The ecology (Greek: οἶκος,"house"or"living relations") is the branch of biological sciences that studies environmental systems, its field of scientific study being the distributions, abundance and relationships of organisms and their interactions with the environment.
Ecology includes the study of plant and animal populations and communities and ecosystems. The Ecosystems Describe the network of relations between organisms at different scales of organization.
This is why ecology is said to study environmental systems, while ecology is not interested in the individual components found in the natural world in isolation, but rather in the way in which those parts interact.
Because ecology refers to any form of Biodiversity , Ecologists investigate everything from the role of tiny bacteria in recycling nutrients to the effects of the rainforest on Earth's atmosphere.
The discipline of ecology emerged from the natural sciences at the end of the 19th century. It should be noted that ecology is not synonymous with environment, environmentalism or environmental science. It is closely related to the disciplines of physiology, evolution, genetics and behavior.
Field of study of ecology
Like many natural sciences, a conceptual understanding of ecology is found in the broader details of the study, including:
1- Life processes that explain the adaptations.
2- Distribution and abundance of organisms.
3- The movement of materials and energy through living communities.
4- How ecosystems are developed.
5- How and to what extent biodiversity is distributed.
There are many practical applications of ecology in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management (agriculture, forestry, fisheries), urban planning, community health, economics, basic and applied science and provide a conceptual framework for Understand and investigate human social interaction (human ecology).
Global patterns of biodiversity are complex. The complexity in ecology is of at least six different types: spatial, temporal, structural, procedural, behavioral and geometric.
For example, small-scale patterns do not necessarily explain large-scale phenomena.
Ecologists have identified emerging phenomena and self-organizers operating at different scales of environmental influence, from molecular to planetary, and requiring different sets of scientific explanation.
Long-term ecological studies provide important background for a better understanding of the complexity of ecosystems along broader spatial scales.
Scope of ecology
The scope of ecology is very broad, as it covers all organisms living on Earth and their physical and chemical environment.
For this reason, the field is generally divided into different levels of study including: ecology of organisms, population, community, ecosystem and landscape.
Ecology of Organisms
The ecology of organisms examines how individuals interact with their environment, which is composed of biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components.
At this level, ecology examines how organisms adapt to these living and non-living components of their environment.
These adaptations may be behavioral (behavioral) or a physiological or morphological adaptation that allows the species to survive in its environment.
Ecology of the population
A population is a group of individuals belonging to the same species and living in the same geographical area at any given time. They use the same natural resources and are affected by similar environmental factors.
The ecology of the population examines the factors that affect population density and distribution. Population density is the number of individuals in a given area or volume.
The distribution of the population is the way in which the individuals of that species extend within that area. It's basically how populations change over time.
By looking at birth rates and deaths from specific populations, ecologists can determine the carrying capacity (maximum number of individuals) that a habitat can sustain.
This helps determine if a species will thrive in a particular area, if it is in danger, or if its number needs to be controlled for other species to thrive and resources be replenished.
For example, the Earth's human carrying capacity is estimated at about 12 billion. In 2011, it is estimated that the population of the Earth reached 7 billion and continues to grow exponentially.
Ecology of the community
A biological community is composed of two or more populations of different species that inhabit a particular geographical area. Community ecology examines interactions between populations, for example, competition and predation.
One way to represent these relationships is through a food web, which shows predators and prey in a biological community.
Ecology of the ecosystem
Ecosystems are natural systems that are composed of living and non-living beings interacting together. Ecosystems come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and although they share many characteristics, each is unique.
Ecosystems have limits, but it can often be a challenge to determine where an ecosystem ends and another begins.
The ecology of the ecosystem arises from the need to establish a specific field of study given the complexity of ecosystems, with its multiple components and the importance of the information they contain about our natural world.
While the actual study of ecosystems has been going on for much longer, the term for the study of whole, living systems was developed in 1942.
Landscape Ecology
Landscape ecology is the study of the ecological effects of the spatial pattern of ecosystems, which involves the study of the distribution and abundance of elements within the landscape.
Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving the relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems.
As a highly interdisciplinary science in systems ecology, landscape ecology integrates biophysical and analytical approaches with humanistic and holistic perspectives through the natural sciences and social sciences.
References
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