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 <[email protected]> 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. >
