Overview , branches., the histological development of ecology..

ECOLOGY
TOPIC 1:-OVERVIEW OF ECOLOGY
TOPIC 2:-HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
SUBMITTED TO
DR. VIKAS SRIVASTAVA SUBMITTED BY
RAJEEV RANJAN 6TH SEM.
22IBOT04

TOPIC 1:-OVERVIEW OF ECOLOGY
A. Definition
B. Branches
C. Significance

A. Definition
 Ecology is basically a branch of biology.
 It deals with study of interactions among organisms
and their biophysical environment.
 This biophysical environment includes both biotic
and abiotic components.
 The word "ecology" ("Ökologie") was coined in 1866
by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel.
 It is derived from the Greek words Oikos- home +
logos- study.
 The Biophysical environment in which all interactive
 mechanisms happen is called as an ecosystem.

 Alexander von Humboldt (18TH and 19th century) is
often considered as the father of ecology. He was
the first to study the relationship between organisms
and their environment, and described vegetation
zones using latitude and altitude, a discipline now
known as geobotany.
 Since the ecosystem is a geographic area where
plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as
weather and landscapes, work together to form a
bubble of life, earth science becomes the backbone
of ecology.
 Ecology deals with organisms, populations,
communities, ecosystems and the biosphere

 The place of living is the organism's environment.
Hence, ecology is sometimes, called as environmental
biology.
 In general, ecology is recognized as one of the natural
sciences.
 It is considered to be a science concerned with the
nature and the interrelations of living world.
 The term ecology has been derived from the Greek
word "oikos" meaning 'habitation' or
 'house' or 'living place'.
 One of the first ecologists may have been Aristotle or
perhaps his student, Theophrastus, both of whom
had interest in many species of animals.

 Theophrastus described interrelationships
 between animals and between animals and their
environment as early as the 4th century BC.
 Ecological thoughts are mostly derived from
established concepts of philosophy, ethics , politics
and natural history.
 Ancient Greek philosophers such as Hippocrates and
Aristotle laid the foundations of ecology in their
studies on natural history.
 Ramdeo Misra (1908-1998) is known as the "Father
of Indian Ecology". He was a pioneer in the fields of
ecology and environmental conservation

 Modern ecology became a much more rigorous
science in the late 19th century. Evolutionary
concepts relating to adaptation and natural
selection became the lead areas of study.
 In its early stages, the field was dominated by
scientists trained as botanists and zoologists.
 Eugene Pleasants Odum (1913-2002) is known as
the father of modern ecology.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND
BLOW AWAY STRESS…………

B.BRANCHES OF ECOLOGY
• Ecology is a broad discipline comprising many sub-
disciplines. The field of ecology can be
sub-divided according to the following classification
schemes:
 By level of complexity or scope
 By organisms under study
 By biome under study
 By geographic or climatic area under study
 By spatial scale under study

 By ecological aspects or phenomena under
investigation
 By technique used for investigation
 By environmental approach
By level of complexity or scope
1. Physiological ecology (ecophysiology).
2. Population ecology, also known as autoecology.
3. Historical Ecology.
4. Community ecology, also known as synecology.
5. Ecosystem ecology .
6. Systems ecology.
7. Landscape Ecology.
8. Habitat Ecology.

1.Physiological ecology (ecophysiology).
The factors of environment have a direct bearing on
the functional aspects of organisms.
The ecophysiology deals with the survival of
populations as a result of functional adjustments of
organisms with different ecological conditions.
2.Population ecology, also known as autoecology.
Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology.
 It deals with the dynamics of species populations and
how these populations interact with the environment.
 It is the study of how the population sizes of species
living together in groups change over time and space.
This was one of the first aspects of ecology to be studied
and modelled mathematically.

3. Historical Ecology.
 The term ‘historical ecology’ has been used with various meanings since the
first half of the 20th century.
 Studies labelled as historical ecology have been produced in at least four
academic disciplines: history, ecology, geography and anthropology.
 Historical ecology is a practical framework of concepts and methods for
studying the past and future of the relationship between people and their
environment.
4.Community ecology, also known as synecology.
 Community ecology is also known as synecology.
 It is the study of the interactions between species in communities on many
spatial and temporal scales, including the distribution, structure, abundance,
demography, and interactions between coexisting populations.
 The primary focus of community ecology is on the interactions between
populations as determined by specific genotypic and phenotypic
characteristics.

