The Scope of Ecology

Abstract

My purpose today is to draw your attention briefly to certain facts and tendencies in the field of ecology. All life is controlled by two great forces, heredity and environment, and ecology is the science dealing with the environment. It therefore covers practically the whole field of biology, and is related in one way or another to every science which touches life. There have been three stages in the development of the biological sciences: first, a period of general work, when Darwin, Agassiz and others amassed and gave their knowledge of such natural phenomena as could be studied with the limited methods at hand; next, men specialized in different branches, and gradually built up the biological sciences which we know today; and now has begun the third or synthetic stage. Since the biological field has been reconnoitered and divided into its logical parts, it becomes possible to see the interrelations and to bring these related parts more closely together. Many sciences have been developed to the point where, although the field has not yet been fully covered, contact and cooperation with related sciences are essential to full development. Ecology represents the third phase. You have but to glance at the list of ecological problems drawn up by the Committee on Cooperation of the Ecological Society and appearing in Science for January i6, i920. And this list is far from complete. You will see problems requiring work by zoologists, botanists, foresters, geographers, meteorologists, soil chemists, soil physicists, bacteriologists, and geologists, to mention only some of the leading lines. What, precisely, is the significance of this synthesis? No man can be a highly trained zoologist, botanist, forester, and meteorologist all in one. It means that the ecologist, though he specializes on animal ecology or plant ecology, must take the broad ecological point of view of his problem. He must be able to see all its aspects and how it is related to each of the sciences which can aid in its solution. In this way he will be enabled to carry the problem himself as far as his own field and training permit, and secure the cooperation of workers in related fields for those parts which he is unable alone to cover. For example, a forester is confronted with the reforesting of ten thousand acres of burned-over mountains. He begins by using data 1 Presidential address delivered before the St. Louis meeting of the Ecological Society of America, December 3I, I9I9.