Ecology is a discipline with a firm but broad theoretical foundation. At the same time, we continually hear that ecology has no laws or general theories. The failure to recognize the rich theoretical bases for ecology is due to a misunderstanding of the nature of a general theory, and the lack of a clearly articulated framework for that general theory. This symposium will address both of these issues. A general theory of ecology will be presented, showing that a broad framework consists of just seven fundamental principles. From that broad framework can be derived all of the constitutive theories of ecology. A constitutive theory consists of a clearly defined domain and set of propositions from which specific models can be derived. The symposium will include presentations of constitutive theories representing the breadth of the discipline, including population dynamic theory, foraging theory, metacommunity theory, disturbance and succession theory, extremum theory, ecosytem theory, diversity gradient theory, metabolic scaling theory, and global change theory. Each talk will lay out the key propositions that compose each theory, and link those propositions to well-known models.