H. Fitter; 6. Global change and the linkages between physiological ecology and ecosystem ecology J. R. Ehleringer, T. E. Cerling and L. B. Flanagan; 7. Biodiversity, ecosystem processes and climate change J. H. Lawton; 8. Plant functional types, communities and ecosystems J. P. Grime; 9. Effects of diversity and composition on grassland stability and productivity D. Tilman; Part III. Ecology of Changing Environments: 10. Climate change and steady state in temperate hardwood forests M. B. Davis; 11. Experimental plant ecology: some lessons from global change research Ch. Kørner; 12. Keeping track of carbon flows between biosphere and atmosphere J. Grace, P. Meir and Y. Malhi; 13. Climate and plants: present and future interactions F. I. Woodward; Part IV. Ecosystems, Management and Human Impacts: 14. Lost linkages and lotic ecology: rediscovering small streams J. L. Meyer and J. B. Wallace; 15. Plant-mammal interactions: lessons for our understanding of nature and implications for biodiversity conservation R. Dirzo; 16. Ecological economic theory for managing ecosystem services Roughgarden and P. R. Armsworth; 17. Alternative states of ecosystems: evidence and some implications S. R. Carpenter; Part V. Concluding Remarks: 18. Concluding remarks J. H. Brown.