Alma/Introduction

Hardin's First Law of Human Ecology: "We can never do merely one thing. Any intrusion into nature has numerous effects, many of which are unpredictable."

Alma is a behavioral ecologist working with the Detroit Zoological Society and the departments of Biological Science and College Engineering at Wayne State University.

You can often see her around the city peeking through binoculars or scribbling in a notepad. If she didn't wear her hair in a ponytail it would get caught in the zipper of her vest of many pockets or fly in her face. "ptwww fppt plah", she says, as it gets in her mouth.

Her niece looks so somber.