population biology

The branch of biology dealing with the study of the distributions of populations of living organisms in time and space. It includes the study of the dynamic changes that occur within populations, and the factors that cause those changes.

Population biology is a study of biological populations of organisms, especially in terms of biodiversity, evolution, and environmental biology.

Malthus can be considered an early population biologist, even though his training was in economics and the term population biology had not been coined.

"In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long- continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed.