Editing Autecology (section)

== History ==
Autecology was pioneered by German field botanists in the late 19th century.<ref>Cittadino E. 1990. Nature as the Laboratory. Darwinian Plant Ecology in the German  Empire,  1880-1900.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.</ref> During the 20th century, autecology continued to exist mainly as a [[descriptive science]] rather than one with supporting theory and the most notable proponents of an autecological approach, [[Herbert Andrewartha]] and [[Charles Birch]], avoided the term autecology when referring to species-focused ecological investigation with emphasis on density-independent processes. Part of the problem with deriving a theoretical structure for autecology is that individual species are unique in their life history and behaviour, making it difficult to draw broad generalisations across them without losing the crucial information that is gained by studying biology at a species level.<ref name="Walter2014"/> Progress has been made in more recent times with Paterson's recognition concept of species and the concept of [[habitat]] tracking by organisms.<ref>Hengeveld R. 1985. Dynamics of Dutch beetle species during the twentieth century  (Coleoptera,  Carabidae).  Journal of  Biogeography  12: 389-411.</ref> The most recent attempt at deriving a theoretical structure for autecology was published in 2014 by ecologists Gimme Walter and Rob Hengeveld.