changes in understanding, knowledge reporting. Having these in mind from the Book Review of, or engagement with the subject mat- onset of project development can also The Design of Life's ter (Box 1). Guidance on performance better ensure that projects proceed assessment can be sought from other according to measurable goals and that Interactions: fields (e.g., informal science learning) that meeting project goals yields intended out- explore the role that the arts have in comes. Other added benefits, such as Biomechanics as a science learning outside of the classroom further conceptualization of arts–science Key Tool in Ecology [5,14]. Some work suggests that it is collaborations, could bolster an already helpful to engage professional evaluators flourishing field. and Evolutionary who have training in education research Biology or the social sciences and experience Appendix A Supplemental Information 1, assessing arts-based or arts-science Supplemental Information associated with this article Anthony Herrel * projects [15]. can be found, in the online version, at http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.06.004. Consideration should be given to develop- 1 Tulane-Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, ing a common reporting platform for data Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA 2 and metadata on project outcomes and A Studio In The Woods, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA assessment. This process can be informed 3 Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Tulane by examples of well-articulated arts-based University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA science communication projects sup- *Correspondence: [email protected] (A.E. Lesen). ported by research and evaluation. One http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.06.004 example is the climate science-based play, The Great Immensity, created by the New References York-based theater group The Civilians, 1. Smith, B. et al. (2013) COMPASS: navigating the rules of scientific engagement. PLoS Biol. 11, e1001552 which debuted in Kansas City in 2012 2. Root-Bernstein, R.S. et al. (2011) ArtScience: Integrative [11]. Scientists were engaged as collabo- collaboration to create a sustainable future. Leonardo 44, 192 rators as the play was developed, the 3. Schwartz, B. (2014) Communicating science through the theater company worked with a performing arts. Interdisc. Sci. Rev. 39, 275–289 professional evaluator to assess the out- 4. Allen, P. et al. (2014) Culture Shift: How Artists Are Responding to Sustainability in Wales. Arts Wales comes of the play, audience engagement 5. Friedman, A.J. (2013) Reflections on communicating sci- was incorporated into the performance ence through art. Curator 56, 3–10 and assessment, and the evaluation report 6. Scheffer, M. et al. (2015) Dual thinking for scientists. Ecol- ogy and Society 20, 3 is publicly available through The Center for 7. Evans, E. (2014) How green is my valley? The art of getting Advancement of Informal Science Educa- people in Wales to care about climate change. J Crit. – tion (www.informalscience.org/great- Realism 13, 304 325 2015 and 2016 were sad years for the field 8. Swanson, F.J. (2015) Confluence of arts, humanities, and immensity-conveying-science-through- of biomechanics as they saw the passing science at sites of long-term ecological inquiry. Ecosphere fi performing-arts-assessment). Although 6, 1–23 of two giants in the eld, Steven Vogel and carrying out rigorous and lasting evaluation 9. Thomsen, D.C. (2015) Seeing is questioning: prompting Robert McNeill Alexander. Despite their sustainability discourses through an evocative visual can be challenging in some circumstances very different research programs both agenda. Ecology and Society 20, 4 (e.g., long-term projects or projects with 10. Castree, N. et al. (2014) Changing the intellectual climate. were exceptionally gifted in transmitting Nature Climate Change 4, 763–768 wide-ranging goals), and although many their science to the general public by ren- 11. Wasserman, S. and Young, M.F. (2013) The Great Immen- do not have the resources necessary to dering complex problems simple and by sity: a theatrical approach to climate change. Curator 56, – carry out a project like The Great Immen- 79 86 using everyday examples to illustrate the 12. Ntalla, I. (2013) Engaging audiences on ongoing social sity (which was funded by the National principles at work in nature [1–3]. Mark debates through interactive and immersive exhibits. Int. Science Foundation), it remains a useful J. Incl. Museum 6, 105–116 Denny follows in the footsteps of these case study for communities of research- 13. Dowell, E. and Weitkamp, E. (2012) An exploration of the exceptional scholars and with his book collaborative processes of making theatre inspired by sci- ers and practitioners to gauge how to Ecological Mechanics tries to explain ence. Public Underst. Sci. 21, 891–901 frame, develop, carry out, and evaluate 14. Mamykina, L. et al. (2002) Collaborative creativity. Comm. how biomechanics can be