ecology and environment???
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Ecology is the scientific study of the reciprocal relation between organisms, including microbes, plants, animals as well as man, with their environment. The term ecology was coined in 1868 derived from two Greek words "Oikos" meaning home and "Logos" meaning study.
Subdivisions of ecology:
There are three main subdivisions of ecology
1) Autecology: Study of the ecology of an individual with relation to the environment.
2) Synecology: Study of the ecology of groups or communities in relation to the environment.
3) Habitat ecology: Descriptive study of both the organisms and the kind of the environment or habitat where organisms live.
Environment:
The term environment is defined as "the sum total of living, non-living components; influences and events, surrounding an organism". The relationship and interaction between organism and environment are highly complex. Environment is broadly divided into two components: ABIOTIC or nonliving, BIOTIC or living.
The environment is not static. The biotic and abiotic factors are in a flux and keep on changing continuously. The organisms can tolerate changes in the environment within a certain range called "range of tolerance".
Subdivisions of ecology:
There are three main subdivisions of ecology
1) Autecology: Study of the ecology of an individual with relation to the environment.
2) Synecology: Study of the ecology of groups or communities in relation to the environment.
3) Habitat ecology: Descriptive study of both the organisms and the kind of the environment or habitat where organisms live.
Environment:
The term environment is defined as "the sum total of living, non-living components; influences and events, surrounding an organism". The relationship and interaction between organism and environment are highly complex. Environment is broadly divided into two components: ABIOTIC or nonliving, BIOTIC or living.
The environment is not static. The biotic and abiotic factors are in a flux and keep on changing continuously. The organisms can tolerate changes in the environment within a certain range called "range of tolerance".
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Food chain:
In a food chain, the food energy is transformed from a given source through a series of species, each of which eats even before itself in the chain. A sequence of organisms that feed on one another form a food chain. Food chain starts with producers and ends with top carnivores.
Types of food chains:
Based on the kinds of organisms that constitute the first trophic level, three types of food chains can be distinguished:
i) Grazing food chain: The consumers which start the food chain utilising the plant or plant part as their food constitute the grazing food chain.
ii) Detritus food chain: Detritus food chains begin with dead organic matter which is an important source of energy. Various species of microscopic fungi, bacteria and other saprophytes, play a prominent role in decomposing organic matter to obtain energy needed for the survival and growth. In this process they release various nutrients logged in dead organic matter which are readily used by the green plants. Detritus food chains are interconnected with grazing food chains and other auxiliary food chains.
iii) Auxiliary food chains: food chains operated through parasites and scavengers are called auxiliary food chains.
2) Nutrient Cycling: The nutrient cycling describes how nutrients move from physical environment to the living organisms, and subsequent recycling back to the environment. This movement of nutrients is essential for life to sustain and is a vital function of the ecology of any region. Nutrient cycles are of two types Gaseous cycle and Sedimentary cycle. Gaseous cycles are perfect nutrient cycles because the nutrients are replaced as fast as they are consumed whereas Gaseous cycles are called imperfect nutrient cycles as some nutrients are lost from the cycle and get locked into sediments and become unavailable for immediate recycling. Examples of gaseous cycles are hydrological, carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle. Examples of sedimentary cycles are phosphorous and sulphur cycle.
3) Ecological succession: Succession is a process in which a biotic community destroyed by natural or human causes is gradually replaced in a series of changes, through a series of intermediate successional changes leading to a climax stable community. Succession is a universal process of directional change in vegetation, on an ecological timescale. Succession is of two types: primary and secondary succession.
In a food chain, the food energy is transformed from a given source through a series of species, each of which eats even before itself in the chain. A sequence of organisms that feed on one another form a food chain. Food chain starts with producers and ends with top carnivores.
Types of food chains:
Based on the kinds of organisms that constitute the first trophic level, three types of food chains can be distinguished:
i) Grazing food chain: The consumers which start the food chain utilising the plant or plant part as their food constitute the grazing food chain.
ii) Detritus food chain: Detritus food chains begin with dead organic matter which is an important source of energy. Various species of microscopic fungi, bacteria and other saprophytes, play a prominent role in decomposing organic matter to obtain energy needed for the survival and growth. In this process they release various nutrients logged in dead organic matter which are readily used by the green plants. Detritus food chains are interconnected with grazing food chains and other auxiliary food chains.
iii) Auxiliary food chains: food chains operated through parasites and scavengers are called auxiliary food chains.
2) Nutrient Cycling: The nutrient cycling describes how nutrients move from physical environment to the living organisms, and subsequent recycling back to the environment. This movement of nutrients is essential for life to sustain and is a vital function of the ecology of any region. Nutrient cycles are of two types Gaseous cycle and Sedimentary cycle. Gaseous cycles are perfect nutrient cycles because the nutrients are replaced as fast as they are consumed whereas Gaseous cycles are called imperfect nutrient cycles as some nutrients are lost from the cycle and get locked into sediments and become unavailable for immediate recycling. Examples of gaseous cycles are hydrological, carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle. Examples of sedimentary cycles are phosphorous and sulphur cycle.
3) Ecological succession: Succession is a process in which a biotic community destroyed by natural or human causes is gradually replaced in a series of changes, through a series of intermediate successional changes leading to a climax stable community. Succession is a universal process of directional change in vegetation, on an ecological timescale. Succession is of two types: primary and secondary succession.
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