20世纪以来，生物科学的发展异军突起，成为发展最快的学科，不仅学科分类逐渐细化，而且研究领域也逐渐深入，然而，这种分化和深入也可能会掩盖生物的一些最普遍特征。地球上的生物是否具有统一的、更本质的特征？能否把不同生物学领域和不同层次的知识联系起来？随着对这些问题的不断探索，一门新兴的学科——生态化学计量学，在最近20年悄然兴起。生态化学计量学结合了生物学、化学和物理学等基本原理，是研究生物系统能量平衡和多重化学元素（主要是C、N、P）平衡的科学。这一研究领域使得生物学科不同层次（分子、细胞、有机体、种群、生态系统和全球尺度）的研究理论能够有机地统一起来。目前，生态化学计量学已经广泛应用于种群动态、生物体营养动态、微生物营养、寄主_病原关系、生物共生关系、消费者驱动的养分循环、限制性元素的判断、生态系统比较分析和森林演替与衰退及全球C、N、P生物地球化学循环等研究中，并取得了许多研究成果。该文概述了生态化学计量的概念、历史起源和基本理论，重点介绍了生态化学计量学理论在消费者驱动的养分循环、限制性养分元素判别以及全球C、N、P循环等方面的应用进展，并对生态化学计量学未来的研究方向进行了展望，期望引起国内同行的重视并有助于推动我国在此领域开展相关研究。
The biological sciences developed very fast during the 20th century and have become increasingly sophisticated and predictive. Along with this trend, areas of research also have become increasingly specialized and fragmented. However, this fragmentation and specialization risks overlooking the most inherent biological characteristics of living organisms. One can ask if the living organism son the earth have unified and essential characteristics that can connect the disparate disciplines and levels of biological study from molecular structure of genes to ecosystem dynamics. By exploring this question, a new science, ecological stoichiometry, has been developed over the past two decades. Ecological stoichiometry is a study of the mass balance of multiple chemical elements in living systems; it analyzes the constraints and consequences of these mass balances during ecological interactions. All biological entities on the earth have a specific elemental composition and specific elemental requirements, which influence their interactions with other organisms and their abiotic environment in predictable ways. Ecological stoichiometry has been incorporated successfully into many levels of biology from molecular, cellular, organismal and population to ecosystem and globe. At present, the principles of ecological stoichiometry have been broadly applied to research on population dynamics, trophic dynamics, microbial nutrition, host_pathogen interactions, symbiosis, comparative ecosystem analysis, and consumer_driven nutrient cycling. This paper reviews the concepts, research history, principles, and applications of ecological stoichiometry and points out future research hotspots in this dynamic field of study with an aim to promote this discipline of research in China.