5.Ecosystem ecology
Ecosystem ecology is the integrated study of biotic and abiotic components
of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework.
This science examines how ecosystems work and relates this to their
components such as chemicals, bedrock, soil, plants, and animals.
6.Systems ecology
Systems ecology is an interdisciplinary field of ecology, a subset of Earth
system science, that takes a holistic approach to the study of ecosystems.
 It is an application of general systems theory to ecology.
It is particularly concerned with the analysis and understanding of the
function and structure of ecosystem by the use of applied mathematics, such
as advanced statistical techniques, mathematical models, characteristics of
computer sciences.
 Systems ecology (the study of energy budgets, biogeochemical cycles, and
feeding and behavioral aspects of ecological communities) also attempts to
clarify the structure and function of ecosystems by means of applied
mathematics, mathematical models, and computer programs.

7.Landscape Ecology :
Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships
between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems.
This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial
patterns, and organizational levels of research and policy.
Landscapes are spatially heterogeneous geographic areas characterized
by diverse interacting patches or ecosystems, ranging from relatively natural
terrestrial and aquatic systems such as forests, grasslands, and lakes to human-
dominated environments including agricultural and urban setting.
8.Habitat Ecology:
It deals with ecological study of different habitats on planet earth and their
effects on the organisms living there.
 According to the kind of habitat, ecology is subdivided into marine ecology
(oceanography), estuarine ecology”, fresh water ecology (limnology), and
terrestrial ecology.

By organisms under study
1. Behavioural ecology
2. Palaeoecology
3. Insect ecology
4. Microbial ecology

1.Behavioural ecology
Behavioural ecology is the study of behavioural interactions between individuals
within populations and communities, usually in an evolutionary context.
 It looks at how competition and cooperation between and within species affects
evolutionary fitness.
2.Paleoecology
Paleoecology deals with the ecology of the past. It is mainly concerned with
reconstructing past biota, populations, communities, landscapes, environments, and
ecosystems based on the available geological and biological (fossil) evidence.
3.Insect ecology
Insect ecology is the scientific study of how insects, individually or as a
community, interact with the surrounding environment or ecosystem.
 Insects play significant roles in the ecology of the world due to their vast diversity
of form, function and lifestyle; their considerable biomass; and their interaction with
plant life, other organisms and the environment.
4.Microbial ecology – Study of the relationship of microorganisms with their
environment.

By biome under study
1. Benthic ecology
2. Desert ecology
3. Forest ecology
4. Grassland ecology
5. Marine ecology
6. Aquatic Ecology
7. Freshwater ecology
8. Urban Ecology
9. Estuarine Ecology
10. Lacustrine Ecology/ Lake Ecology/ Limnology
11. Palustrine ecology

1.Benthic ecology
The animal, plant, and microbial residents of the lowest level of a body of water,
the benthos, live in close relationship with the sedimentary bottom.
2.Desert ecology
Deserts are most notable for their dry climates; usually a result from their
surrounding geography.
Deserts occupy one-fifth of the Earth's land surface and occur in two belts:
between 15° and 35° latitude in both the southern and northern hemispheres.
Desert ecology is the study of interactions between both biotic and abiotic
components of desert environments.
3.Forest ecology
Forest ecology is the study of all aspects of the ecology of wooded areas,
including rainforest, deciduous and evergreen, temperate and boreal forest.
 It includes the community ecology of the trees and other plant and non-plant
species, as well as ecosystem processes and conservation.
4.Grassland ecology
Grasslands are one of Earth’s major biomes and the native vegetation of up to
40 % of Earth’s terrestrial surface. Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is
dominated bygrasses (Poaceae); however, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush
(Juncaceae) families can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes,
like clover, and other herbs.

