It is virtually impossible to think of a single habitat that has not been impacted by human culture, either directly through the destruction of its food webs or indirectly through pollution. Even landscapes that from a distance seem to be untainted by human activity will often be discovered, upon closer examination, to be the result of human activity of one kind or another. There is no denying, however, the effectiveness of landscapes as introductory learning tools for case studies in applied ecology. A wetland engineering project catches the attention of a speeding driver passing by a linear stretch of redbud designed to clean up the motorway runoff.
