Abstract

The term ecology,^* which is an extension of the term economy, was introduced by E. Haeckel in 1866 to signify the study of the mechanisms of the exchange of goods and services between living organisms. In economics, human society is the ambit of the study; whereas in ecology, the subjects of the study are biological systems that are viewed as societies of organisms. Biological systems present extremely ordered and complex structures; they are able to store and transfer information in the form of structures and functions that are acquired during evolution.