THE SUBJECT MATTER OF ECOLOGY 17 



have focused all their attention upon single factors; others have at- 

 tempted to analyze the joint effect of several factors. 



Autecology and Synecology.— Certain problems can best be 

 solved by working with individual organisms or species in the lab- 

 oratory or in the field. Others can be solved only when the group- 

 ings of organisms are investigated as they occur naturally. Similar- 

 ly, the environment may be analyzed one factor at a time or 

 considered in its entirety as a complex of several factors. Each 

 approach has its merits under conditions that should become ap- 

 parent later. The two are distinguished as autecology— from the 

 Greek root autos meaning self— which deals with individual or- 

 ganisms or factors, and synecology— from the Greek prefix syn 

 meaning together— applied to studies of groups of organisms or to 

 complexes of factors. 



Autecology is not always distinguishable from some kinds of 

 physiology; in fact, there is probably no point in doing so. The 

 very nature of autecology brings about overlapping with other 

 fields. Autecology is, nevertheless, justifiable because of the con- 

 tributions it can make to synecology. The latter is clearly a field in 

 itself whose objectives make it distinct from all other fields of 

 science. This is a partial reason for giving major consideration to 

 synecology in this text and for bringing in autecology only when 

 it contributes to the understanding of discussions of community 

 problems. 



Static and Dynamic Viewpoints.— Plant communities may be 

 studied as they are, without regard to what mav have preceded 

 them or to what their natural future may be. This leads to con- 

 sideration of the abundance and significance of the species making 

 up the community and permits detailed descriptions and precise 

 classification of communities according to one system or another. 

 It is typical of the work of several early continental Europeans, 

 who, as a result, developed systems of classifying and describing 

 communities and their structure. In America and England, the 

 view was early adopted that a community is a changing thing 

 whose origin, development, and probable future can be recon- 

 structed or predicted. These two approaches have come to repre- 

 sent what are known as the static and dynamic points of view in 

 community studies. The static approach is undoubtedly a product 



