AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF ECOLOGY AND WHAT THEY STUDY - BIOLOGY - 2025

The auxiliary sciences of ecology are biology, taxonomy, politics, sociology and mathematics, among many others. Ecology is the branch of biology that investigates the interactions of living things with each other and the relationship with the environment that surrounds them. The above definition may seem very simple, but it encompasses much more than meets the eye.

A living being, in order to be considered this way, carries out endless interactions with other beings and with the environment, which gives an unequaled importance to the study of their societies or habitats.

Therefore, to achieve the study of living beings and their characteristics in a complete and accurate way, ecology relies on other branches, which are more specialized approaches to the study of the characteristics of interactions and which, in turn, are they are directly related to other sciences.

These sciences or disciplines are studies focused on other areas that, by joining ecology, manage to answer the most important questions that humans have asked about the processes that allow and are part of the survival of a species through the ages..

You may also be interested in learning about the auxiliary sciences of biology: 16 examples, since both disciplines are closely related.

List of auxiliary sciences of ecology

1- Biology

It is the science that studies living beings and their relationship with the environment. It supports ecology through the study of living beings according to their classification in the kingdoms of nature. An example of this is botany, which studies plants or zoology, whose object of study is animals.

2- Physics

Physics the science that studies the physical properties of matter and energy, as well as the laws that govern their changes.

It collaborates with ecology through the study of energy in the open system of each living being, that is, the conversion of nutrients to usable energy through processes such as photosynthesis or cellular respiration.

3- Taxonomy

It is the branch of biology that studies the classification of living beings according to their physical and genetic characteristics.

It helps ecology by classifying living beings to later understand their behavior and the reason for the necessary relationships with the environment.

4- Geography

Science that studies the surface of the Earth, the communities or societies that inhabit it and the landscapes that form it when they relate to each other.

Geography supports ecology by providing data on the environment and its characteristics. In this way, ecology can study the relationships that exist and the reasons for many of the reactions of organisms.

5- Mathematics

It is the study of the relationship between abstract entities such as numbers, symbols etc. It supports ecology in the creation of statistical models that allow discovering probability patterns of the behavior of living beings according to their interaction needs with the same species or with others.

6- Policy

It is the study of government and how human societies are organized. It collaborates with ecology by allowing the organization and management of resources according to the probabilities, all in order to allow the sustainability and survival of the human being.

7- Chemistry

Chemistry is the science that studies matter, its properties, and its changes. Supports ecology by studying chemical changes in living things that allow them to relate and give continuity to the species.

A great example of this are the mating rituals that are carried out from chemical and hormonal reactions in living beings and that infer their relationships according to the mating seasons.

8- Sociology

It is the science that studies human societies and the phenomena caused by religious beliefs, daily interactions, artistic expressions, etc.

Although this science is specifically oriented to the study of human beings. As these are considered part of the animal kingdom and living beings, this science supports ecology by studying the interactions between the species and how the different social, religious, cultural, racial aspects… affect its development, interaction and survival.

9- Hydrology

It is the science that studies the distribution and properties of water. It is a great support for ecology.

Most living things need water to survive, and have based their interaction with other species on the availability of the precious liquid. Something that also affects the demographic aspect, since the areas with the highest abundance are those with the greatest intra- and inter-species interaction.

10- Climatology

It is the science that studies the atmospheric conditions of the areas of the Earth. It supports ecology by providing essential information for the study of the survival of some species when interacting and adapting to adverse environments.

References

1. History and Ecology: Studies of the Grassland, James Claude Malin. U of Nebraska Press, 1984 - 376 pages, Recovered From books.google.com.mx.
2. ECOLOGY: The Study of Ecosystems by Miami University. PDF available at bio.miami.edu.
3. THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND THE HISTORY OF THE SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES. GOALS AND BRANCHING by Horace Capel, ISSN: 0210-0754, Legal Deposit: B. 9.348-1976, Year XIV. Number: 84, December 1989. Recovered from ub.edu.
4. AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY, BIOLOGY. PUB. DATE May 2003. SOURCEReference & Research Book News; May2003, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p. Recovered from connection.ebscohost.com.
5. Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch, Shyamal D. Peddada, Ph.D. Acting Branch Chief, Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch and Principal Investigator and Clarice R. Weinberg, Ph.D. Deputy Branch Chief, Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch and Principal Investigator, retrieved from niehs.nih.gov.
6. The potential of Industrial Ecology in agri-food clusters (AFCs): A case study based on valorisation of auxiliary materials Alberto Simboli, Raffaella Taddeo, Anna Morgante. Recovered from dx.doi.org.
7. Boucher, DH; James, S.; Keeler, KH (1982). "The Ecology of Mutualism". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 13: 315–347.
8. Smith, R.; Smith, RM (2000). Ecology and Field Biology. (6th ed.). Prentice Hall.