'f 
THE PHILIPPINE 
Journal of Science 
Section C. Botany 
Vol. II 
JANUARY, 1907 
No. 1 
THE COMPARATIVE ECOLOGY OF SAN RAMON^ 
POLYPODIACE^. 
By Edwin Bingham Copeland. 
{From the Bureau of Education, Manila.) 
1 
t 
?? 
IN-TRODUCTION. 
Contemporary biological science is working toward two ends, namely : 
(a) Tlie reduction of tlic processes taking place in living things to 
understood reactions of chemistry and changes of physics; this is Phys- 
iology. 
(h) Assuming the existence of living things, the causal interpretation 
of the forms they assume and the elucidation of their relationships; this 
is Bionomics, sometimes called "Evolution. 
The application of principles established in the study of physiology 
to the problem of bionomics is called Ecology. Ecology must work most 
directly and clearly toward its ultimate mm? as a part of bionomics — that 
is, the interpretation of form and structure and the elucidation of genetic 
affinities — if its systematic aspect is duly and strongly emphasized. That 
is, ecological work will contribute more evidently and directly to the 
progress of bionomics if its subject is primarily a homogeneous group of 
organisms, of whatever rank, than if the theme in the foreground is some 
geographical unit or some factor of the environment. Such a piece of 
San Ramon fanu, Mindanao. 
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