The Department of Ecology was founded in 2003 and is responsible for teaching and cultivating undergraduates and graduates. The department consists of different disciplines such as Ecology (national key discipline), Botany, Zoology, Hydrobiology, Bioinformatics and Wildlife Conservation. The department owns four doctoral programs and six master’s programs. Over fifty postgraduate candidates are enrolled annually. There are about eighty postgraduate candidates and about forty doctoral candidates currently pursuing their degrees.

There are two academicians in the department from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one professor of “Cheung Kong Scholars,” three staff selected as the "Candidates of Cross-century and New Century Program Supported by the Ministry of Education," one excellent teacher of “Winner of National Renowned Teachers” and one teacher selected as “Master Teachers of Beijing Universities.” There are fifteen professors, nine associate professors, three senior engineers, three senior laboratory technicians, three lecturers, fifteen doctoral supervisors, ten advisers to MA candidates and one team under “Ministry of Education Innovation Group.” The department is responsible for theoretical and experimental courses for undergraduate students, courses for graduate students and courses in the Field Study of Biology. In recent years, the department has published fifteen textbooks and academic monographs. There are three national excellent courses (General Zoology, Basic Ecology and Phytobiology), and one excellent course of Beijing Normal University (Field Study of Biology). Other achievements of the department include one project winning second place in the National Prize for Natural Sciences, one winning the first place of Natural Science Award, Ministry of Education and two projects of Beijing Teaching Achievement Prize.

With one national key discipline (Ecology), one Ministry of Education Key Laboratory (Biodiversity Conservation and Ecological Engineering) and one Key Laboratory of Beijing Normal University (Computational Molecular Biology), the department has created favorable conditions for fostering undergraduates and graduates under the solid focus of research and teaching.