Urban ecology is the study of humans and non-human organisms in urban areas, their interaction with their surroundings, and their reactions to environmental change. Anthropologists use theories, principles, or methods developed by ecologists to study how past cities arose, how current cities develop and change, and the effects of urban environments on people. Ecological Theories
Wild orangutans are now found only in the lush, swampy forests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia. In prehistoric times, there were huge orangutans that roamed over Asia. The genus Gigantopithecus, the largest fossil ape known to science, is related through primate evolution to the living orangutans of today. The orangutan is
The study of ecology and anthropology, here termed ecological anthropology, is at its most basic level the examination of the relationship between humans and the natural environments in which they live. Although the nature of how anthropologists approach this relationship has changed and varied considerably over the past century, ecological anthropology is best characterized as
Cultural ecology is the study of the adaptation of a culture to a specific environment and how changes in that environment lead to changes in that specific culture. It also focuses on how the overall environment, natural resources available, technology, and population density affect the rest of the culture and how a traditional system of
Media ecology is a multidisciplinary field that studies the evolution, effects, and forms of environments. Media ecology is most often defined as both the study of media as environments and the study of environments – such as situations or contexts – as media. Scholars work within expansive definitions of media, ecology, and technology. Although “medium”
Urban ecology is the study of community structure and organization as manifest in cities and other relatively dense human settlements. Among its major topics, urban ecology is concerned with the patterns of urban community sorting and change by socioeconomic status, life cycle, and ethnicity, and with patterns of relations across systems of cities. Of particular