On Ecology V

 "[…] for as all organic beings are striving, it may be said, to seize on each place in the economy of nature, if any one species does not become modified and improved in a corresponding degree with its competitors, it will soon be exterminated." (Charles Darwin, "On the Origin of Species", 1859)

"Let it be borne in mind how infinitely complex and close-fitting are the mutual relations of all organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of life. " (Charles Darwin, "On the Origin of Species", 1859)

"[…] without the theory of evolution all the big general series of phenomena of organic nature remain completely incomprehensible and inexplicable riddles, while by means of this theory they can be explained simply and consistently. This holds especially true for two complexes of biological phenomena which we now in conclusion wish to single out in a few words. These form the subject of two special branches of physiology which so far have been largely neglected, namely, the ecology and chorology of organisms." (Ernst Häckel, "Generelle Morphologie der Organismen", 1866)

"By ecology we mean the body of knowledge concerning the economy of nature - the investigation of the total relations of the animal both to its inorganic and to its organic environment; including, above all, its friendly and inimical relations with those animals and plants with which it comes directly or indirectly into contact - in a word, ecology is the study of all those complex interrelations referred to by Darwin as the conditions of the struggle for existence." (Ernst Häckel, [lecture] 1869)

"[employment of] exact or mathematical methods […] unfortunately is impossible in most branches of science (particularly in biology), because the empirical foundations are much too imperfect and the present problems much too complicated. Mathematical treatment of these does more harm than good because it gives a deceptive semblance of certainty which is not actually attainable. Part of physiology also involves problems which are difficult or impossible to resolve exactly, and these include the chorology and ecology of plankton." (Ernst Häckel, “Plantonic studies”, 1891) 

"At a time when ecology and genetics are each racing swiftly towards one new concept after another, yet with little contact of thought between the two subjects, there may be some advantage in surveying, if only synoptically and in preliminary fashion, the largely uncharted territory between them." (Charles S Elton, 1938)

"Evolution cannot be understood except in the frame of ecosystems." (Ramón Margalef, "Perspectives in Ecological Theory", 1968)

"What literally defines social ecology as ‘social’ is its recognition of the often overlooked fact that nearly all our present ecological problems arise from deep-seated social problems. Conversely, present ecological problems cannot be clearly understood, much less resolved, without resolutely dealing with problems within society." (Murray Bookchin, "What is Social Ecology", 2009)

"The answers to the human problems of ecology are to be found in economy. And the answers to the problems of economy are to be found in culture and character. To fail to see this is to go on dividing the world falsely between guilty producers and innocent consumers." (Wendell Berry, "What Are People For?: Essays", 2010)

"Economists don't seem to have noticed that the economy sits entirely within the ecology." (Carl Safina, "The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World", 2011)