Ecology

The branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.

Quote from Shonkoff, abstract:

An emerging, multidisciplinary science of development supports an EBD framework for understanding the evolution of human health and disease across the life span. In recent decades, epidemiology, developmental psychology, and longitudinal studies of early childhood interventions have demonstrated significant associations (hashed red arrow) between the ecology of childhood and a wide range of developmental outcomes and life course trajectories. Concurrently, advances in the biological sciences, particularly in developmental neuroscience and epigenetics, have made parallel progress in beginning to elucidate the biological mechanisms (solid arrows) underlying these important associations. The convergence of these diverse disciplines defines a promising new basic science of pediatrics.

The new basic science is better called *nurturescience*!