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The Forest and the Sea

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A landmark study, The Forest and the Sea is an introduction to how ecosystems work. Bates compares a rain forest and a tropical sea, their similarities and differences, and through it demonstrates how to understand biological systems.

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

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About the author

Marston Bates

55 books2 followers
Marston Bates (July 23, 1906 – April 3, 1974) was an American zoologist. Bates' studies on mosquitoes contributed to the understanding of the epidemiology of yellow fever in northern South America.

Born in Michigan, Bates received a B.S. from the University of Florida in 1927. He received an A.M. in 1933 and a Ph.D. in 1934, both from Harvard University. He lived for many years in Villavicencio between the mountains and the llanos in central Columbia. From 1952 until 1971 he was a professor at the University of Michigan. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1958. He was the author of many popular science books. He was married to Nancy Bell Fairchild, daughter of the botanist David Fairchild and granddaughter of Alexander Graham Bell.

In 1960, he published the ecological science book The Forest and the Sea, an introduction to how ecosystems work. He compares a rain forest and a tropical sea, their similarities and differences, and through it demonstrates how to understand biological systems.

Books:

"The Nature of Natural History" (1950; Charles Scribner's Sons; New York; 309 pp.)
"Where Winter Never Comes: A Study of Man and Nature in the Tropics" (1952; Charles Scribner's Sons; New York)
"The Natural History of Mosquitoes" (1954; MacMillan; New York)
"The Prevalence of People" (1955; Charles Scribner's Sons; New York)
The Forest and the Sea (1960; Random House/1988; Lyons)
The Land and Wildlife of South America (1964; Series: LIFE Nature Library)
Gluttons and Libertines: Human Problems of Being Natural"(1968; Random House)
A Jungle in the House: Essays in Natural and Unnatural History (1970; Walker and Company)

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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Jamie Smith.
521 reviews113 followers
June 5, 2020
The Time Reading Program was a book club that only existed for a few years in the 60s, but the editors did a brilliant job selecting titles for it. Today, many of them are out of print and even forgotten, but the history, biography, and science books from the program are outstanding, and worth tracking down through used book stores. The Forest and the Sea is one of these. Published in 1960, it is still very much worth reading. Marston was an excellent guide to the nuances of ecosystems, and he wrote with a beautiful lyrical style. Although later research has probably modified some of his conclusions, for the casual reader he still has a lot to offer. In fact, with our planet under increasing stress from global warming, pollution, and habitat destruction, this book’s emphasis on the delicate balances between plants, animals, and environments is more timely than ever.

The chapters cover many of the major webs of biological activity: coral reefs, lakes and rivers, rain forests, woodland, savanna, and desert, social life among animals, the human species, and man’s place in nature. Instead of being lectures, their starting points are field trips, and Marston is an excellent teacher and guide. For instance, the chapter on coral reefs begins with a description of what one is and where they are found, and then takes the reader on a dive, pointing out the corals in their vast profusion of species, the animals that live among them, and their interactions with other reef species, and then segues into survival measures and the food chain up to the largest predators. He will spend a page or so on each of the interesting reef creatures, discussing behavior, coloration, sexual display, predation, and how they help the reef stay healthy. Along the way he will provide helpful information in case you decide to visit yourself (for example, sharks have poor eyesight and hunt primarily by smell, so spear fishermen are cautioned about swimming with their speared fish). By the end of the chapter you want to head out to see for yourself the marvels he describes. As it happens, of course, given the alarming global die-offs of coral reefs, if you want to go you had better leave soon.

Each chapter moves at a liesurely pace, more like a conversation than a lecture. Ecosystems not only have complex webs of internal relationships, but they also interact with other systems, for instance, where the river meets the sea or the woodlands share space with the prairies. Each of these complex interactions has been honed over millions of years of evolution, and while they have some internal resiliency to account for conditions such as drought or changes in salinity levels, none of them are prepared for the introduction of humankind. Marston talks about how humans have disrupted ecosystems, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not, and how, for all our intelligence, we are still part of these webs of plant and animal life, and we destroy them at our own peril. It is a timely message for an increasingly distressed earth.

