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ecological

[ih-kol-uh-jee]

noun

the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.

Also called human ecology. the branch of sociology concerned with the spacing and interdependence of people and institutions.

Also, oecology.

Origin:
1870–75; earlier oecology < German Ökologie < Greek oîk(os) + -o- -o- + German -logie -logy; term introduced by E. H. Haeckel

Related forms

ec·o·log·i·cal

[ek-uh-loj-i-kuhl, ee-kuh-] , ec·o·log·ic, adjective

ec·o·log·i·cal·ly, adverb

e·col·o·gist, noun

un·ec·o·log·i·cal, adjective

un·ec·o·log·i·cal·ly, adverb

Can be confused: biosphere, ecology, ecosystem, environment, habitat (see synonym note at environment).

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To ecological

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Ecological is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

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Example Sentences

Yemen has suffered ecological crises before and survived.

It saved us from an ecological and economic disaster.

If technologies easily crossed the ecological divide, the implications would be less dramatic than they are.

EXPAND

Yemen has suffered ecological crises before and survived.

It saved us from an ecological and economic disaster.

If technologies easily crossed the ecological divide, the implications would be less dramatic than they are.

There are other factors that influence sea urchins' ecological role, including interactions among different urchin species.

Ecological common sense: the carrying capacity of the environment will be increased with more food production.

LeBlanc argues that ecological balance was rarely the norm, even in pockets of paradise.

Haiti is famous around the world primarily for its problems, one being advanced ecological destruction.

The program is designed to restore an ecological balance that man and the weather have upset.

Argues that sustainability is ultimately impossible and describes a new natural-law politics for our ecological future.

Such effects could spread the ecological damage beyond the original prey at the same time as drawing out the actual extinction.

The common thread among these methods is an embrace of farming practices that mimic natural ecological processes.

Perhaps it will eventually explode into a devastating trophic cascade and ecological disaster.

They even occupy the same ecological niche in asia about a hundred years ago.

It wreaks a subtle, long-term havoc, as toxic chemicals enter ecological cycles and take decades to break down.

Vietnam would have avoided the ecological devastation wrought by bombs and defoliants.

Climate change and other ecological factors are part of the reason.

He'll share highlights of the expedition and its ecological relevance.

The ecological benefits of gardening on your roof.

Coyotes became top dog, filling the wolf's ecological niche.

Some environmental activists are taking the unlikely stance of opposing wind farms in the name of ecological responsibility.

Many colleagues in more familiarly convivial ecological and social environments might envy us.

Although his ecological thinking at first caused derision among other ranchers, he can now claim to be a visionary.

In certain cases, fire managers will let fires burn in order to restore some of the natural ecological dynamics.

Why ecological evenness is as important as relative richness.

It seems to make far more ecological sense to purchase a living christmas tree than an artificial one.

But today, one ecological problem outweighs all others: global warming.

Some want restrictions to cut population growth and forestall ecological catastrophe.

Team members monitor ecological health, build research camps, and collect data on local species.

Ecological changes from predator loss found to be ubiquitous.

Dung beetles have evolved to fill all sorts of ecological niches.

Brandon is currently working on a book about ecological tipping points.

The technical, ecological and financial problems of building such a colony ship would be enormous, of course.

Construction has taken off in recent years and caused ecological damage.

Evaluation of its long-term ecological repercussions, however, is likely to continue for two to three years.

At a lunchtime lecture, learn the back story on this ecological celebration.

The developer commissioned a series of ecological studies.

But the state wants to limit the ecological impact of these cow pies.

Agriculture led to cities and towns, as well as a new ecological environment that cats were able to exploit.

The indirect signature of hunters can also be seen in the ecological record.

It is unclear whether there will be any severe ecological impacts at these low prevalence rates.

The nations have mostly fallen and the world has become a cesspit of ecological chaos and crushed cities.

As developing countries get richer meat's ecological footprint is set to get even bigger.

Re-wilding islands and even continents could prove an effective method for reversing ecological catastrophe.

Now, even the dead can do one last thing to reduce their ecological footprint.

The rapid ecological changes which resulted rapidly winnowed down the diversity of life on earth.

The best hobbies make them feel virtuous too, which is one reason why people get keen on ecological pastimes.

The issue is preservation of distinct ecological regions.

So the researchers have been studying what reproductive barriers or ecological conditions are in play that prevent hybridization.

Biologists say that, from a long-term ecological perspective, the deaths will cause barely a ripple.

Economic shrinkage due to ecological collapse will entail population shrinkage.

But the jumbo squid's ecological impact has yet to be determined.

Brandon is currently working on an ecological tipping point project.

By pumping fresh water south, however, these two projects wreak ecological havoc.

If crop varieties were grown in their respective ecological niches, food production would double.

It takes time and other ecological conditions for innovations to gain foot in life.

Putting a proper value on ecological services is bound up with another economic anomaly that haunts environmental economics.

