Evolutionary biology and ecology share the goals of describing variation in natural systems and discovering its functional basis. Within this common framework, evolutionary biologists emphasize historical and lineage-dependent processes and hence often incorporate phylogenetic reconstructions and genetic models in their analyses. Ecologists, while cognizant of historical processes, tend to explain variation in terms of the contemporary effects of biotic and abiotic environmental factors. Evolutionary ecology spans these two disciplines and incorporates the full range of techniques and approaches from both
