ABSTRACT
As previously stated (see Chapter 3, pages 18-20), we regard ecology as the attempt to recognise the logos of the oikos – in other words, the structure of the interrelationships between organisms or populations and their living spaces. So how are we to proceed in this approach? As a scientific discipline, ecology answers this question by calling itself a strict natural science. Thus it places itself under the obligation of only offering results that can be tested for authenticity by means of a universally recognised method or procedure. This means: ecologists make theory-based predictions. If the methods used to make them satisfy certain requirements and the predicted events take place, then the theory is considered confirmed.1 The success of ecology depends, if one adheres to this interpretation, on how capable it is of correctly predicting events on the basis of available data. In his textbook, the ecologist Remmert2 writes the following:
As Ernst Haeckel put it, ecology is the Haushaltslehre der Natur – the study of the economics of nature. It is a strict natural science, but must overcome considerably greater difficulties than physiology, genetics, or biochemistry; it must accommodate a vast array of different parameters, so that predictions become infinitely laborious. [. . .] Ecologists face the problem of judging in advance the reactions and developments of complex systems within which an extremely large number of genetically distinct microorganisms, plants, and animals live. Even to attempt such a task is a daunting prospect. But the attempt must be made.3