This is a fine book, wonderfully written, and recommended to anyone with an interest in natural history.
Profile Image for Anna.
14 reviews
March 7, 2009
This was an amazing book. I somehow stumbled upon it while looking over landscape urbanism books and was completely enamored with the title and the beautiful cover before I even read the first page.

The content of the book is fascinating from beginning to end. Marston Bates, a zoologist/biologist who published this book in the 60s, has a narrative style that is so charmingly descriptive that you find yourself loving the environments and creatures he describes as much as he clearly does.

The thing that was so startling to me about this book was that it was so completely relevant to my own interest in urban environments and social geography. Rather than just catalogue the different ecosystems that form the thin layer of life on the earths surface (the biosphere) Bates flows between a kind of systems theory (how a complex system or organism can correct problems, synthesize new elements and evolve) while offering a very insightful critique on the problems inherent of academics which subdividing knowledge into distinct disciplines.

The thing that struck me most (beyond the absolutely beautiful descriptions of underwater and rain-forest environments as well as more mundane ponds and woods) was the fluidity of the author's mind and his mastery of language. Bates is able to work very gradually from very specific research to large questions of man's place in the order of life on earth in such an effortless manner that you feel it's the most logical and straightforward thing possible.

In a way the book affected me like Guns, Germs and Steal in that it gave me a new framework upon which to look at questions I had been struggling with for a long time (What is man's relationship to nature? What is or responsibility/ability to control our "destructive" impact on the earth? Are the social structures of man inherently antithetical to forces in the rest of nature?)

Overall the book gave me very much hope for man and his ability to adapt to shifting environmental conditions, and I am turning over the idea that the evolution of human culture is the equivalent of a natural geological phenomenon which is shaping the earth in ways we never could have predicted. This is calming in a time when we are being told that our race is the most monstrous thing to ever happen to the natural world.

It's a really good book.
Profile Image for Maggie Ruoff.
11 reviews1 follower
July 23, 2024
Found this in a little library…
1960s white man take on circular economy and ecology. So close yet sooooo far
Profile Image for Keith.
275 reviews8 followers
September 4, 2013
Even though it's been more than fifty years since the first publication of this amazing insight into the earth's “biosphere” and mankind's place within it, it appears to me to be far more topical and pertinent today than it may have been in 1960. Bates' ability to observe our species within an ecological but non-poltical context is truly refreshing in our present circumstance of conflicting views and what he refers to as our “age of anxiety”, where we no longer seem capable of achieving a balanced perspective of ourselves and the natural world. The final chapter, entitled “Man's Place in Nature” is a complex topic with potentially diverse sub-topics and as the author states: “I had a great deal of trouble writing this chapter because I kept getting off on the various attempts to derive ethical systems from science or nature, though my topic was the application of ethic's to man's relations with nature. The basis of ethics is a fascinating subject, but for a quite different book.” But I must say he succeeded and in a way that sparks intellectual sagacity into other topics. His dicussions of mankind and culture, as well as ecology and economics are intriguing and brilliant. I believe any thinking person would profit greatly by spending some time with this book and might enjoy seeing themselves from a more “natural” perspective, as well.
Profile Image for Becca.
4 reviews
October 12, 2017
I loved this book, especially the first half. Some of the references are a bit dated (a lot has changed in the environment in the last 50 years!) but Bates presents some really interesting ways to think about things. plus there are some great (and funny) metaphors.
Profile Image for Kendra.
54 reviews1 follower
February 13, 2010
Reading this made me want to go on a search for untouched, happily blooming nature. I'm glad I stole it from my friend.
Profile Image for Abby Albright.
96 reviews1 follower
June 21, 2025
“We have become a disease of nature — perhaps a fatal disease. And when the host dies, so does the pathogen.”

BARSSSSSSS go off Marston Bates
Profile Image for Cheryl.
12.9k reviews483 followers
July 7, 2021
At the time I think this would have been a five star read. Holds up: still both interesting and enjoyable, even though (of course) some bits are a little dated. I love how the author takes the broad, holistic view, including brief explorations even of philosophy, religion, history, and geology. And I managed to learn a lot, too. If only more ppl took it to heart that man is truly part of nature, that we're all integral to one another.

Oceans are all one, the only limiting factor to universal dispersal is the coldness of the arctic passages.

