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Biotic pollination vector
Ecology is the branch or aspect ofbiology that studies thebiota (living things), theenvironment, and their interactions. It comes from theGreekoikos = house;logos = study.
Ecology is the study ofecosystems. Ecosystems describe the web or network of relations among organisms at different scales of organization. Since ecology refers to any form ofbiodiversity, ecologists research everything from tinybacteria innutrientrecycling to the effects oftropicalrain forests on theEarth's atmosphere. Scientists who study these interactions are calledecologists.
A graph of a population which reaches carrying capacity
Population ecology measures the size of apopulation: all the living things from onespecies that live in an place.[5]: 5 A populationgets bigger because ofbirth and movement into a place, and it gets smaller because ofdeath and movement out of a place. Growth rate is the change in population size divided by the current population size. When a population is small, growth rate does not change, so the population showsexponential growth.[5]: 688-691 Rate of exponential growth depends on how a living thing reproduces. If it has only a fewoffspring (children) which grow slowly, like a human, the rate will be low. If it has a lot of offspring which grow quickly, like afruit fly, the rate will be high.[6]: 1042 Any environment only has enoughnatural resources, such as food, water, or space, for a certain size of population. This size is called thecarrying capacity. When population size is near the carrying capacity, growth rate will become less. The graph of population growth will be an S-shape, called logistic growth.[5]: 688-691
Acommunity is all populations of different species that live in the same place.[5]: 5 Anecosystem is a community and its environment. Ecosystem ecology studies howenergy andnutrients move through an ecosystem.[7] All living things needenergy to survive, move, grow, and reproduce. Atrophic level is the number of times energy moves from one living thing to another, before reaching a particular living thing. The first trophic level, called producers orautotrophs, gets energy from the environment. They use the energy to makeorganic compounds. Most producers, such as plants, take in energy from sunlight, but some take it frominorganic compounds.[8] Other trophic levels, called consumers orheterotrophs, get their energy by eating other living things. All animals are consumers, and there are three kinds:herbivores,carnivores, andomnivores. Herbivores eat only plants, carnivores eat only other animals, and omnivores eat both.Decomposers are living things which break down dead things. Afood web shows the movement of energy in an ecosystem.[5]: 732-733
Ecology starts many powerful philosophical and political movements - including the conservation movement, wellness movement, environmental movement, and ecology movement we know today. When these are combined withpeace movements and the Six Principles, they are calledgreen movements. In general, these put ecosystem health first on a list of human moral and political priorities, as the way to achieve better human health and social harmony, and bettereconomics.
People with these beliefs are called political ecologists. Some have organized into the Green Parties, but there are actually political ecologists in most political parties. They very often use arguments from ecology to advancepolicy, especiallyforest policy and energypolicy.
Also, ecology means that it is the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.
Lynn Margulis says that economics studies how humans make a living, while ecology studies how every other animal makes a living.
Mike Nickerson says that "economy is three-fifths of ecology", since ecosystems create resources and dispose of waste, which the economy assumes is done "for free".
Ecologicaleconomics and human development theory try to separate the economic questions from others, but it is difficult. Many people think economics is just part of ecology now, and that economics that ignores it is wrong. "Naturalcapital" is an example of onetheory combining both.
Sometimes ecology is compared toanthropology. Anthropology includes how our bodies and minds are affected by our environment, while ecology includes how ourenvironment is affected by our bodies and minds. There is even a type of anthropology called ecological anthropology, which studies how people interact with the environment.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery stated: "The earth teaches us more about ourselves than all the books. Because it resists us. Man discovers himself when he measures himself against the obstacle".
↑Omerod S.J. Pienkowski M.W. & Watkinson A.R. 1999. Communicating the value of ecology.Journal of Applied Ecology36, 847–855
↑Phillipson J. Lowe P. & Bullock J.M. 2009. Navigating the social sciences: interdisciplinarity and ecology.Journal of Applied Ecology46, 261–264
↑Steward T.A.et al. 2008. Beyond urban legends: an emerging framework of urban ecology, as illustrated by the Baltimore Ecosystem Study.BioScience58 139–150
