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New page: Image:lighterstill.jpg right '''Ecology''' (from Greek: οίκος, ''oikos'', "household"; and λόγος, ''logos'', "knowle...
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'''Ecology''' (from [[Greek language|Greek]]: οίκος, ''oikos'', "household"; and λόγος, ''[[logos]]'', "knowledge") is the [[science|scientific]] study of the distribution and [[Abundance (ecology)|abundance]] of [[life]] and the [[interaction]]s between [[organism]]s and their environment. The environment of an organism includes physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local [[abiotic]] factors such as [[insolation]] (sunlight), [[climate]], and [[geology]], and biotic factors, which are other organisms that share its [[habitat (ecology)|habitat]].

The word "ecology" is often used more loosely in such terms as [[social ecology]] and [[deep ecology]] and in common parlance as a synonym for the [[natural environment]] or [[environmentalism]]. Likewise "ecologic" or "ecological" is often taken in the sense of [[environmentally friendly]].

The term ecology or ''oekologie'' was coined by the [[Germany|German]] biologist [[Ernst Haeckel]] in 1866, when he defined it as "the comprehensive science of the relationship of the organism to the environment."

[[Category: Biology]]