used to gain ACM 45, 96–99 their endeavors. Addressing several con- understanding in ecology. Although his 15. Friedman, A.J. (ed.) (2008) Framework for Evaluating siderations central to project develop- target audience is clearly different (upper- Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects, National ment and execution (Box 1) can provide Science Foundation level Masters and PhD students), he also additional guidance for assessment and tries to demonstrate how complex 660 Trends in Ecology & Evolution, September 2016, Vol. 31, No. 9 Ecological Mechanics: Principles of Life's Physical problems in ecology can be tackled under repeated loads can help explain the Interactions by Mark Denny, Princeton University Press, through the use of mechanics. Denny behavioral strategies observed in crabs, 2016. US$79.95/£59.95, hbk (503 pp.) ISBN 978-0-691- has his own unique style that often finds birds, fish, and lizards that eat hard or 16315-4 inspiration in questions related to his spe- tough food items. By loading the shell or 1 UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Département d’Ecologie et de cialty, the ecology and mechanics of wave- nut repeatedly at values much lower than Gestion de la Biodiversité, 55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, swept shore environments. The many orig- those needed to break the object, crack France inal examples focusing on aquatic inverte- propagation resulting from stress concen- *Correspondence: [email protected] (A. Herrel). brates and plants make this book different tration leads to failure. Similarly, Denny http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.06.005 from most other books in the field [1–5]. demonstrates how an understanding of fluid mechanics, especially flow at low Rey- References 1. Vogel, S. (1988) Life's Devices: The Physical World of Ani- Denny uses first principles derived from nolds number, can help us understand mals and Plants, Princeton University Press the mechanics of the essential building sensory ecology in many invertebrates 2. Vogel, S. (2013) Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World, Princeton University Press blocks of nature, atoms and molecules, and even the predator–prey dynamics 3. Alexander, R.McN. (2006) Principles of Animal Locomotion, to explain concepts ranging from fluid between crickets and wolf spiders. Wolf Princeton University Press dynamics to the fracture mechanics of spiders clearly know their fluid dynamics 4. Niklas, K.J. and Spatz, H-C. (2012) Plant Physics, University of Chicago Press composite materials. He goes on to pro- and adapt their behavior to prevent the 5. Biewener, A.A. (2003) Animal Locomotion, Oxford University vide examples of how an ecomechanics generation of bow waves that stimulate Press approach can be used to tackle real-world the sensory hairs on the cricket abdomen. 6. Gould, S.J. and Lewontin, R.C. (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the problems in ecology. Although extremely That an understanding of mechanics can adaptationist programme. Proc. Biol. Sci. 205, 581–598 enticing and intuitively pleasing for the also have far-reaching applications in con- 7. Arnold, S.J. (1983) Morphology, performance and fitness. engineers that we humans are, this servation biology is nicely illustrated by Am. Zool. 23, 347–361 8. Angiletta, M.J., Jr (2009) Thermal Adaptation: A Theoretical approach quickly risks entering into the Denny's review of thermal mechanics. At and Empirical Synthesis, Oxford University Press fallacy of a perfectly adapted world [6]. the end of the chapter he explains how In nature, selection can work only with thermal mechanics can provide insights the building blocks available, within the into current and future spatial distributions design limits set largely by Newtonian of plants and animals through environmen- Book Review mechanics. So the approach is at its most tal niche modeling (see also [8] for an excel- useful and interesting in setting the bound- lent synthesis on the subject). Soil and Society aries and limits of organismal design. 1, Wim H. van der Putten * When applied properly, a mechanical or The final part of the book is where the engineering approach can give powerful reading really becomes fun and exciting and unique insights into the design of as Denny starts tackling general ecological organisms, the interactions between problems through the use of mechanical them, and even problems of community and engineering theory. Denny starts with ecology as argued cogently by Denny. scale transition theory, moves on to spec- However, the one pitfall of this approach tral analysis and the effects of scale, and is that selection does not act on the build- ends with the biology of extremes and ing blocks themselves but rather on the pattern and self-organization. These function of the organism as a whole [7]. chapters are extremely insightful and push Denny is clearly aware of these limitations the reader to think more broadly about and often explicitly states them at the end how, for example, environmental variation of a chapter.