AIM, CONTENT, AND POINT OF VIEW 3 



complex of vital energies, the two branches have this 

 in common, that both studies fix their attention, 

 not on stuffed animals, butterflies in cases, or even 

 microscopical sections of the animal or plant body 

 all of which relate to the framework of life but on 

 life itself." 



The quotations from Brooks, on a preceding page, 

 show even more explicitly the intimate relation which 

 exists between biology and ecology. At first glance 

 they may seem to prove almost too much that 

 biology and ecology are synonymous. They show at 

 least that ecology is concerned with fundamental 

 biological problems the responses of organisms 

 to their complete environments. 



The relations which different branches of ecology 

 bear to one another may be discussed under three 

 headings, individual, aggregate, and associational 

 ecology. These phases are superficially so distinct 

 that students of one branch may be almost unaware 

 of the existence of the coordinate branches and may 

 not realize that each is a part of the larger unit. 



Individual Ecology. The study of individual 

 ecology is the investigation of the development 

 (process of formation) of the structure, function, 

 and behavior of a given individual or kind of animal 

 from the standpoint of its relations and responses 

 to the complete environment. All ecologically sig- 

 nificant facts should be considered. Such a study 

 may be devoted to an animal, as, for example, a 

 bumblebee, a crawfish, or a garter snake, and may 

 be limited to a single habitat or locality, or extended 