The first challenge: unmasking ecological costs that for the.

We cannot help being interested in the ecological effects of the rampant increase in human beings.

Many were motivated mainly by evolutionary or ecological hypotheses.

The ultimate vision is of a vast ecological history park that contains free-roaming elephants, predators, and other large.

Ecological common sense should be used in naming a national insect.

The two species certainly occupied more or less the same ecological niche.

Even an existing desert can become more of a wasteland when ecological balances change.

Preventing wars and other strife will increasingly depend on facing the ecological consequences of our economic activities.

Does a lack of species divergence have to mean an ecological stalemate was going.

Any ecological disruption occasioned by their dwindling numbers has largely already occurred or is already occurring.

It's going to be the biggest ecological disaster on the history of the planet.

But lately we've begun to feel the resulting ecological pushback and to realize its seriousness and extent.

We have been creating ecological crises for ourselves and our habitats for tens of thousands of years.

Vultures play an essential ecological role as garbage collectors and recyclers.

Designating some as native and others as alien denies this ecological and genetic dynamism.

Ecological sanitation helps these marginalized, yet resilient people transform human waste into something valuable”.

Oyster reefs were once a major ecological force in coastal waters all around the globe.

Recognition of the ecological significance of truffles is aiding efforts to conserve threatened species that depend on them.

His professional life, he says, has been a single-minded quest for true ecological sustainability.

Opponents have marshaled an additional list of economic, social and ecological arguments against the.

Not only are these mangroves centers of biodiversity, but they also perform many important ecological roles.

They urge united action to solve major ecological problems before solutions become impossible.

The other main threat to the lake's ecological stability is pollution.

Wang agrees, observing that bats play critical ecological roles, such as eating insects and other pests.

But whatever the cause, the ecological outcome if the trend continues is already clear, according to scientists.

The potential ecological benefits of bioluminescence do not end with detecting pollution.

We need to turn our landfills into fuel sources and not ecological time bombs.

There they proliferated and diversified into many ecological nooks.

However, one must avoid ecological fallacy when interpreting this evidence.

Drilling's ripple effect would likely extend beyond ecological impact and into the cultural realm.

As a result of this looming legal fight, much of what could be known about ecological impacts remains hidden.

Maybe they would if they are concerned about the impacts of global warming on the ecological system.

Land clearing for food production has disrupted large parts of the country's ecological balance.

Reworking land-fill sites using plasma techniques may appear to be a good ecological solution to waste tips.

They measured the ecological differences between the habitats of the different populations using.

They are ecological wastelands of overused environments.

Fruit bats play an especially important ecological role by pollinating plants and dispersing seeds.

We should be investigating how relatively direct solar energy could provide ecological replacement of fossil fuels.

Some say it's a practical extension of ecological insight.

No ecological studies have been conducted to determine why these snakes take to the air.

We found this argument breaks down quickly in an ecological context.

He said the research reinforces the concept that individual ecological units-mangroves, reefs, land-are crucially intertwined.

Consider the unmitigated ecological disaster that is the automobile.

Planning strategies to preserve ecological sites have been adopted.

The die-off didn't merely cause ecological disruption.

Vietnam's biologists say the declining population of cobras in the wild threatens to upset the ecological balance.

In any ecological system, more food equals more individuals".

Periwinkle snails ordinarily live in ecological harmony with salt marshes.

The genius of these sites is that they make a virtue of modern society's ecological sin: oversupply.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

ecological (ˌiːkəˈlɒdʒɪk^əl)

—*adj*
1.	of or relating to ecology
2.	(of a practice, policy, product, etc) tending to benefit or cause minimal damage to the environment

eco'logically

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ecology

1873, coined by Ger. zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) as Okologie, from Gk. oikos "house, dwelling place, habitation" (see villa) + -logia "study of." Ecosphere (1953) is the region around a star where conditions allow life-bearing planets to exist.

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ecological

1899, see ecology. Related: Ecologically.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

ecology e·col·o·gy (ĭ-kŏl'ə-jē)
n.

The branch of science that is concerned with the relationships between organisms and their environments.
The relationship between organisms and their environments.
The study of the detrimental effects of modern civilization on the environment, with a view toward their prevention or reversal through conservation.

ec'o·log'i·cal (ěk'ə-lŏj'ĭ-kəl, ē'kə-) or ec'o·log'ic (-ĭk) adj.
e·col'o·gist n.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

ecology

(ĭ-kŏl'ə-jē) Pronunciation Key

The scientific study of the relationships between living things and their environments. Also called bionomics.
A system of such relationships within a particular environment.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

ecology definition

The study of living things, their environment, and the relation between the two.

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Matching Quote

"It seems to me that there must be an ecological limit to the number of paper pushers the earth can sustain, and that human civilization will collapse when the number of, say, tax lawyers exceeds the world's total population of farmers, weavers, fisherpersons, and pediatric nurses."

-Barbara Ehrenreich

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