Part 1 • Introduction 



CHAPTER I 



THE SUBJECT MATTER OF ECOLOGY 



"What is Ecology and What Good Is It?" 250 - the title of an 

 address made before the Ecological Society of America some 

 years ago, is a compact, perhaps oversimplified, statement of the 

 questions this textbook aims to answer. Its intention is to present 

 an adequate introduction to the various phases of the subject, to 

 show its position in relation to other sciences, and to indicate the 

 possibilities and advantages of applying the methods and point of 

 view of ecology in solving biological problems. 



THE TERM AND BASIC CONCEPTS 

 The term, ecology, carries a more familiar ring than it did a 

 relatively few years ago. Although it was used commonly in many 

 fields of science, it did not, until recently, appear elsewhere. Now, 

 it is occasionally seen in magazines and sometimes even in news- 

 papers. This is partly the outgrowth of a gradual maturing of the 

 science and partly the result of a growing appreciation of its mean- 

 ing and potentialities. 



Although the subject matter of ecology is as old as that of any 

 other science and although much of it has long been a part of sci- 

 entific knowledge, ecology as a field of science is relatively new. 

 The name first appeared, in 1869, as "oecology;' 112 but the great- 

 est advancement has come during the past fifty years, following 

 the impetus supplied by the writing and thinking of a few men in 

 the late 1890's. The term "ecology" is particularly appropriate. Its 

 Greek root, oikos, means home and thus indicates a dwelling place; 

 this, of course, implies that organisms are present and that certain 

 conditions link the two. Ecology is, therefore, the study of organ- 

 isms, their environment, and all the interrelationships between the 

 two. It is commonly defined as the study of organisms in relation 

 to their environment. 



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