Ecology From Individuals to Ecosystems 4ª ed

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"Unlike some other sciences, the subject matter of ecology is

apparent to everybody: most people have observed and pondered

nature, and in this sense most people are ecologists of sorts. But

ecology is not an easy science. It must deal explicitly with three

levels of the biological hierarchy – the organisms, the populations

of organisms, and the communities of populations – and, as

we shall see, it ignores at its peril the details of the biology of

individuals, or the pervading influences of historical, evolutionary

and geological events. It feeds on advances in our knowledge

of biochemistry, behavior, climatology, plate tectonics and so on,

but it feeds back to our understanding of vast areas of biology

too. If, as T. H. Dobzhansky said, ‘Nothing in biology makes

sense, except in the light of evolution’, then, equally, very little

in evolution, and hence in biology as a whole, makes sense

except in the light of ecology."

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