Ecology is the science of how living things interact with each other and with their environment. It explains why lions need so much more land than zebras, why wolves can change the course of rivers, why tropical forests hold so many species, and what will happen to wildlife as the climate warms.
This course takes you from the basic ideas to the questions ecologists are working on today. Each module has an animated lesson you can explore, a real-world case study, a short activity, a list of common misconceptions and a quick quiz.
Who this course is for
- Students in high school, college or university looking for clear explanations and revision material.
- Travellers and naturalists who want to understand what they see on safari or in the field.
- Early-career researchers who want a refresher on core concepts and an introduction to modern field methods.
Course structure
Unit 1: Foundations
- What is ecology? Levels of organisation, the history of the field and how ecologists do science.
- Organisms and their environment Limiting factors, tolerance ranges, habitats and niches.
Unit 2: Ecosystems
- Energy flow and ecological pyramids Why energy flows one way and why food chains are short. Animated: the 10 percent rule.
- Food webs and trophic cascades Keystone species and what happens when a predator returns. Animated: remove a species from a food web.
- Biogeochemical cycles How carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and water move through living and non-living systems. Animated: the carbon cycle.
- Biomes of the world How temperature and rainfall shape the world’s major ecosystems. Animated: the Whittaker biome diagram.
Unit 3: Populations and communities
- Population ecology Growth, carrying capacity and life histories. Animated: exponential and logistic growth.
- Species interactions and community ecology Competition, predation, parasitism and mutualism. Animated: predator–prey cycles.
- Ecological succession and ecosystem development How ecosystems recover and change over time. Animated: from bare rock to forest.
Unit 4: Landscapes, evolution and change
- Landscape ecology and island biogeography Fragmentation, corridors and why island size matters. Animated: the theory of island biogeography.
- Evolutionary ecology Natural selection, adaptation and coevolution.
- Climate change ecology Range shifts, changing seasons, coral bleaching and what species can do. Animated: rising carbon dioxide.
Unit 5: Applied ecology
- Conservation biology Biodiversity, extinction risk, protected areas and recovery.
- Human ecology, ecosystem services and ecological footprints What nature provides and how much we use.
- Field methods and ecological technology Camera traps, telemetry, eDNA, remote sensing, citizen science and basic statistics.
How to use each module
Each module takes about 30 to 45 minutes. Work through the explanations, explore the animation, try the activity, then test yourself with the quiz. Modules build on each other, but you can dip into any topic.
What changed in this edition
This course replaces our earlier ecology articles. We reorganised them into a logical sequence, removed repetitive question lists, corrected topics that had been filed under the wrong heading, and added five new modules on food webs, biomes, climate change, conservation biology and field methods, which reflect how ecology is studied and applied today.