THE PHILIPPINE 
Journal of Science 
Section C. Botany 
Vol. II JANUARY, 1907 No. 1 
THE COMPARATIVE ECOLOGY OF SAN RAMON 1 
POLYPODIACE^E. 
By Edwin Bingham Copeland. 
(From the Bureau of Education, Manila.) 
INTRODUCTION. 
Contemporary biological science is working toward two ends, namely : 
(a) The reduction of the processes taking place in living things to 
understood reactions of chemistry and changes of physics; this is Phys- 
iology. 
(b) Assuming the existence of living things, the causal interpretation 
of the forms they assume and the elucidation of their relationships; this 
is Bionomics, sometimes called “Evolution.” 
The application of principles established in the . study of physiology 
to the problem of bionomics is called Ecology. Ecology must work most 
directly and clearly toward its ultimate aims as a part of bionomics — that 
is, the interpretation of form and structure and the elucidation of- genetic 
affinities — if its systematic aspect is duly and strongly emphasized. That 
is, ecological work will contribute more evidently and directly to the 
progress of bionomics if its subject is primarily a homogeneous group of 
organisms, of whatever rank, than if the theme in the foreground is some 
geographical unit or some factor of the environment. Such a piece of 
1 San Ramon farm, Mindanao. 
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