Human ecology / by J.W. Bews.

  • John William Bews
Date:
1935
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Human ecology / by J.W. Bews. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    biological triad. The triad must be studied as one complete whole, and this study is essentially what we mean by ecology. The importance of a holistic approach to the study of ecology can scarcely be over-emphasized. Various biological workers from time to time have tended to lay emphasis now on the environment, now on function, and now on the organ- ism itself. All such studies are important, since they contri- bute to the proper understanding of the triad as a whole, but it is the task of the ecologist to preserve a true balance. In the earlier stages of its development, and even still to some extent, ecology has perhaps tended to lay too much stress on the first term of the triad. The environment cer- tainly does profoundly affect the organism’s structure and behaviour, but it must always be remembered that the func- tional relationship between environment and organism is a reciprocal one. The organism also continuously influences the environment. Modern ecology realizes that there are many lines of approach to the study of living phenomena. It always keeps the necessity for viewing life as a whole well to the forefront, but it regards the fundamental triad now from one end and now from the other. It studies it from every possible angle, it approaches near to it by making use of every separate branch of biological science, by utilizing all the means at its disposal in the form of modern scientific technique, but it also, at intervals, so to speak, stands back from it and obtains a general view; this general view ecology regards as the nearest approach to the truth concerning life that science is likely to obtain. Ecology, then, combines analysis with synthesis. All science, in a general way, endeavours to do the same, but many branches are satisfied to pursue analytical methods for long periods on end, thus obtaining a more and more minute and detailed knowledge of the intricacies of Nature. Ecology, while it by no means neglects such analytical methods and discoveries, regards them as means to an end rather than the end itself. Since living organisms are either plants or animals, ecology can be divided into plant ecology and animal ecology. From the latter it is now proposed to separate human ecology,
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