ECOLOGICAL

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to the science of ecology

Example:

ecological research

Synonyms:

bionomic; bionomical; ecologic; ecological

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Pertainym:

ecology (the branch of biology concerned with the relations between organisms and their environment)

Derivation:

ecology (the branch of biology concerned with the relations between organisms and their environment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Characterized by the interdependence of living organisms in an environment

Example:

an ecological disaster

Synonyms:

ecologic; ecological

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

ecology (the environment as it relates to living organisms)

Derivation:

ecology (the environment as it relates to living organisms)

Credits

Context examples:

"By combining biological, ecological, historical and sociological analyses, new constraints on the impact of this plague were identified."

(Justinianic plague not a landmark pandemic?, National Science Foundation)

The legend of Erik the Red itself may mask what Barrett calls “ecological globalisation”: the chasing of natural resources as supply dwindles.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

This new study, however, has found that the reason why microbial plankton come together in complex, cohesive groups is to collectively face the nutrient-poor heterogeneous ecological landscape they live in.

(Study by UGR and MIT reveals microbial plankton live in complex communities, University of Granada)

Not just the economic cost, “but also the cost that you have to pay from an ecological, environmental perspective.”

(Study: Earth’s Night Skies Getting Brighter, VOA)

As a result, alligators' use of salty environments such as near-shore marine areas, mangrove swamps and salt marshes was, until recently, thought of as unusual behavior and of little ecological importance.

(Alligators, rulers of the swamps, link marine and freshwater ecosystems, NSF)

Now in its 25th year, NSF's McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project has provided a continuous multi-decade record of atmospheric and ecological data at the research site.

(Extreme melt season leads to decade-long ecosystem changes in Antarctica's Dry Valleys, National Science Foundation)

Also called ecological study.

(Ecologic study, NCI Dictionary)

The production of biodiesel from microalgae brings along with it ecological benefits that contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide in the air—one of the causes of greenhouse effect, one of today's biggest environmental concerns.

(Petrobras considers producing biodiesel from microalgae, Agência Brasil)

The researchers noted the sevengill sharks might not have the same effect on the ecosystems involved as the great whites have had, citing the ecological disruption apparently caused off Alaska when a change in orca behavior had a knock-on effect, disrupting sea otters' predation of sea urchins, whose population then exploded, plowing through the area's kelp forests.

(Study indicates as great white shark disappears, living fossil moves in, Wikinews)

This study shows that, despite a common perception that ecological systems are resilient, they can be so slow to rebound that they're unlikely to return to the same undisturbed state, says Francisco Moore, a program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology.