What is Ecology?
The word Ecology comes from the Greek words oikos meaning home, and logos meaning study. It is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the environment. There are different levels of ecological studies according to the scope. Figure 1 shows the hierarchy of ecological research. Hierarchy of Ecological Research 1.) Organismal ecology - studies how the environment affects individual organism's structure, physiology, and behavior[1]. Research in organismal ecology mainly focuses on the adaptations that allows an individual to survive in a specific habitat [8]. Basically, an individuals reaction to the environment is being studied. Changes in the environment affects each individual species. They may adapt to the such changes, move to a different environment, or worse such individuals will die. 2.) Population ecology - studies the changes in population size as affected by environmental fa...