Literature Review

Ecology is a crucial field of science. "Ecology is the study of relationships between organisms and their enviroment" (Carter, 2001). The basic ideas of ecology originate from scientists like Linnaeus and Darwin, who studied the similarities and differences of related species (Carter, 2001). This was taken a step further by plant geographers like Carl Willdenow. They discovered that "although plants differed in various parts of the world, certain similarities and differences demanded explanation" (Smith; Smith, 2001). These discoveries led to the earliest ecologists, who at first dealt only with plants. Animal ecology developed later, with pioneers like Charles Adams and Victor Shelford (Smith; Smith, 2001). Shelford combined both by "stressing the interrelationship of plants and animals" (Smith; Smith, 2001.) Ecology then developed rapidly, and led to community ecology, which is the focus of this report. Community ecology is the "interactions among species-competition, predation, parasitism, and mutualism-and their influences on species abundance and distribution." (Smith; Smith, 2001). Clermont College was studied as a community accordingly.