Ecology





Ecology (from Greek oikos meaning "house" and logos "science") is the
science of the habitat. The term was invented in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel, a
German pro-darwinist biologist. Ecology is the study of the interactions
between living things and the environment. The environment includes both the
abiotic environment Ñ non-living things like climate and geology Ñ and the
biotic environment Ñ living things like plants and animals. Much of
ecological research is concerned with the distribution and abundance of
organisms and how distributions are influenced by characteristics of the
environment. Organisms influence their environment and the environment
influences organisms.

A quite frequent definition consists in defining ecology (or scientific
ecology, or natural ecology) as the science of the following triangular
relationship :

   * relationship between organisms of a species (for example, study of a
     rabbit, and how it relates to other rabbits, e.g. high reproductive
     rate result in increasing number of rabbits);
   * the organized activity of this species (i.e., the effect the increasing
     food uptake by rabbits has on their environement, e.g., eating all the
     food result in no more food)
   * and the environment of this activity (i.e., the resulting consequences
     of the environment evolution on the rabbit, e.g. no more food to eat
     result in rabbit death); the environment is at the same time the
     product and the condition of this activity and thus of the survival of
     the species.

The term ecology holds different meanings depending on who use it. For many
scientists, ecology belongs to basic biological sciences. However, most
ecologists would argue that ecology is a science on its own. For many,
ecology is before anything "nature protection", as if there was on one side
humans and on the other side a virgin Nature, to protect from human
activity. Other people estimate that ecology is much more than just biology,
but rather a certain vision of the world, which would consist in living in
harmony with the other living beings, in not seing the other organisms which
surrounds us as mere objects to be used, but rather as organisations,
entities belonging to a larger coherent system. According to Serge
Moscovisci for example, there are three approaches to define ecology:

   * an emotional organic orientation : this refers to what a human being
     feels, a feeling of love toward Earth, a desire of living a quiet and
     simple life, to breath pure air, to drink clean water, to preserve an
     certain environment
   * a technical orientation : seeking to understand the way ecosystems are
     working, relations of cooperation/competition between organisms...and
     to find ways to solve the problems arising (pollution , extinction,
     accumulation of waste)
   * a political orientation : these relate to society choices, such as
     choice of research directions, decision over use of certain
     technologies, or use of natural resources, waste management.

From an ecological point of view, the Earth consists of a hydrosphere, a
lithosphere, a geosphere and a biosphere. An assemblage of natural
communities and species, within areas of ecological potential based on soil,
climate and topography parameters are called ecoregions, and constitute a
basic element in ecology.

Ecology includes many sub-disciplines including theoretical ecology, applied
ecology, behavioral ecology, macroecology, systems ecology, ecosystems
ecology, community ecology, social ecology, population ecology, landscape
ecology, conservation ecology, soil ecology, paleoecology, microbial
ecology, ecoevolution and agroecology. Ecology also plays important roles in
the inter-disciplinary fields of ecological economics, ecological health,
ecological design and ecological engineering.

An interesting, but somewhat controversial idea in ecology is the Gaia theory (science).