THE SCOPE OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY 3 



These principles form the purely ecological side of 

 biology. In the present book the relations of animals 

 are treated under the successive phases of complica- 

 tion through which investigations on animal ecology 

 usually pass : Suryey s ^the description of animal 

 communities in different habitats), Animal Inte r- 

 relations (the organization of animal communities), 

 Ha bjtats (the vegetation, physical conditions and 

 limits of animal life, including the methods of measur- 

 ing them), Numbers (including both the collection of 

 statistics, and the analysis of the dynamics of animal 

 populations), and finally the relation of these prin- 

 ciples to some practical problems facing the human 

 race. It is usually with problems of numbers that 

 economic biologists have to deal when they are 

 studying animals, and this represents the final and 

 most complex and hitherto least fully understood 

 branch of animal ecology. Although the subject is 

 developing as a pure science, it is not possible to 

 omit a consideration of economic problems. An 

 important part of the ' sinews of war ' for ecological 

 research will continue to come from economic sources, 

 also many of the most striking facts, especially those 

 requiring large-scale organization for their study, e.g. 

 international locust research or marine fishery studies. 

 Animal ecology began as a science by following 

 rather closely the lines laid down by the earher work 

 of plant ecologists. Warming's pioneer book on the 

 ecology of plant associations was published in 1896. 

 The first textbook on animal ecology by Adams 

 appeared in 1913, while the first comprehensive book 

 on any animal communities was published by Shel- 

 ford in 1913. It became clear later on that animal 

 ecology would have to introduce a number of ideas 

 hardly required by botanists. For instance, animals 

 move about, eat each other, display unexpected 

 reactions, and court each other. It came to be 

 realized that the importance of plant ecology to 

 animal ecology Hes in its definition of the habitats 



