One of the main tenets of macroecology is that, despite the apparent complexity and randomness of ecological systems, they exhibit a significant degree of order.
This order is particularly evident in statistical patterns related to organism interactions, their relationships with the environment, and the emergent structures and dynamics of ecological systems.
As put by Brown (1999),[1] "Despite their complexity, ecological systems are not haphazard collections of organisms interacting randomly.
[3] The term "macroecology" was first introduced by Venezuelan researchers Guillermo Sarmiento and Maximina Monasterio in 1971[4] and was later adopted by James Brown and Brian Maurer in their 1989 paper in Science.
[1] In essence, macroecology adopts a "top-down" approach, focusing on understanding the properties of entire systems (populations, communities, assemblages etc.)