Ecology: Definition & Ecological Fallacy Essay Introduction Ecology as @ scientific discipline comprehensively covers global processes and the study of habits of marines, animals, ang Plants. It also covers specific adaptations and reactions of these species to their natural surroundings. This paper wil try to ‘explore the definitions of ecology and ecological fallacy. (Townsend, etal, 2005). Detailed definition of ecology and ecological fallacy Ecology isthe study of the relations that living things have with respect to each other and thelr physical surroundings. An organism in this context is any living thing such as animals, microorganisms, fungus, o plants that responds to environmental change, reproduction, growth, and development, Ecological study isnot closely associated with environment, natural history, of ogy, Population ecology, community ecology, and ecosystems ecology. Physiological ecology isa branch of ecology concemed with the response of ling organisms to environmental elements such as light and temperature (Berkman & Kawachi, 2000) Population ecology is the study of ecology focusing on the abundance and spread of individual ving organisms and the resulting factors that cause this distribution. Community ecology deals with the number of living organisms found within a given ‘area and ther interactions, Ecosystems ecology isthe study of the structure and the overall set of microbes, animals and plants environmental science in any form. However, itis in close connection to four basie studies, which are physiological et {and their physical environment (Townsend, et al, 2005) Ecologists seek to address five basic issues namely fe processes and adaptations, the spread and abundance of living organisms and the movement of materials and energy in Iving things. Other issues addressed are the succession growth of ‘ecosystem and the abundance and spread of biodiversity in the environmental context, From the human science perspective, Human ecology is @ branch of ecology that deals with the relationship between individual persons and communities with their respective social environments. This may involve the application of ecology in conservation biology, natural science ‘management, community health, wetland management, city planning and th socal interaction of human (Townsend, eta. 2008, Ecological fallacy isa condition that occurs when a researcher or analyst obtains a clalm concerning individual with respe: hisfher observation of aggregate data of a group. Fallacy inthis context refers to false argument in justification resulting in misconception. Itis an anomaly which emerges when someone apply statistical data incorrectly (Changing Minds, 2011). A Conclusion made from data collected here depends upon the aggregate data collectes for a spectic group. A good example of ecological fallacy is, a researcher may closely inspects the group data of given city’s income and realize that the average income of the city residents is $40,000. This information may be true, but ecological fallacy can occur when the researcher re- states thatthe people's earning in the area is about $40,000. This may be false and is referred to as ecological fallacy based of the previous statement (Hall, 2010) Examples of ecological fallacy Exception fallacy This usually happens when researchers use statistics concerning an individual to provide conclusion on a group of people. This often occurs when the researcher or analyst happens to be Ina hurty when classifying @ group of people. The researcher may ‘otto use tne lite information he/she have even when sometimes the information Is statstically invalid. Example of exception fallacy is when a tain passenger inthe first-class compartment appears rude and atrogant to hs colleague who walks into the ‘same compartment. The colleague then makes a conclusion that all ist-class passengers are arrogant (Hal, 2010), Stereotypes This is @ type of ecological fallacy, which assumes the groups are of the same kind and nature. A stereotype is a generalization concerning a group of population whereby 8 defined set of features to this group takes an attribute. For example, when iagnosis done to @ group of students ina given school is shows the group has lower IQ average compared to the overallstudent population, (Hat, 2010) \wrong to assume that all the group members have a lower IQ compared to the whole student popul Conclusion ‘The study of ecology snould not just be taken as a collection of principles and ideas that one learn in class or perhaps read from ‘8 book as it may be taken. It is more of @ method of scrutinizing atthe world with emphasis on the assessment and knowledge Cf how cltferent species socially match together and how each species influences one another (Hall, 2010}. References Berkman, F.L., & Kawachi | (2000). Social Epidemiology. ist ed. New York: Oxford University Press, Changing Minds. (2011) Exception fallacy. changingminds.org. Web. Hall, C.(2010). Ecological energetic: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds Cutler J. Cleveland. eoearth.org, Web. Townsend, C.R, et al. (2005). Ecology: From individuals to ecosystems. 4” ed. Wiley-Blackwell