The Human Ecological Approach to the Study of Population Dynamics

Abstract

Human ecology is a specialization of ecology, tailored to suit the characteristic features of human populations. This essay focuses upon human ecology as set forth by Hawley and Duncan, although other conceptualizations are referred to. The bio-ecological framework is described together with an introduction of the distinction between population ecology and community ecology. Bio-ecology is an important subdiscipline of biology, but its subject has never been as complex as that of human ecology. Human ecologists developed their own theoretical framework distinct from that of bio-ecology. The author briefly outlines the history of human ecology, emphasizing the initial phase of the Chicago School, which focused upon spatial patterns of human phenomena, and the succeeding one, in which a reorientation focused upon the organizational aspects of population dynamics. The author then reviews some of the basic features of human ecology, discusses population ecology and its applications, with reference to the study of populations of households, and outlines the use of graph theory, input-output frameworks, and multilevel modeling to improve the formal and methodological aspects of human ecology. The spatial concern of human ecology is considered and situated in a broader context.