Ecology is a branch of biology concerning interactions among organisms and their biophysical environment, which includes both biotic and abiotic components. Topics of interest include the biodiversity, distribution and populations of organisms, as well as cooperation and competition within and between species. Ecosystems are dynamically interacting systems of organisms, the communities they make up, the non-living components of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, nutrient cycling, niche construction, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment; these processes are sustained by organisms with specific life history traits. Ecology is not synonymous with natural history, or environmental science, it overlaps with the related sciences of evolutionary biology and ethology. An important focus for ecologists is to improve the understanding of how biodiversity affects ecological function. Ecologists seek to explain: Life processes and adaptations The movement of materials and energy through living communities The successional development of ecosystems The abundance and distribution of organisms and biodiversity in the context of the environment.

Ecology has practical applications in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management, city planning, community health, economics and applied science, human social interaction. For example, the Circles of Sustainability approach treats ecology as more than the environment'out there', it is not treated as separate from humans. Organisms and resources compose ecosystems which, in turn, maintain biophysical feedback mechanisms that moderate processes acting on living and non-living components of the planet. Ecosystems sustain life-supporting functions and produce natural capital like biomass production, the regulation of climate, global biogeochemical cycles, water filtration, soil formation, erosion control, flood protection, many other natural features of scientific, economic, or intrinsic value; the word "ecology" was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel. Ecological thought is derivative of established currents in philosophy from ethics and politics. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Hippocrates and Aristotle laid the foundations of ecology in their studies on natural history.

Modern ecology became a much more rigorous science in the late 19th century. Evolutionary concepts relating to adaptation and natural selection became the cornerstones of modern ecological theory; the scope of ecology contains a wide array of interacting levels of organization spanning micro-level to a planetary scale phenomena. Ecosystems, for example, contain interacting life forms. Ecosystems are dynamic, they do not always follow a linear successional path, but they are always changing and sometimes so that it can take thousands of years for ecological processes to bring about certain successional stages of a forest. An ecosystem's area can vary from tiny to vast. A single tree is of little consequence to the classification of a forest ecosystem, but critically relevant to organisms living in and on it. Several generations of an aphid population can exist over the lifespan of a single leaf; each of those aphids, in turn, support diverse bacterial communities. The nature of connections in ecological communities cannot be explained by knowing the details of each species in isolation, because the emergent pattern is neither revealed nor predicted until the ecosystem is studied as an integrated whole.

Some ecological principles, however, do exhibit collective properties where the sum of the components explain the properties of the whole, such as birth rates of a population being equal to the sum of individual births over a designated time frame. The main subdisciplines of ecology, population ecology and ecosystem ecology, exhibit a difference not only of scale, but of two contrasting paradigms in the field; the former focus on organisms' distribution and abundance, while the focus on materials and energy fluxes. The scale of ecological dynamics can operate like a closed system, such as aphids migrating on a single tree, while at the same time remain open with regard to broader scale influences, such as atmosphere or climate. Hence, ecologists classify ecosystems hierarchically by analyzing data collected from finer scale units, such as vegetation associations and soil types, integrate this information to identify emergent patterns of uniform organization and processes that operate on local to regional and chronological scales.

To structure the study of ecology into a conceptually manageable framework, the biological world is organized into a nested hierarchy, ranging in scale from genes, to cells, to tissues, to organs, to organisms, to species, to populations, to communities, to ecosystems, to biomes, up to the level of the biosphere. This framework exhibits non-linear behaviors. Biodiversity describes the diversity of life from genes to ecosystems and spans every level of biological organiz

Shirley Boys' High School is a single sex state secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was situated on a 6 hectare site in the suburb of Shirley, 3.8 kilometres from the city centre, but in April 2019 moved, along with Avonside Girls' High School, to the former QEII Park site in the east of Christchurch. The school colours are sky gold. Parents in the eastern and northern suburbs of Christchurch had wanted single-sex education for their sons. In 1957, this became available when the school opened under its first Headmaster, Charles Gallagher. Established on a swampy paddock used for grazing horses to the west of North Parade, the School grew rapidly. Within a few years it became a self-confessed and proud rival to Christchurch Boys' High School as well as to St. Andrew's and St Bede's College. A detailed satirical portrait of the school as it was in the late 1960s can be found in The Shining City, a novel by former student Stevan Eldred-GriggOn the Easter weekend of 2007, Shirley Boys' High School celebrated its 50th Jubilee.

