ecology

American  

[ih-kol-uh-jee, ee-kol-] / ɪˈkɒl ə dʒi, iˈkɒl- /

Archaic, oecology

noun

• ecologies
  plural

1. the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.

2. the set of relationships existing between organisms and their environment.

   Inflowing rivers introduce nutrients and sediments that are important for the ecology of the lake.

3. the set of relationships existing between any complex system and its surroundings or environment.

   In the ecology of healthcare, both politics and technology play a key role.

4. Also called human ecology.  the branch of sociology concerned with the spacing and interdependence of people and institutions.

5. advocacy for the protection of natural resources from pollution or its effects; environmentalism.

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ecology British  

/ ɪˈkɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. the study of the relationships between living organisms and their environment

2. the set of relationships of a particular organism with its environment

3. the study of the relationships between human groups and their physical environment

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ecology Scientific  

/ ĭ-kŏl′ə-jē /

1. The scientific study of the relationships between living things and their environments.

2. Also called bionomics

3. A system of such relationships within a particular environment.

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ecology Cultural  

1. The study of living things, their environment, and the relation between the two.

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Synonym Usage

See ecosystem ( def. ).

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ecologist
  noun
• ecologic
  adjective
• ecological
  adjective
• unecological
  adjective
• ecologically
  adverb
• unecologically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ecologies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ecology

First recorded in 1870–75; earlier oecology, from German Ökologie, from Greek oîk(os) “house, dwelling” + -o- + German -logie -logy; term introduced by E. H. Haeckel (1834–1919)

Explanation

The noun ecology describes the environment as it connects to living things, or the branch of biology that studies that environment. The German zoologist Ernst Haeckel coined the word ecology almost 150 years ago, and it should come as no surprise — his being a serious scientist and all — that he combined a couple of Greek words to do it. Oikos means "habitation" and -ology means "the study of." So ecology started off as the study of where things live. More and more, though, the word is used interchangeably with environment.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ecology ecologies

It can also help reconstruct the ecology of early Paleozoic oceans, when crinoids were among many early animal groups flourishing in reef ecosystems.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

“Environmental legislation has not been based on the science of ecology, or on forestry,” says Víctor Resco de Dios, a professor of forestry at the University of Lleida in Spain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

“I think we’re likely to break global temperature records with this next El Niño,” said Malin Pinsky, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Elliott Hazen, an adjunct professor in the ecology and evolutionary biology department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, says that hasn't happened in a decade.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

The place of the fiddler crab in the ecology of the world it inhabits is a necessary one, not easily filled.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

While Mr Bhatia doesn’t think that urbanisation is evil, he points out that it can lead to the rather unscientific abandonment of traditions that were designed to serve systems and ecologies.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2024

Clear-cutting, for example, is devastating to local ecologies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2023

In popular culture, Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Tenoch Huerta's Namor remind us that the oceans are Black, Brown and Indigenous ecologies, and that oceans are salient geographies in the fight for racial and ecological justice.

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2023

Her public projects reflect a broader movement of city dwellers interested in reclaiming underused outdoor sites and forging more intimate connections with local ecologies.

From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2022

Memetics is a popular topic for speculation among hackers, who like to see themselves as the architects of the new information ecologies in which memes live and replicate. :memory farts: /n./

From The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0, 24 Jul 1996 by Eric S. Raymond

Related Words

• conservation
• preservation