The British Ecological Society is a learned society in the field of ecology that was founded in 1913. It was the first ecological society in the world. The society's original objective was "to promote and foster the study of Ecology in its widest sense" and this remains the central theme guiding its activities today. The society has almost 4000 members of which 14% are students. It has always had an international membership and currently 38% are outside the United Kingdom, in a total of 92 countries.
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Publication of scientific journals is a principal activity. The Journal of Ecology was first published in 1913 in time for the inaugural meeting of the society, followed by the Journal of Animal Ecology (1932), Journal of Applied Ecology (1964), Functional Ecology (1987), and Methods in Ecology and Evolution (2010). Members can subscribe to these journals at a low cost.
The society also runs several major scientific meetings for ecologists each year. The Annual Meeting currently attracts 700 delegates each year and provides the opportunity for ecologists to present papers and posters on a wide variety of topics; an important element has always been the active participation of research students. There is an increasing number of delegates from overseas, principally Europe. It is Europe’s largest annual meeting of ecologists. Since 1960 the society has run an Annual Symposium and published a volume of its papers. It supports a range of other specialist meetings, workshops, training events, and field meetings.