Ecology: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:35, 14 August 2005

Revision as of 23:09, 21 August 2005

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== Scope ==

Ecology is usually considered a branch of [[biology]], the general science that studies living [[organism|beings]]. Organisms can be studied at many different levels, from [[proteins]] and [[nucleic acid]]s (in [[biochemistry]] and [[molecular biology]]), to [[cell (biology)|cells]] (in [[cellular biology]]), to individuals (in [[botany]], [[zoology]], and other similar disciplines), and finally at the level of [[population]]s, communities, and [[ecosystem]]s, to the [[biosphere]] as a whole — these latter strata are the primary subjects of ecological inquiries. Ecology is a [[Interdisciplinary|multi-disciplinary]] science. Because of its focus on the higher levels of the organization of life on earth and on the interrelations between organisms and their [[natural environment|environment]], ecology draws heavily on many other branches of science, especially [[geology]] and [[geography]], [[meteorology]], [[pedology (soil study)|pedology]], [[chemistry]], and [[physics]]. Thus, ecology is said to be a [[holistic science]], one that over-arches older disciplinesdisciples such as biology which in this view become sub-disciplines contributing to ecological knowledge.

Agriculture, fisheries, forestry, medicine and urban development are among human activites that would fall within Krebbs' (1972: 4) explanation of his definition of ecology: "where organisms are found, how many occur there, and why".