scopeofzoology

after it has ceased to yield important data. Also, because much comparative zoology has to
await the development of techniques and principles in other fields before data can be
obtained, there is a natural reluctance on the part of zoologists to initiate chemically
orientated research. Too often, the uncritical application by zoologists of ideas and methods
of chemistry, originating outside zoology, has led to a great deal of wasted research effort.
Set against this are the great achievements of zoologists who have entered other fields and
through bringing the holistic viewpoint of zoology to bear, have obtained unique insight into
diverse problems. Medical research in particular has gained much from systematic zoology.
If we regard systematic zoology as the comprehensive analysis of evolutionary processes at
all levels that lead to the building of new organs and behaviours, animal ecology is a
complementary study of the building of spatial relationships between animals. Unlike
systematics it is a subject area that ​must​ forge links with other disciplines, particularly botany
for even a superficial understanding to be obtained. Because of its essential interdisciplinary
aspect, in recent years ecological research has tended more and more to rely on techniques
of mathematical modelling which enable the flow paths between plants, animals, soil and
water to be quantified. A mathematical model in biology is a device used to describe what are
believed to be essential features of a natural process, such as the development of sequential
events, or the distribution in space of certain phenomena. Compartment or box models
originated in the physical sciences, but are now widely used in zoology. They are essentially
integrated diagrams of natural processes designed to describe temporally defined spaces.
The property of interest in each space is conceptually described in terms of a volume integral
of that property, such as mass, number or energy. The advantage of box building is that it
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