Designed to help students understand the multiple levels at which human populations respond to their surroundings, this essential text offers the most complete discussion of environmental, physiological, behavioral, and cultural adaptive strategies available. "Moran draws on his extensive knowledge of several disciplines and his wide-ranging field experience to offer a clear, and accessible account of human interactions with natural ecosystems. He provides an understanding of human adaptability that will be of interest to students, to professionals, and to the broad reading public that is concerned with human adaptation to global environmental change"-Benjamin Orlove, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California at Davis "Rich in information?Eminently suitable as a text for courses in human ecology from either the biological or anthropological viewpoint"-BioScience "Solid scholarship? a well-written book that should be read by anyone with interests in this diverse field, students and professionals alike"-Annals of Human Biology "One of the clearest statements to date of the systems approach in ecological anthropology?Superb"-Reviews in Anthropology