The Design of Life's Interactions: Biomechanics as a Key Tool in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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2015 and 2016 were sad years for the field of biomechanics as they saw the passing of two giants in the field, Steven Vogel and Robert McNeill Alexander. Despite their very different research programs both were exceptionally gifted in transmitting their science to the general public by rendering complex problems simple and by using everyday examples to illustrate the principles at work in nature [ 1 Vogel S. Life's Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants. Princeton University Press, 1988 Google Scholar , 2 Vogel S. Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World. Princeton University Press, 2013 Google Scholar , 3 Alexander R.McN. Principles of Animal Locomotion. Princeton University Press, 2006 Google Scholar ]. Mark Denny follows in the footsteps of these exceptional scholars and with his book Ecological Mechanics tries to explain how biomechanics can be used to gain understanding in ecology. Although his target audience is clearly different (upper-level Masters and PhD students), he also tries to demonstrate how complex problems in ecology can be tackled through the use of mechanics. Denny has his own unique style that often finds inspiration in questions related to his specialty, the ecology and mechanics of wave-swept shore environments. The many original examples focusing on aquatic invertebrates and plants make this book different from most other books in the field [ 1 Vogel S. Life's Devices: The Physical World of Animals and Plants. Princeton University Press, 1988 Google Scholar , 2 Vogel S. Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World. Princeton University Press, 2013 Google Scholar , 3 Alexander R.McN. Principles of Animal Locomotion. Princeton University Press, 2006 Google Scholar , 4 Niklas K.J. Spatz H-C. Plant Physics. University of Chicago Press, 2012 Crossref Google Scholar , 5 Biewener A.A. Animal Locomotion. Oxford University Press, 2003 Google Scholar ].