Resources shortage and environmental issues resulting from unsuitable resources exp,loitation and utilization have promoted the development of resourc es science.Many researches have been made in the field of resources science but most of them focus on the qualitative analysis or semi,quantitative analysis.Acc ording to the progress stage of resources science, tradi,tional stage is a stati c research focusing on two main contents:the research of investigation and evalu ation of natural resources and of synthetical research of population,resources a nd environ,ment.In this article,on the basis of reviewing the progress and featu res of resources science in different stage and from the angle of the influence of ecology on resources science,the authors attempt to illustrate the concept,co nnotation and methods of resources flow.Obviously,the weaknesses of traditional research lie in that the same resource belongs to different departments and the separation in benefit distribution has led to the confusion of resources managem ent and a low rate of resources utilization. Modern stage has imbibed the though t and method of ecology.Absorbed the principles and methodology of ecology,espec ially the ecological system and flow analysis,resource flow takes the resources as the compound of a net structure composing of different disciplines,different regions and different departments and a link structure from exploitation to cons umption.The analysis of resource flow is helpful to describe the dynamic process and mechanism of exploitation and utilization of natural resources.Lastly,two t ypical cases of timbers and maize were analyzed.