First (?) organic soup created in 1953 by S.L. Miller, a student chemist (I'm going to look that up).

"Getting along in the biosphere has come to mean getting along with man."

'Peripatus' looks like a critter worth learning more about....

Coatis, relatives of raccoons, seem to be at least as smart as New Caledonian crows.

121 species of mosquitoes in US & Canada (?!)... most prefer *not* to bite man.

"I get my share of [the energy of] the sun in the supermarket."

"What we see is not necessarily what other animals see." Of course, we've all heard that dogs are color-blind, but consider the birds and insects that can see into the ultraviolet. Camouflage, courtship colors, etc., may indeed be very different than what we think we see, possibly completing spoiling our interpretations.

Learning is "the ability to modify behavior according to the circumstances." Author tossed that in and it reads better in context, but it sure does indicate a line of thought. And learning vs. instinct is just another example of the fallacy of either-or, as has been nature/nurture.
Author 1 book4 followers
October 26, 2021
I found the book interesting, but now that I've finished it am not sure I've properly followed its proposition that "nature" is harmed by "economics." Actually, that may not be a fair assessment of what the author seems to be trying to say. Early on, he cautions us that words such as botany, zoology, and biology are artificial because the plants, animals, and microbes of life overlap in their dependency upon each other for continuing life (p. 7). Well, okay. In the following chapters we read fascinating details about mosquitoes, beetles, ants, flies, birds, monkeys, and other animals and plants of forests and prairies, and about plankton, coral, fish, squid, and other reptiles, mammals, and plants of the sea. Each example stresses interdependence—and adaptations—with other life forms, as well as with climatic habitats for varying species in varying geographical locations and seasons. We cannot help but marvel at the complexity of planet earth and everything "natural" upon it.

But then the chapters meander into politics, at first subtle, later more direct, with pointed criticism of man, said to be the only creature who can deliberately alter nature, by domesticating wild plants and animals, and, of course, by "industrialization." Here Mr. Bates confuses me by asserting that "ecologists" ignore economics and "economists" ignore ecology. Really? What about all the nature scientists who apply for grants to study their chosen topics? And even in 1960 when the book was published economists certainly recognized that the economic values of real estate properties located near the most scenic nature (i.e., beaches, mountains) were higher than equivalent structures elsewhere.

He says on page 246 that ". . . almost all attempts to look at man's future are gloomy." Perhaps his own influence helped to push today's popular conservationist attitude which he advocated, and that is a good thing. But I would suggest that the last sixty years of scientific and engineering feats by man have also contributed to continuation of earth's natural life. My backyard garden of tulips, roses, and sunflowers, visited by beautiful butterflies, song birds, and bushy-tailed squirrels, thrives because I fence it off from the deer who wander over from woods a mile away. Human architectural and engineering creations allow cities to function with millions of people living in indoor comfort, moving about at will in efficient vehicles, with access to clean water and sanitation systems. Vast transportation inventions move foods, manufactures, and an almost unlimited list of products around the world, so that people exchange help and ideas with each other anywhere. Yet nature's beauty remains loved and respected by man, even as he remains a predator to organisms that produce diseases and other malignancies.

Gloom and sadness have surely always been a part of the lives of mankind. But optimism is its counterpart. Let's go with the final sentence of the book: "I have faith . . . . in man as a part of nature . . . faith in man sharing life, not destroying it." Who would not agree?
Profile Image for Kristen.
523 reviews38 followers
December 21, 2007
This is a great pocket book about ecology. When I was convinced I was going to be a national park attendant living in a cabin. Wonderful book
96 reviews3 followers
April 26, 2019
One of two books that made me want to become a biologist and, eventually, a biology teacher and historian of biology. I read it while taking a course on the Ecology of the Everglades in Jan. 1976.
Profile Image for Thomas Ray.
1,506 reviews521 followers
August 13, 2023
The Forest and the Sea: A Look at the Economy of Nature and the Ecology of Man, Marston Bates (1906-1974 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marst... ), 1960, 277pp.

When he wrote this, Earth had twice the number of species of plants and animals that now survive. Human population was 3 billion (up from 750,000 200 years earlier p. 211) (and rising by one billion per 12 years, as it has ever since).