5.Marine ecology
Marine Ecology is the scientific study of marine-life habitat, populations, and interactions
among organisms and the surrounding environment including their abiotic (non-living
physical and chemical factors that affect the ability of organisms to survive and reproduce)
and biotic factors (living things or the materials that directly or indirectly affect an organism
in its environment).
6.Aquatic Ecology
Aquatic ecology is a tremendously rich and detailed field of study. Aquatic ecology includes
the study of these relationships in all aquatic environments, including oceans, estuaries,
lakes, ponds, wetlands, rivers, and streams.
7.Freshwater ecology is the study of the relationship between freshwater organisms and their
environment. This includes the study of streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, reservoirs and some
wetlands. Freshwater ecosystems provide us with many valuable services. They purify our
drinking water, supply irrigation for agriculture, recycle nutrients, help stem the severity of
floods and droughts and support fisheries and recreation.
8.Urban Ecology
Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and
their surroundings in the context of an urban environment. The urban environment refers to
environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings, paved
surfaces, and other urban-related factors that create a unique landscape dissimilar to most
previously studied environments in the field of ecology.

9.Estuarine Ecology
Esturarine wetlands are located in areas where a river, or other freshwater source, meets
the sea. They provide an important habitat for a range of species.
10.Lacustrine Ecology/ Lake Ecology/ Limnology
Lacustrine wetlands (lakes) are dominated by open water. Although lakes may have
fringing vegetation, the majority of the wetland area is open water.
 Dams and other artificial or modified wetlands often have similar characteristics to
natural lacustrine systems in that they also have deep, standing or slow-moving waters.
11.Palustrine ecology/marsh/bog/fen
Palustrine wetlands are what many people traditionally think of as a wetland—they are
vegetated, non-riverine or non-channel systems. They include billabongs, swamps, bogs,
springs, soaks etc. and have more than 30% emergent vegetation. They are an important part
of the landscape and provide habitat and breeding areas for a wide variety of species.
By geographic or climatic area under study
1. Geographic ecology (ecogeography)
a) Polar ecology
b) Tropical ecology

1.Geographic ecology (ecogeography):-
Geographical Ecology is a rapidly growing and integrative discipline. There are several
aspects in which the components of geography and ecology are similar in their concepts
and applications. Geography and ecology are related to each other .
MacArthur( The Theory of Island Biogeography, Geographical Ecology ) defined
geographic ecology as the search for patterns of plant and animal life that can be put on a
geographic space.
 Geographic ecology concentrates on the study of geographical distribution of animals
(zoogeography) and plants (phytogeography), and also of palaeoecology and biomes. By
geographic or climatic area under study, the following branches of ecology got emerged
during these years.
a.Polar ecology
Polar ecology refers to the relationship between plants and animals and a polar
environment. Polar climates are cold, windy and dry.
b.Tropical ecology
Tropical ecology is the study of the relationships between the biotic and abiotic
components of the tropics, or the area of the Earth that lies between the Tropic of Cancer
and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.4378° N and 23.4378° S, respectively). The tropical climate
experiences hot, humid weather and rainfall year-round.

By spatial scale under study
1. Global Ecology
2. Space ecology
3. Macroecology
4. Microecology
5. Microbial ecology
6. Molecular ecology

1.Global Ecology
Global Ecology - the study of the effects of regional change in energy and matter
exchange on the function and distribution of organisms across the biosphere.
2.Space ecology
It is a modern subdivision of ecology which is concerned with the development of
partially or completely regene-rating ecosystems for supporting life of man during long space
flights or during extended exploration of extra-terrestrial environments. The space debris
problem is becoming so critical that space may become too trashed to use at all.
It is found that over 12,000 pieces of space debris like dead satellites, exploded rockets,
nuts, bolts and other pieces of space technology, including 32 defunct nuclear reactors
totaling over a ton of radioactive fuel, are in space near the earth.
 All of this trash competes with more than 850 active satellites in low Earth orbit.
A collision with a piece of space trash the size of a grape (1cm) can seriously damage or
destroy a satellite, and a collision with a larger chunk of junk can explode a satellite causing
large amounts of additional debris.
The greatest threat to the space environment is the testing and deployment of missile
defense and anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons. Space ecology involves an actual space-based
ecosystem with all the entities.

