Rachel: In my opinion, "Ecology" and "Natural History" are not mutually exclusive, nor are they synonyms. Rather, they overlap in content, and it may be fair to characterize "ecology" as a subset of "natural history." In other words, all "ecology" can be thought of as "natural history" but not vice versa.
"Natural history" is the traditional term for trying to understand how the "natural world" works. It was traditionally observational, laden with value judgment, and non-quantitative. It did not have to be specifically directed at living organisms; studies of tide cycles, geology and astronomy would also fall within "natural history." "Ecology" would be a subset of "natural history" inquiry on organisms or their habitats, conducted and analyzed in a replicable manner according to the principles of experimental design and analysis (such as sampling theory and statistics) so that the conclusions are robust and generalizable. "Natural history" gets a bad rap for being "a collection of anecdotes" and that may well be true, especially as it was practiced in the past. But as others have pointed out, Darwin's approach to "natural history study" rose above that generalization, to become recognizable as "ecology". It's not fair to equate "ecology" with the worst practices of "natural history"; rather, "ecology" is an example of the best (in a scientific perspective) way to practice "natural history." Hope this helps- John D. Perrine, PhD Assistant Professor / Associate Curator of Mammals Biological Sciences Department California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0401 On Fri, 8 Apr 2011 14:27:52 -0400, Rachel Ford <ford.rach...@gmail.com> wrote: >Hi all: > >OK so I just finished my Bachelor's, but I honestly haven't heard much of >the definition of natural history. > >Is it safe to distinguish them as such: > >*Ecology - how an organism interacts with other organisms and the >environment* >*Natural History - everything else.* > >It would be nice if this could be that simple, but I have a feeling it's >not.. > >I know this has been going around for a while, but everyone's explanations, >though quite well written, does a horrible job of putting it into laymen's >terms. Of course, I consider myself a scientist and of course aim to >understand things beyond a laymen's understanding, but *what good is it to >know something that you can't even explain in simple terms??* >** >Thanks everyone!! > >oh and... YAY FRIDAY! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!!!! > >Best, > > >*Rachel E. Ford Meléndez >*B.Sc. Biology - conc. Marine and Freswhater Biology >Minor Dance >George Mason University >Minor Applied Conservation Studies >Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute > > >On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 1:07 PM, Jaime Garizabal <jgariza...@gmail.com> >wrote: >> Hi! >> >> By these days I´ve thinking about the differences between Ecology and >> Natural History, and maybe I´m just not so good differenciating this terms >> or I just need to read more about it, but sometimes it seems like the >limits >> between them aren´t always clear. For example, if you´re studying some >bird >> and you are taking into account things like clutch size, clutch mass, >> incubation rhythm, social structure (in case for example, the bird is a >> cooperative breeder), diet, feeding strategy, habitat description and so >> on... How do I know, according to the definitions and the conceptual >> commitment, >> wich part is mostly ecology and wich one natural history? how can I draw >the >> limits? Of course, it´s always depend on the research question and the >> context and limits I´m using to think about it, but, even so, sometimes >it´s >> not clear for me differenciate conceptually and in the practice when I´m >> studying the Ecology and when the Natural History of some living thing.. >> >> Could you help me a little bit with this? >> >> Pd. Sorry about my english and thanks a lot for your time and pacience! >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Jaime. A Garizábal C. >> Instituto de Biología - Universidad de Antioquia >> Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología. >> Medellín - Colombia. >> >========================================================================
