Ecology

Ecology, or ecological science, is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how these properties are affected by interactions between the organisms and their environment. The environment of an organism includes both the physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors like climate and geology, as well as the other organisms that share its habitat. The term oekologie was coined in 1866 by the German biologist, Ernst Haeckel, from the Greek oikos meaning "household" and logos meaning "study"; hence, the "study of the household of nature".

Scope

Ecology is usually considered a branch of biology, the general science that studies living beings. Organisms can be studied at many different levels, from proteins and nucleic acids (in biochemistry and molecular biology), to cells (in cellular biology), to individuals (in botany, zoology, and other similar disciplines), and finally at the level of populations, communities, and ecosystems, to the biosphere as a whole — these latter strata are the primary subjects of ecological inquiries. Ecology is a multi-disciplinary science. Because of its focus on the higher levels of the organization of life on earth and on the interrelations between organisms and their environment, ecology draws heavily on many other branches of science, especially geology and geography, meteorology, pedology, chemistry, and physics. Thus, ecology is said to be a holistic science, one that over-arches older disciplines such as biology which in this view become sub-disciplines contributing to ecological knowledge.

Related Topics:
Biology - Beings - Proteins - Nucleic acid - Biochemistry - Molecular biology - Cells - Cellular biology - Botany - Zoology - Population - Ecosystem - Biosphere - Multi-disciplinary - Environment - Geology - Geography - Meteorology - Pedology - Chemistry - Physics - Holistic science

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Agriculture, fisheries, forestry, medicine and urban development are among human activites that would fall within Krebbs' (1972: 4) explanation of his definition of ecology: "where organisms are found, how many occur there, and why".

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As a scientific discipline, ecology does not dictate what is "right" or "wrong". However, maintaining biodiversity and related ecological goals have provided a scientific basis for expressing the goals of environmentalism and have given scientific methodology, measure, and terminology to environmental issues. Additionally, a holistic view of nature is stressed in both ecology and environmentalism.

Related Topics:
Biodiversity - Environmentalism - Holistic view

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Consider the ways an ecologist might approach studying the life of honeybees:

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• the behavioral relationship between individuals of a species is behavorial ecology — for example, the study of the queen bee, and how she relates to the worker bees and the drones.
• the organized activity of a species is community ecology; for example, the activity of bees assures the pollination of flowering plants. Bee hives additionally produce honey which is consumed by still other species, such as bears.
• the relationship between the environment and a species is environmental ecology — for example, the consequences of environmental change on bee activity. Bees may die out due to environmental changes (see pollinator decline). The environment simultaneously affects and is a consequence of this activity and is thus intertwined with the survival of the species.

Disciplines of ecology

:Main Article: Disciplines of ecology

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Ecology is a broad science which can be subdivided into major and minor sub-disciplines. The major sub-disciplines include (in a nested series from the smallest to the largest in scope):

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• Physiological Ecology (or ecophysiology), which studies the influence of the biotic and abiotic environment on the physiology of the individual, and the adaptation of the individual to its environment;
• Behavioral ecology, which studies the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior, and the roles of behavior in enabling animals to adapt to their ecological niches;
• Population ecology (or autecology), which deals with the dynamics of populations within species, and the interactions of these populations with environmental factors;
• Community ecology (or synecology) which studies the interactions between species within an ecological community;
• Landscape ecology, which studies the interactions between discrete elements of a landscape;
• Ecosystem ecology, which studies the flows of energy and matter through ecosystems;
• Global ecology, which looks at ecological questions at the global level, often asking macroecological questions.

Ecology can also be sub-divided on the basis of target groups:

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• animal ecology, plant ecology, insect ecology;

or from the perspective of the studied biomes:

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• arctic ecology (or polar ecology), tropical ecology, desert ecology

(temperate zone ecology could also exist as a distinct sub-field, but ecology as a whole has an overwhelmingly temperate bias, so the sub-field is redundant).

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