To this end, the society organises an annual conference with workshops, awards prizes, publishes the international journal Basic and Applied Ecology and writes statements such as on new genetic engineering (2023), biodiversity loss (2022) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (2015).

The publicationVerhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Ökologie (ISSN 0171-1113) published from 1972 to 2000 articles of summaries of oral presentations or posters at the annual conference.

[2] Amont these ecologists were Heinz Ellenberg, Wolfgang Haber, Lore Steubing, Heinrich Walter and Otti Wilmanns.

[2] At the beginning of the 2000s, the society became internationally orientated and the English-language journal Basic and Applied Ecology was launched and the conferences were held in English.

[4] Presidents of the society before Christian Ammer (since 2019) were Lore Steubing (1970–1972), Paul Müller (1972–1976), Karl-Friedrich Schreiber (1976–1979), Wolfgang Haber (1979–1990), Wilhelm Kuttler (1993–1996), Robert Guderian (1997–1999), Jörg Pfadenhauer (2000–2005) and Volkmar Wolters (2005–2019).