3.Spatial Ecology
 Spatial Ecology studies the ultimate distributional or spatial unit occupied
by a species.
 In a particular habitat shared by several species, each of the species is
usually confined to its own microhabitat or spatial niche because two
species in the same general territory cannot usually occupy the same
ecological niche for any significant length of time.
 In nature, organisms are neither distributed uniformly nor at random,
forming instead some sort of spatial pattern. This is due to various energy
inputs, disturbances, and species interactions that result in spatially
patchy structures or gradients.
 This spatial variance in the environment creates diversity in communities
of organisms, as well as in the variety of the observed biological and
ecological events.
4.Macroecology
 Macroecology is the subfield of ecology that deals with the study of
relationships between organisms and their environment at large spatial
scales to characterise and explain statistical patterns of abundance,
distribution and diversity.

 The term was coined by James Brown of the University of New Mexico and
Brian Maurer of Michigan State University in a 1989 paper in Science.
 Macroecology approaches the idea of studying ecosystems using a "top
down" approach.
 Macroecology examines how global development in climate change affect
wildlife populations. Classic ecological questions amenable to study
through the techniques of macroecology include questions of species
richness, latitudinal gradients in species diversity, the species-area curve,
range size, body size, and species abundance.
5. Microecology
 Microecology means microbial ecology or ecology of a microhabitat.
 Human gut microecology is the study of microbial ecology of the human
gut. Microecology is a large field which includes many topics such as
evolution, biodiversity, exobiology, ecology, bioremediation, recycling, and
food microbiology.
 There are an estimated 1,000,000 different type of microbes that live on
this planet of which fewer than 4,500 have been described according to
the General Biodiversity Assessment .

6.Microbial ecology
 Most types of microbes remain unknown. It is estimated that we
know fewer than 1% of the microbial species on Earth. Yet microbes
surround us everywhere -- air, water, soil.
 An average gram of soil contains one billion (1,000,000,000)
microbes representing probably several thousand species. Microbial
ecology (or environmental microbiology) is the ecology of
microorganisms: their relationship with one another and with their
environment.
 It concerns the three major domains of life—Eukaryota, Archaea,
and Bacteria—as well as viruses. Microorganisms, by their
omnipresence, impact the entire biosphere. Microorganisms, by
their omnipresence, impact the entire biosphere.
 Microbial life plays a primary role in regulating biogeochemical
systems in virtually all of our planet's environments.

7.Molecular ecology
 Molecular ecology is a field of evolutionary biology that is concerned with
applying molecular population genetics, molecular phylogenetics, and more
recently genomics to traditional ecological questions (e.g., species diagnosis,
conservation and assessment of biodiversity, species-area relationships, and
many questions in behavioral ecology). It is virtually synonymous with the field
of "Ecological Genetics".
By ecological aspects or phenomena under
investigation
1. Chemical ecology
2. Ecotoxicology
3. Evolutionary ecology
4. Fire ecology
5. Functional ecology
6. Genetic ecology
7. Soil ecology
8. Theoretical ecology
9. Industrial Ecology
10. Radiation ecology

1.Chemical ecology:
 Chemical ecology is the study integrating chemistry and biology to
examine the chemical interactions among organisms and their
environment( i.e. microorganisms, phytophagous insects and their
antagonists). It also deals with the consequences of those interactions on
the ethology and evolution of the organisms involved.
 It is thus a vast and highly interdisciplinary field It includes signalling
processes and communication between individuals, for instance in
hormone responses. It concerns with the adaptations of animals of
 preferences of particular organisms like insects to parti-cular chemical
substances.
2.Ecotoxicology
 Ecotoxicology is the study of the effects of toxic chemicals on biological
organisms, especially at the population, community, ecosystem, and
biosphere levels.
 Ecotoxicology is a multidisciplinary field, which integrates toxicology and
ecology. The ultimate goal of this approach is to be able to reveal and to
predict the effects of pollution within the context of all other
environmental factors.

