Population ecology is a major subfield of ecology—one that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. The older term, autecology refers to the roughly same field of study, coming from the division of ecology into autecology—the study of individual species in relation to the environment—and synecology—the study of groups of organisms in relation to the environment—or community ecology. Odum (1959, p. 8) considered that synecology should be divided into population ecology, community ecology, and ecosystem ecology, defining autecology as essentially "species ecology." However, biologists have for some time recognized that the more significant level of organization of a species is a population, because at this level the species gene pool is most coherent. In fact, Odum regarded "autecology" as no longer a "present tendency" in ecology (i.e., an archaic term), although included "species ecology"—studies emphasizing life history and behaviour as adaptations to the environment of individual organisms or species—as one of four sub-divisions of ecology.

The development of the field of population ecology owes much to the science of demography and the use of actuarial life tables. Population ecology has also played an important role in the development of the field of conservation biology especially in the development of population viability analysis (PVA) which makes it possible to predict the long-term probability of a species persisting in a given habitat patch (e.g., a national park). While essentially a subfield of biology, population ecology provides many interesting problems for mathematicians and statisticians, which work mainly in the study of population dynamics.

See also

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• Malthusian growth model
• population dynamics
• population genetics
• Important publications in autecology

More on [ Population ecology ]

Population Ecology - Twitter Search

@sing_dance_love fun fun...population growth models. Studying them in my ecology class too. Lotka-Volterra model, anyone?
water_ouzel (Theresa Houze) Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:01:23 -0000
@sing_dance_love fun fun...population growth models. Studying them in my ecology class too. Lotka-Volterra model, anyone?
J of Animal Ecology: The effect of seasonality, density and climate on the population dynam.. http://bit.ly/86hq03
BESJournals (BES Journals) Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:05:24 -0000
J of Animal Ecology: The effect of seasonality, density and climate on the population dynam.. http://bit.ly/86hq03
Moving onto population ecology then it's just some recapping and I'll be as ready as I'll ever be!!!
LynseyWallace (Lynsey Wallace) Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:20:01 -0000
Moving onto population ecology then it's just some recapping and I'll be as ready as I'll ever be!!!
Introduction to Population Ecology is an accessible and up-to-date textbook covering all aspects of population ecology. http://bit.ly/6IvRef
UFOexplore (探索) Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:28:58 -0000
Introduction to Population Ecology is an accessible and up-to-date textbook covering all aspects of population ecology. http://bit.ly/6IvRef
@_alive2dive Population and Community Ecology - looking at factors which influence, well, populations and communities.
beautifulbc (Barbara Durau) Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:13:30 -0000
@_alive2dive Population and Community Ecology - looking at factors which influence, well, populations and communities.
One exam down, two to go. Next Monday and Tuesday. Prepare for wildlife and population & community ecology tweets. But not today. I'm tired.
beautifulbc (Barbara Durau) Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:20:03 -0000
One exam down, two to go. Next Monday and Tuesday. Prepare for wildlife and population & community ecology tweets. But not today. I'm tired.

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