*Essay Questions for the History/Philosophy of science midterm: This is a link to the handout received in class, Monday October 26th.

I talked with one student who expressed some confusion about the Clements and Gleason readings. The Clements article (1936) is a good summary of his ideas at the height of their popularity, but he first articulated many of these ideas almost 30 years earlier. The Gleason article (1926) is largely a critical response to Clements’ ideas as they are articulated in these earlier articles.The selections from Perry in Forest Ecosystems, chapters 6 (“Change in Time”) and 8 (“Patterns and Mechanisms of Succession”), offer an excellent framework for the Clements and Gleason readings.

Also, a word of advice: Don’t let the flood of new terms in Clements (especially in the recommended section) bog you down. I will highlight a few key points from the recommended section in lecture. Feel free to skip or skim quickly through this section just to get a sense of Clements’ style–don’t worry about trying to understand each of the terms (proclimax, subclimax, etc.) that Clements introduces in this section.