Chapter 31 



AN ECOLOGIC STUDY OF LIVING ORGANISMS- 

 PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



Ecology (e-kol'oji) (Gr. oikos, household; logos, discourse) is that 

 part of biology which deals with the interrelationships between living 

 organisms and their environment. Usually an ecologic study is made of 

 a rather limited area, while a study of a larger area is usually considered 

 as geographic distribution (biogeography) . The term bionomics (bio- 

 nom'iks) (Gr. hios, life; nomos, law) is used in place of ecology at times. 

 The factors which influence the interrelationships between living organ- 

 isms and their environment are numerous and quite complex. Some of 

 the most interesting and valuable results of a course in biology may be 

 derived from a study of the ecologic relationships of living plants and 

 animals. Consequently, the following outline for such a study is discussed 

 in some detail so that the student may secure an idea of the complexity 

 of such a study and procedures which might be followed in making it. 



I. ECOLOGY OF LIVING ORGANISMS 

 (PLANT AND ANIMALS) 



Ecology may be defined as a scientific study of the interrelationships 

 or interactions of living organisms and their environments. The ecology 

 of an individual organism may be studied, or the ecology of a group of 

 organisms of the same species may be included in such a study. On the 

 other hand, a group of organisms (plant or animal) of two or more dif- 

 ferent species may be studied ecologically. Hence, the type of ecologic 

 study which is made will be determined by the results we expect to 

 secure. 



In general, ecology concerns itself, inore or less, with local or limited 

 conditions, while biogeography deals with the wider faunal and floral 

 relations and distributions. Biogeography, which is divided into phyto- 

 geography (plant geography) and zoogeography (animal geography) 

 will be considered in another chapter. Hence, we might study the 



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