Consideration especially of as , particularly as they are dealt with physiologically as drug-like entities, and its role in regulating among consumer organisms.

Secondary metabolites are associated especially with plants, which use them as . Animals, for example, possesses defenses against these defenses, and those defenses are similar if not identical to impediments to drug utility.

These defenses particularly involve impediments to the pharmacokinetic factors known as absorption, , , and . Also relevant are pharmacodynamics, though in the case of toxins the "side effects" basically are the point (or, at least, as from the perspective of toxin-producing organisms), that is, rather than toxins instead benefiting the consumer.

So-called , though, can fall under the heading of PharmEcology as well.

From :

Pharmacology is the "study of drugs, their sources, their nature and properties"… Similarly, many studying chemical interactions between prey and consumers focus on the sources of secondary metabolites (SMs, i.e., which plants have them and which ones do not), their nature (isolation, identification, and quantification of SMs) and their properties (how they affect consumers' behavior and physiology). Pharmacology can therefore provide a logical framework to fully integrate chemical, physiological, behavioral, and interactions between prey and consumers. Some ecologists have embraced aspects of pharmacology to explain biochemical interactions between plants and herbivores.