 The term "ecotoxicology" was coined by René Truhaut in 1969 who
defined it as "the branch of toxicology concerned with the study of toxic
effects, caused by natural or synthetic pollutants, to the constituents of
ecosystems, animal (including human), vegetable and microbial, in an
integral context”.
3.Evolutionary ecology
 Evolutionary ecology is a field within both ecology and evolution that
examines how interactions between and within species evolve. It explicitly
considers the evolutionary effects of competitors, mutualists, predators,
prey and pathogens.
 The basis of the central principles of evolutionary ecology can be
attributed to Charles Darwin (1809–1882), specifically in referencing his
theory of natural selection and population dynamics, which discusses how
populations of a species change over time.
 It approaches the study of ecology in a way that explicitly considers the
evolutionary histories of species and the interactions between them.
 The main subfields of evolutionary ecology are life history evolution,
sociobiology (the evolution of social behavior), the evolution of inter
specific relations (cooperation, predator–prey interactions, parasitism,
mutualism) and the evolution of biodiversity and of communities.

4.Fire ecology
 Fire ecology is an ecological discipline. It is concerned with natural
processes involving fire in an ecosystem and the ecological effects, the
interactions between fire and the abiotic and biotic components of an
ecosystem, and the role as an ecosystem process.
 Many ecosystems, particularly prairie, savanna, chaparral and coniferous
forests, have evolved with fire as an essential contributor to habitat
vitality and renewal.
 Many plant species in fire-affected environments require fire to
germinate, establish, or to reproduce. Wildfire suppression not only
eliminates these species, but also the animals that depend upon them.
 Fires will often break out during a dry season, but in some areas wildfires
may also commonly occur during a time of year when lightning is
prevalent. Fires can affect soils through heating and combustion
processes. Depending on the temperatures of the soils caused by the
combustion processes, different effects will happen- from evaporation of
water at the lower temperature ranges, to the combustion of soil organic
matter and formation of pyrogenic organic matter.
5.Functional ecology
 The notion that ecosystems' functions can be affected by their constituent
parts has its origins in the 19th century.

 Charles Darwin's "On The Origin of Species" is one of the first texts to
directly comment on the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem health by
noting a positive correlation between plant density and ecosystem
productivity.
 A functional approach to understanding and dealing with environments
provides numerous benefits to our understanding of biology and its
applications in our lives.
 Functional ecology is a branch of ecology that focuses on the roles, or
functions, that species play in the community or ecosystem in which they
occur. In this approach, physiological, anatomical, and life history
characteristics of the species are emphasized. The term "function"
 is used to emphasize certain physiological processes rather than discrete
properties, describe an organism's role in a trophic system, or illustrate
the effects of natural selective processes on an organism.
 Functional ecology often emphasizes an integrative approach, using
organism traits and activities to understand community dynamics and
ecosystem processes, particularly in response to the rapid global changes
occurring in earth's environment.

6.Genetic ecology
 Genetic ecology is the study of the stability and expression of varying
genetic material within abiotic mediums. This subject of study focuses on
interaction, exchange, and expression of genetic material that may not be
shared by species had they not been in the same environment.
7.Soil ecology
 Soil is a variable mixture of broken and weathered minerals and decaying
organic matter. Soil ecology is the study of the interactions among soil
biology, and between biotic and abiotic aspects of the soil environment.
 It is particularly concerned with the cycling of nutrients, formation and
stabilization of the pore structure, the spread and vitality of pathogens,
and the biodiversity of this rich biological community.
Theoretical ecology
 Theoretical ecology is the scientific discipline devoted to the study of
ecological systems using theoretical methods.
 These methods are simple conceptual models, mathematical models,
computational simulations, and advanced data analysis. Effective models
improve understanding of the natural world by revealing how the
dynamics of species populations are often based on fundamental
biological conditions and processes.

8.Industrial Ecology
 Industrial ecology (IE) is the study of material and energy flows through
industrial systems.
 The global industrial economy can be modelled as a network of industrial
processes that extract resources from the Earth and transform those
resources into commodities which can be bought and sold to meet the
needs of humanity. Industrial ecology seeks to quantify the material flows
and document the industrial processes that make modern society
function.
9.Radiation ecology:
 It is branch of ecology concerned with the effects of radio-active materials
on living systems and on the pathways by which they are dispersed
through ecosystems, including their dispersal through the abiotic
environment. It deals with the study of gross effects of radiations and
radioactive substances over the environment and living organisms.

