Scope

Ecology is usually considered as a branch of biology, the general science that studies living organisms. It is associated with the highest levels of biological organization, including the individual organism, the population, the ecological community, the ecosystem and the biosphere as a whole. When referring to the study of a single species, a distinction is often made between its "ecology" and its "biology". For example, "polar bear biology" might include the study of the polar bear's physiology, morphology, pathology and ontogeny, whereas "polar bear ecology" would include a study of its prey species, its population and metapopulation status, distribution, dependence on environmental conditions, etc.

Because of its focus on the interrelations between organisms and their environment, ecology is a multidisciplinary science that draws on many other branches, including geology and geography, meteorology, soil science, genetics, chemistry, physics, mathematics and statistics. Due to its breadth of scope, ecology is considered by some to be a holistic science, one that over-arches older disciplines such as biology which in this view become sub-disciplines contributing to ecological knowledge. It has been argued that the mechanistic models which have driven the development of most other sciences are inappropriate for unraveling the complex interactions in most ecosystems, and that progress in ecology is better served by a central paradigm driven by information theory and complexity theory.

Ecology is also a highly applied science, especially with respect to issues of natural resource management. Efforts related to wildlife conservation, habitat management, mitigation of ecological impacts of environmental pollution, ecosystem restoration, species reintroductions, fisheries, forestry and game management are often the direct domain of applied ecology. Urban development, agricultural and public health issues are also often informed by ecological perspectives and analysis.