Study of the relationship among organisms and the environments in which they live, including all living and nonliving components. The chief environmental factors governing the distribution of plants and animals are temperature, humidity, soil, light intensity, day length, food supply and interaction with other organisms. The term was coined by the zoologist Ernst Haeckel 1866.
Ecology may be concerned with individual organisms (for example, behavioral ecology, feeding strategies), with populations (for example, population dynamics), or with entire communities (for example, competition between species for access to resources in an ecosystem, or predator–prey relationships). Applied ecology is concerned with the management and conservation of habitats and the consequences and control of pollution.
1. The branch of biology concerned with the relations between organisms and their environment; SYN. bionomics, environmental science.
2. The environment as it relates to living organisms.