With such an understanding of the general rules of the game we may turn to the application or art of ecology, to indicate its relation to general problems. With a grounding in the general principles of organic response to the total environment, one is able to see that the disturbances due to man are a problem in the adjustment of the highest type of animal, as a member of an animal association, to its complete environment. The “control of nature” for which men strive is the process of making the environments and associations _to order_. The disturbances in the natural order may be looked upon as so many huge experiments or trial activities in this process of adjustment. If natural preserves are not made, how will the next generation be best grounded in the general principles of the science? Are these complex modified conditions the natural place to start the student, or should such problems be reserved for the maturely trained one? These disturbed fragmentary conditions may be likened to fragmentary fossils whose interpretation is attempted. A paleontologist whose only knowledge of animals was derived from such fragments, and who had never known a perfect living animal, would certainly be at a great disadvantage in such an investigation. The natural starting point therefore seems to be in as nearly natural normal environments and associations as is possible, and with such experience one is prepared for the more complex problems resulting from man’s activity. By way of conclusion, some of the main advantages of ecological surveys are: 1. The _record_ of natural environments and their associations for future generations. 2. The study of natural biotic conditions giving a _perspective_ not derived in any other way. 3. The clearer conception of the _dynamic relations_ of the balance of nature, biotic base, and climax associations. 4. Emphasis of the _process and interpretative_ phase of scientific investigation over that of purely descriptive study. 5. Facilitating the invention of multiple working hypotheses which bear upon animal responses in nature. 6. Furnishing important conceptions to the study of the _processes_ of adaptation and the struggle for existence. 7. Furnishing important general principles of great value in applied ecology. 8. Furnishing one of the best methods of learning how to get acquainted with the _living aspect_ of the animals of any region. III. FIELD STUDY “Is not the biological laboratory which leaves out the ocean and the mountains and meadows a monstrous absurdity? Was not the greatest scientific generalization of your times reached independently by two men who were eminent in their familiarity with living things in their homes?”--BROOKS, 1899, p. 41.