AIM, CONTENT, AND POINT OF VIEW 5 



Associational Ecology. Associational ecology is 

 devoted to the investigation of the development, 

 interrelations, and responses of animals which are 

 grouped or associated in the same habitats and 

 environments. In this case the associates in a 

 given association and habitat are considered as a 

 unit, whose activities and interrelations and re- 

 sponses are investigated in the same manner as if 

 it were a single animal. The interactions among 

 members of an association are to be compared to 

 the similar relations existing between the different 

 cells, organs, or activities of a single individual. 

 Such groupings have a composition which has 

 developed into an arrangement, or "spacing," 

 of individuals within it, and which produces a par- 

 ticular plan or* pattern, as a result of the innumerable 

 responsive activities on the part of the individuals 

 which live together. For example, when the animals 

 living in a small brook, the littoral zone of a lake, 

 in a colony of breeding gulls, or on the floor of a 

 forest, are treated as a unit, the entire history of the 

 animals in the habitat is considered as a response to 

 the conditions of life. 



In this form of study the association becomes 

 the center of all radiating relations and responses. 

 Such an association is an agent which transforms 

 substance and energy, producing varied physiological 

 conditions and responses in the continuous pro- 

 cess of adjustment " which constitutes life." The 

 physiological needs and states of an association 

 have as real existence in individual animals as have 



