The word " ecology " (" Ökologie ") was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel ( 1834 – 1919 ).

The term " ecology " () is of a more recent origin and was first coined by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in his book Generelle Morphologie der Organismen ( 1866 ).

Haeckel was a zoologist, artist, writer, and later in life a professor of comparative anatomy.

also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, stem cell, and the kingdom Protista.

Ernst Haeckel was born on February 16, 1834, in Potsdam ( then part of Prussia ).

Haeckel was the first person known to use the term " First World War ".

Haeckel was a zoologist, an accomplished artist and illustrator, and later a professor of comparative anatomy.

Haeckel was a flamboyant figure.

On the other hand, Michael K. Richardson, Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Zoology, Leiden University, while recognizing that some criticisms of the drawings are legitimate ( indeed, it was he and his co-workers who began the modern criticisms in 1998 ), has supported the drawings as teaching aids, and has said that " on a fundamental level, Haeckel was correct "

Wilhelm His was one of Haeckel ’ s most authoritative and primary opponents advocating physiological embryology.

The first suggestion of fakery against Haeckel was made in late 1868 by Ludwig Rutimeyer in the Archiv fur Anthropogenie.

As a pioneer in mammalian embryology, he was one of Haeckel ’ s strongest critics.

Nevertheless, Bischoff ’ s main argument was in reference to Haeckel ’ s drawings of human embryos, for Haeckel is later accused of miscopying the dog embryo from him.

Throughout Haeckel ’ s time, criticism of his embryo drawings was often due in part to his critics ' belief in his representations of embryological development as “ crude schemata .” In this way, Haeckel specifically selected relevant features to portray in his drawings.

Ernst Haeckel was particularly ardent, aiming to synthesise Darwin's ideas with those of Lamarck and Goethe while still reflecting the spirit of Naturphilosophie.

The concept of a biotope was first advocated by Ernst Haeckel ( 1834-1919 ): a German zoologist famous for the recapitulation theory.

On the other hand, it does seem likely that Marr was influenced by Ernst Haeckel, a professor who popularized the notion of Social Darwinism among Germany's educated classes.

Indeed, it was the question of where to put such " unclassifiable " creatures that prompted Ernst Haeckel to add a third kingdom to the Animale and Vegetabile of Linnaeus: the Kingdom Protista.

The term nekton was coined in 1890 by Ernst Haeckel ; it is rooted in the Greek adjective νηκτός nēktós (" the swimming ") derived from the verb νήχειν nḗkhein (" to swim ").

Amniota was first formally described by embryologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866 on the presence of the amnion, hence the name.

Nevertheless, his chief interest was in human evolution, influenced by Ernst Haeckel, who reasoned that there must be intermediate species between apes and human.

Historians write that most such political and economic commentators had only a superficial understanding of Darwin's scientific theory, and were as strongly influenced by other concepts about social progress and evolution, such as the Lamarckian ideas of Spencer and Haeckel, as they were by Darwin's work.

Similarities can be seen along the first two rows ; the appearance of specialized characters in each species can be seen in the columns and a diagonal interpretation leads one to Haeckel ’ s idea of recapitulation.

Karl E. von Baer and Haeckel both struggled to model one of the most complex problems facing embryologists at the time: the arrangement of general and special characters during development in different species of animals.

While often seen as rejecting Darwin's theory of branching evolution for a more linear Lamarckian " biogenic law " of progressive evolution, this is not accurate: Haeckel used the Lamarckian picture to describe the ontogenic and phylogenic history of the individual species, but agreed with Darwin about the branching nature of all species from one, or a few, original ancestors.

The series of twenty-four embryos from the early editions of Haeckel ’ s Anthropogenie remain the most famous.

late 20th and early 21st century critics, Jonathan Wells and Stephen Jay Gould, have objected to the continued use of Haeckel ’ s embryo drawings in textbooks.

Romanes ' 1892 copy of Ernst Haeckel's allegedly fraudulent embryo drawings ( this version of the figure is often attributed incorrectly to Haeckel ).

Haeckel ’ s embryo drawings are primarily intended to express his idiosyncratic theory of embryonic development, the Biogenetic Law, which in turn assumes ( but is not crucial to ) the evolutionary concept of common descent.

In his drawings, Haeckel cites the notochord, pharyngeal arches and clefts, pronephros and neural tube as palingenetic features.

In addressing his embryo drawings to a general audience, Haeckel does not cite any sources, which gives his opponents the freedom to make assumptions regarding the originality of his work.

Although Rutimeyer did not denounce Haeckel ’ s embryo drawings as fraud, he argued that such drawings are manipulations of public and scientific thought.

In 1877, Rudolf Virchow ( 1821 – 1902 ), once an inspiration to Haeckel at Würzburg, proclaimed that Haeckel ’ s embryo drawings represent mere hypotheses.

Michael Richardson and his colleagues in a July 1997 issue of Anatomy and Embryology, demonstrated that Haeckel fudged his drawings in order to exaggerate the similarity of the phylotypic stage.

In a March 2000 issue of Natural History, Stephen Jay Gould argued that Haeckel “ exaggerated the similarities by idealizations and omissions .” As well, Gould argued that Haeckel ’ s drawings are simply inaccurate and falsified.

Some version of Haeckel ’ s drawings can be found in many modern biology textbooks in discussions of the history of embryology, with clarification that these are no longer considered valid.

Romanes's 1892 copy of Ernst Haeckel's controversial embryo drawings ( this version of the figure is often attributed incorrectly to Haeckel ).

Haeckel produced several embryo drawings that often overemphasized similarities between embryos of related species.

" Moreover, " vertebrate embryos, for most of the longest period of middevelopment, do look remarkably alike, pretty much, but not exactly, as Haeckel figured them in some of his drawings "( emphasis in original ).

For example, Haeckel proposed that the pharyngeal grooves between the pharyngeal arches in the neck of the human embryo resembled gill slits of fish, thus representing an adult " fishlike " developmental stage as well as signifying a fishlike ancestor.

Haeckel introduced the concept of " heterochrony ", which is the change in timing of embryonic development over the course of evolution.

Haeckel ’ s illustrations show vertebrate embryos at different stages of development, which exhibit embryonic resemblance as support for evolution, recapitulation as evidence of the Biogenetic Law, and phenotypic divergence as evidence of von Baer ’ s laws.

The term, ‘ recapitulation ,’ has come to embody Haeckel ’ s Biogenetic Law, for embryonic development is a recapitulation of evolution.

Haeckel argues that certain features in embryonic development are conserved and palingenetic, while others are caenogenetic.

In response to Haeckel ’ s evolutionary claim that all vertebrates are essentially identical in the first month of embryonic life as proof of common descent, His responds by insisting that a more skilled observer would recognize even sooner that early embryos can be distinguished.

Haeckel encountered numerous oppositions to his artistic depictions of embryonic development during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Haeckel ’ s opponents believe that he de-emphasizes the differences between early embryonic stages in order to make the similarities between embryos of different species more pronounced.