Phantom Ecology is both the purposeful modification of living organisms to address environmental challenges, as well as the study of interactions between these organisms and their physical environment.  Phantom Ecology extends from the realization that modern science cannot estimate past baselines of what healthy ecosystems look like (we degraded them prior to rigorous study) or standards for what “natural” really means, nor has science been successful in preserving ecosystem function given current and projected physical changes to the environment.