noun The branch of biology that studies how living things relate to each other and to their environment.
- As a graduate student, he was working on a thesis: The Ecology of the Black Creek Area. He had to investigate the relationships, past and present, of men and plants and animals in this region.
— George R. Stewart, Earth Abides (1949)
- She's doing a PhD in the ecology of coral reefs.
- As in much of biology, the most satisfying truths in ecology derive from manipulative experimentation. Tinker with nature and quantify how it responds.
— Robert M. Pringle, How to Be Manipulative (2012)
- Our ecology lesson was about how frogs, insects and plants depend on a pond.
- Ecology helps scientists understand how a forest changes after a fire.
noun The pattern of relationships between the parts of any system and their surroundings.
- Researchers mapped the ecology of the local business network.
- The ecology of a busy city market depends on traders, shoppers and delivery drivers.
- Teachers studied the ecology of the school, from the timetable to the playground.
