The Role of Natural History in Contemporary BiologyNatural history can help pose questions for and supply integrative lines between different biological disciplines

B efore we can assay the role of natural history in contemporary biology, we need to consider some characteristics that biology shares with the rest of contemporary science. Among these are structural complexity, rapid growth, and overwhelming size. Science is a highly organized, social enterprise. Its growth, particularly during the past century, has been the most remarkable and sustained ex-