The Lake as a Microcosm by Stephen A. Forbes
My advice to younger graduate students in ecology would be to look back at the seminal works that shaped our field... Because I think our passion as observers of natural history has been somewhat dulled by academia's 'publish or perish' culture. There's something about reading papers in the early days where the field of ecology was starting to form. Perhaps I love the more naturalistic style of writing (it would be definitely be criticized as being too subjective in modern academic writing). Beautiful descriptions laden with details. A reverence for nature. A desire to connect our humanity with what we research. This is true for the "The Lake as a Microcosm" by Stephen A. Forbes.
Just read this paragraph:
Every animal within these bounds has its enemies, and Nature seems to have taxed her skill and ingenuity to the utmost to furnish these enemies with contrivances for the destruction of their prey in myriads. For every defensive device with which she has armed an animal, she has invented a still more effective apparatus of destruction, and bestowed it upon some foe, thus striving with unending pertinacity, to outwit herself, and yet life does not perish in the lake, nor even oscillate to any considerable degree; but on the contrary the little community secluded here is as prosperous as if its state were one of profound and perpetual peace.
This is also my favorite section and gives me comfort in these chaotic times:
If the system of life is such that a harmonious balance of conflicting interests has been reached where every element is either hostile or indifferent to every other, may we not trust much to the outcome where, as in human affairs, the spontaneous adjustments of nature are aided by intelligent effort, by sympathy, and by self-sacrifice?
Even if you're not in ecology, it's accessible to anyone: The Lake as a Microcosm