Speed of sound in surface ocean at 0ºC is 1543 m/s; in air at 0ºC, 332 m/s. p. 54.

Reef-forming coral won't grow below about 70ºF. p. 59. [Nor will they survive more than tiny concentrations of atmospheric CO2, which dissolves in seawater, becomes acid, and kills coral.] Polyps range from pinhead- to pea-size. They extend their tentacles only at night. p. 62. When a moray bites it doesn't let go: you have to cut its head off. p. 69. Sea urchins walk at night. p. 70. Probably the greatest hazard of the reef is sunburn. p. 75.

Minimum rainfall for a tropical rainforest is about 80 inches/year. p. 101. Zero to 10 inches/year is desert. Deserts lie in latitudes where winds blow toward the equator. p. 123.

Forest and sea are similar in having sunny high layers, grading down to dark depths, with appropriately-adapted communities of living things at each level.

In northern woods, the mosquitoes biting you are apt to be all of the same kind; while in the rain forest, almost every bite will be from a different species of mosquito, if that is any comfort. p. 105.

The ants poured on in their tens of thousands, swept through our snake pit, and left us with skeletons. p. 110.

Some male moths can locate a female of their species a mile away, and fly directly to her. pp. 177, 186.

To a dog, the silently approaching vampire bat would sound like a boiler factory falling in out of the sky. p. 184.

Look at the human brain as a product, a consequence, of the use of tools, the development of culture. pp. 219-228.

Southeast Asia seems to be the original home of a surprising number of domesticated plants and animals. p. 237-239.

See also:
Alfred Russel Wallace, /Tropical Nature/, 1879. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Frank Chapman, /My Tropical Air Castle: Nature Studies in Panama/, 1931. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
John Bakeless, /America as Seen by its First Explorers: The Eyes of Discovery/, 1950. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Thomas Ashe, /Travels in America performed in 1806/. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...




Profile Image for Ryan.
Author 1 book36 followers
January 14, 2025
Not a bad introduction to ecology, which was what the author said was the intent of this book, with good descriptions of the major biomes, both aquatic and terrestrial. The comparison of forest and sea was interesting, there are many outwardly similar characteristics, for instance the variation in physical environment and biological composition as one moves up or down these three dimensional habitats. Bates is the only biologist who did this, far as I know though. Not sure if any particularly useful insights to be gained. Anyhow, the other chapters on population biology, disease, communities, evolution and humans suffered from being outdated. Our understanding of these have advanced much since the 1950s, with knowledge of plate tectonics, mass extinction causes, and the much richer evidence of our own evolutionary path, to name but three major developments.
Profile Image for Summer.
10 reviews13 followers
July 17, 2023
This was required reading for ecology 101, and in a conversation yesterday it came up as a shared essential to help understand the connections of the things that seem un-connected. Like the mosquitoes that live in the tree top canopies and the people who labor on the forest floor. Good analog material for business too. Old but good.
197 reviews4 followers
June 14, 2024
Amazingly, for a book on ecology, well worth reading 64 years after publication, especially the last chapter.
Profile Image for Ryan Dennehy.
68 reviews
July 30, 2025
Picked this up on a whim. Don't think I'm the target audience completely, but it scratched an itch to learn something nonetheless
Profile Image for Jenna.
44 reviews6 followers
June 19, 2012
Bates could have been a little more voicey with his concerns for the future of nature in relation to man's activities; after all, nature-destroying "progress" has continued with next to zero interference from ecologists since the book was written 50 years ago, and the extreme changes Bates prophesied for the future of his world were spot-on; they have become reality. Obviously this shouldn't have been a tiny university press book but a wake-up call for the masses. Too late.

The nature parts were pretty cool though. A nice intro to ecology.
Profile Image for Ellen.
90 reviews12 followers
December 2, 2010
I really like that Bates makes such a strong connection between ecology and economy in this book, as it's something I've always tried to explain, but haven't been able to find the right words.

That said, the Science is a pretty outdated, but the concepts are still valid. It would be cool if he updated it with some more current/accurate examples.
1,698 reviews4 followers
Read
April 24, 2017
enjoyable and illuminating piece of nature study with a warning for wise stewardship.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

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