Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, 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, antifragility, 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 (agroecology, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries), urban planning (urban ecology), community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction (human ecology).