ECOLOGY

 

ECOLOGY

 

DEFINITION:

Ecology, often known as ecological science, is a discipline of biology that investigates how plants and animals interact with their physical and biological surroundings.

EXPLANATION:

Light and heat, or solar radiation, moisture, wind, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrients in the soil, water, and the atmosphere are all part of the physical environment. Other varieties of plants and animals, as well as organisms of the same sort, make up the biological environment.

Ecology is a subfield of environmental science that is frequently misunderstood. Environmental science also analyses interactions of purely physical characteristics that do not involve biological systems, even though both are multidisciplinary sciences that focus on the interactions of populations of species. Environmentalism, which focuses on human-caused damage to the natural environment, is sometimes confused with ecology. Similarly, the terms ecologic and ecological are used interchangeably to mean "environmentally friendly. "Studies of animal populations and their surroundings can be traced back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle and his follower Theophrastus, despite ecology being a relatively recent study that only gained prominence in the second part of the twentieth century. As early as the fourth century B.C.E., Theophrastus articulated interrelationships among animals and between creatures and their surroundings. With the publication of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species in 1850, as well as the work of his contemporary and opponent Alfred Russel Wallace, the field began to bloom.

Wallace identified the interconnectedness of animal and plant species and classified them as bioeconomic, or living communities. Eduard Suess, an Austrian geologist, coined the word "biosphere" in 1875 to describe the various conditions that favor life on Earth. Environmentalists and other conservationists have used ecology and other sciences to bolster their advocacy positions since the 19th century. For political or economic reasons, environmentalist viewpoints are frequently divisive.

As a result, some ecological research has a direct impact on policy and political discourse, which in turn influences ecological research. The National Audubon Society, whose public policy office is in Washington, D.C., works with Congress, the executive branch of the federal government, and the media to promote environmental conservation, and is an example of a powerful environmentalist advocacy organization.

The basic tenet of ecology is that every living entity has an ongoing and continuous relationship with every other component of its environment. Ecology can be described as any condition in which creatures interact with their surroundings. Food chains or food webs connect species within the environment. Energy from the sun is acquired by primary producers (plants) via photosynthesis and moves upward up the food chain to primary consumers (plant-eating animals, or herbivores), secondary and tertiary consumers (meat-eating animals, or carnivores), and finally to waste heat. The matter is integrated into decomposers (such as mushrooms and bacteria), which destroy nutrients and return them to the ecosystem as a result of this process. The concept of an ecosystem can be applied to a pond, a field, or a patch of deadwood of various sizes. A micro-ecosystem is a tiny ecological unit. An ecosystem, for example, can be a stone with all the life beneath it. A forest is a meso-ecosystem, whereas an ecoregion is a macro ecosystem.

An ecological crisis can develop when a species or population's environment changes in a way that threatens the species' survival. A change in the climate (such as increased temperature or decreased rainfall), an exceptional incident (such as an oil spill), increased predatory activity (such as overfishing), or explosive development in the population of the species may all trigger the crisis.

Human actions have had a significant impact on many ecosystems during the last few centuries, diminishing the amount of forest on the planet (deforestation), increasing the amount of land devoted to agriculture, buildings, and highways, and polluting ecosystems.

ECOLOGICAL SUBDISCIPLINES

Physiological Ecology (or Ecophysiology) and Behavioral Ecology are two branches of ecology.

These studies look at how an individual adapts to their surroundings.

Ecology of Populations (or Autecology)

This research focuses on the population dynamics of a particular species or a related group of species (such as animal, plant, or insect ecology).

Ecology of the Community (or Synecology)

The interactions between species within an ecological community are the focus of this study.

Ecology of Ecosystems

This research looks at how energy and matter travel across ecological components.

Ecology of the Landscape

This research looks at processes and relationships across different ecosystems or very vast geographic areas (for example, Arctic or polar ecology, desert ecology, tropical ecology, and marine ecology).

Ecology of Humans

As diverse as the ecosystems and animals you research, an ecologist's job options are as many as the environments and animals you study. Basically, an ecologist is needed in any situation where research on the interaction of species and the environment is required. Oceans, deserts, woods, towns, grasslands, rivers, and every other part of the globe are studied by ecologists. Ecologists are increasingly collaborating with physical scientists, social scientists, policymakers, and computer programmers to better understand how species interact with one another and with their surroundings. Educators, technicians, field scientists, administrators, consultants, and authors are all examples of ecologists.