The core mission of the EEB cluster is the advancement of basic knowledge in ecology and evolutionary biology. Areas of inquiry include: the perception and responses of organisms to their environment, the dynamics of genomes, organisms, populations and communities in ecological and evolutionary time, and the properties of communities and ecosystems that permit and constrain resilience in the presence of environmental change. Study systems within EEB range from genes to ecosystems, microscopic to global, terrestrial to aquatic, local to international, and contemporary to deep evolutionary time. Research programs typically include a mix of experiments, bioinformatics, mathematical models, and structured field observations. In all cases, the goal is to gain new scientific understanding that is broader than the study system. Basic knowledge of ecology and evolutionary biology has always been relevant to human endeavors, but never more so than in the 21st century when it has become foundational to the environmental security of people everywhere.