Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystems, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology and natural history. Ecology is a branch of biology, and it is not synonymous with environmentalism.
Among other things, ecology is the study of:
Life processes, interactions, and adaptations
The movement of materials and energy through living communities
The successional development of ecosystems
Cooperation, competition and predation within and between species.
The abundance, biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment.
Patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes
Ecology has practical applications in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management, city planning, community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction.
The word "ecology" was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel, and it became a rigorous science in the late 19th century.