Commemorative events included an Old Boys' XV playing the current 2nd XV and the 1st XV playing in historic uniform against St. Andrew's College. During the magnitude 6.3 quake on 22 February the school had to close. At least two classroom blocks were expected to be demolished, all of the concrete areas of the school, including the new tennis courts, were badly damaged; the students did not attend school for a month afterwards, before the decision was made to shift its pupils to Papanui High School – with Papanui High School's students changing to attend classes from 8 am until 1 pm, while the Shirley Boys' High School students entered the school at 1.15 pm and finished at 5.45 pm. After about 6 months of this arrangement pupils were able to return to the re-opened school in early September 2011. Education Minister Hekia Parata announced on 16 October 2013 that the school would move, be co-located with Avonside Girls' High School at a site in east Christchurch. On 12 February 2015 the site was announced to be the former QEII Park site – and the move was completed in April 2019.

Nathan Astle – former New Zealand cricketer Ryan Crotty – current All Black and Canterbury Crusaders rugby player Stevan Eldred-Grigg – New Zealand novelist and historian Aaron Gilmore – former Member of Parliament Craig Green – former All Black wing Chris Jack – former All Black lock Dave Jaggar – computer scientist and James Clerk Maxwell Medal winner Hugh McCutcheon – current United States men's national volleyball team head coach Craig McMillan – former New Zealand cricketer Richard Petrie – former New Zealand cricketer Setaimata Sa – current Sydney Roosters Hull F. C. rugby league player Steve Scott – former All Black halfback Hayden Shaw – former Black Stick Bradley Shaw – current Black Stick Official Shirley Boys' High School website

Roger Antoine Duvoisin was a Swiss-born American writer and illustrator, best known for children's picture books. He won the 1948 Caldecott Medal for picture books and in 1968 he was a commended runner-up for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's illustrators. Duvoisin was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1900, he learned to draw early having been encouraged by his father, an architect, his godmother, a well-known painter of enamels. He studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, his first job was designing scenery, making posters, painting murals. He became a manager of an old French pottery plant before becoming involved with textile design, an occupation that brought him to the United States, he married another artist from Switzerland. In 1927, they moved to New York City, he became an American citizen in 1938. Duvoisin died in June 1980, he sometimes gave 1904 as his year of birth but he was nearly 80 at his death, born in 1900—the US Library of Congress learned from a publisher, indirectly from his widow.

Jeanne Blackmore, Duvoisin's granddaughter, is an author with her first children's book, How Does Sleep Come? Published in 2012. Duvoisin wrote his first book in the U. S, he won the Caldecott Medal for Bright Snow, written by Alvin Tresselt. The annual American Library Association award recognizes the illustrator of the year's "most distinguished American picture book for children", their 1965 collaboration Hide and Seek Fog was one of three Caldecott runners-up. Fatio wrote and Duvoisin illustrated The Happy Lion, a picture book published by McGraw-Hill in 1954, it was the first of ten Happy Lion books they created together. Its German-language edition won the inaugural 1956 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. Duvoisin both wrote and illustrated a successful series featuring Petunia the goose and Veronica the hippopotamus, inaugurated by Petunia and Veronica. Duvoisin's works include translation and illustration of medieval European folk tales such as The Crocodile in the Tree. In 1961 he received an award from the Society of Illustrators.

In 1966 he received the Rugers Bi-Centennial award. His books were published by The Bodley Head Ltd in London and Toronto, and There Was America Fairy Tales from Switzerland. The Three Sneezes and Other Swiss Tales The Talking Cat and Other Tales of French Canada by Natalie Savage Carlson illustrated by Roger Duvoisin 1952 Crocus Day and Night Donkey–Donkey The Crocodile In The Tree Easter Treat Happy Lion The Happy Hunter Hide and Seek Fog The House of Four Seasons Jasmine Our Veronica Goes to Petunia's Farm Petunia Petunia and the Song Petunia's Christmas Petunia Takes A Trip Petunia, Beware! Petunia, I love You Petunia's Treasure Snowy and Woody Spring Snow The Miller, His Son, Their Donkey, a retelling of the fable The Night Before Christmas Veronica's Smile The Christmas Whale Roger Duvoisin at Consumer Help Web Roger Duvoisin 1904-1980, Mother Goose: A Scholarly Exploration, ECLIPSE, School of Communication and Library Studies, Rutgers University Roger Duvoisin Bibliography at Picture Book Cottage: Collectible Children's Picture Books Louise Fatio in the German National Library Louise Fatio at LC Authorities, with 23 records Roger Duvoisin at Library of Congress Authorities, with 141 catalog records