[10] In 2002, systematic research resulted in the inclusion of the formerly recognised families Empetraceae, Epacridaceae, Monotropaceae, Prionotaceae, and Pyrolaceae into the Ericaceae based on a combination of molecular, morphological, anatomical, and embryological data, analysed within a phylogenetic framework.

[14] In eastern North America, members of this family often grow in association with an oak canopy, in a habitat known as an oak-heath forest.

Most Ericaceae (excluding the Monotropoideae, and some Epacridoideae) form a distinctive accumulation of mycorrhizae, in which fungi grow in and around the roots and provide the plant with nutrients.

[23] The cultivation of blueberries, cranberries, and wintergreen for their fruit and oils relies especially on these unique relationships with fungi, as a healthy mycorrhizal network in the soil helps the plants to resist environmental stresses that might otherwise damage crop yield.

[25] These mycorrhizal fungi may also increase the tolerance of Ericaceae to heavy metals in soil, and may cause plants to grow faster by producing phytohormones.

[26] In many parts of the world, a "heath" or "heathland" is an environment characterised by an open dwarf-shrub community found on low-quality acidic soils, generally dominated by plants in Ericaceae.

[27] Heaths are particularly abundant – and constitute important cultural elements – in Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and other countries in Central and Western Europe.

[31] Other insects, such as Saturnia pavonia, Myrmeleotettix maculatus, Metrioptera brachyptera, and Picromerus bidens are closely associated with heathland environments.

[27] Some evidence suggests eutrophic rainwater can convert ericoid heaths with species such as Erica tetralix to grasslands.