Bocking tells this history through four case studies: the origins and early research of the Nature Conservancy in Great Britain; the development of ecology at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee; the work of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study in New Hampshire; and research in fisheries ecology at the University of Toronto and the Ontario provincial government in Canada. In each institution, ecologists influenced the development of their discipline, and Bocking explains their work. By comparing these case studies, Bocking demonstrates how the places of contemporary science -- laboratories, landscapes, and funding agencies -- and its purposes, as expressed through the political roles of expertise and specific managerial and regulatory responsibilities, have shaped contemporary ecology and its application to pressing environmental problems.