By technique used for investigation
1. Field ecology
2. Quantitative ecology
1.Field ecology
 Field Ecology focuses on collecting, analyzing, and reporting data collected
in the field.
 Students learn a variety of field techniques for sampling plants, insects,
and vertebrates.
 Natural history and field ecology are essential building blocks for
successful conservation and management of herpetofauna. Topics include
methods in plant succession, niche relationships, influence of herbivores
and competitors on plant communities, aquatic food web analysis, use of
scientific collections, and presenting research results in written and oral
form.

2.Quantitative ecology
 Quantitative ecology is the application of advanced mathematical and
statistical tools to any number of problems in the field of ecology. It is a
small but growing subfield in ecology.
 There is a demand among practicing ecologists to interpret ever larger and
more complex data sets using quantitative reasoning.
 Quantitative ecologists might apply some combination of deterministic or
stochastic mathematical models to theoretical questions or they might use
sophisticated methods in applied statistics for experimental design and
hypothesis testing.
 Quantitative ecology, which mainly focuses on statistical and
computational methods for addressing applied problems, is distinct from
theoretical ecology which tends to explore
 focus on understanding the dynamics of simple mechanistic models and
their implications for a general set of biological systems using
mathematical arguments.

By environmental approach
1. Conservation Ecology
2. Deep ecology
3. Restoration ecology
4. Agroecology
5. Festive ecology
6. Human Ecology
7. Social ecology
8. Industrial Ecology
9. Production Ecology
10. Taxonomic Ecology
11. Applied Ecology

1.Conservation Ecology
 Conservation ecology is the branch of ecology and evolutionary biology that
deals with the preservation and management of biodiversity and natural
resources. It is a discipline that is emerging rapidly as a result of the
accelerating deterioration of natural systems and the worldwide epidemic of
species extinctions. Its goal is to find ways to conserve species, habitats,
landscapes, and ecosystems as quickly, as efficiently, and as economically as
possible.
2.Deep ecology
 The phrase "deep ecology" was coined by the Norwegian philosopher Arne
Næss in 1973.
 It is an Ecological and environmental philosophy promoting the inherent
worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs,
plus a radical restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with
such ideas.
 Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that the living environment as a
whole should be respected and regarded as having certain basic moral and
legal rights to live and flourish, independent of its instrumental benefits for
human use. Deep ecology takes a more holistic view of the world human
beings live in and seeks to apply to life the understanding that the separate
parts of the ecosystem (including humans) function as a whole.

3.Restoration ecology
 Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of
ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring
degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the
environment by active human intervention and action.
 Natural ecosystems provide various services in the form of resources such
as food, fuel, and timber; the purification of air and water; the
detoxification and decomposition of wastes; the regulation of climate; the
regeneration of soil fertility; and the pollination of crops.
 These ecosystem processes have been estimated to be worth trillions of
dollars annually. There is consensus in the scientific community that the
current environmental degradation and destruction of many of the Earth's
biota is taking place on a "catastrophically short timescale".
 Scientists estimate that the current species extinction rate, or the rate of
the Holocene extinction, is 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the normal,
background rate. Habitat loss is the leading cause of both species
extinctions and ecosystem service decline.

4.Agroecology
 Agroecology is the study of ecological processes applied to agricultural
production systems.
 Bringing ecological principles to bear in agroecosystems can suggest novel
management approaches that would not otherwise be considered. The
term is often used imprecisely and may refer to "a science, a movement,
[or] a practice". Agroecologists study a variety of agroecosystems.
 The field of agroecology is not associated with any one particular method
of farming, whether it be organic, integrated, or conventional, intensive or
extensive. However, it has much more in common with organic and
integrated farming.
5.Festive ecology
 Study of the relationships between the symbolism and the ecology of the
plants, fungi and animals associated with cultural events.
6.Human Ecology
• Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the
relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built
environments. It involves population ecology or man and man s relation to
the environment, especially man’s effects on the biosphere and the
implication of these effects for man.

 The term "human ecology" first appeared in Ellen Swallow Richards' 1907
Sanitation in Daily Life, where it was defined as "the study of the
surroundings of human beings in the effects they produce on the lives of
men".
 Human Ecology combines the ideas and methods from several disciplines,
including anthropology, sociology, biology, economic history and
archaeology.
 Our multidisciplinary approach enables us to comprehensively address
issues of environmental justice, sustainability and political ecology.
7.Social ecology
 Social Ecology is the study of relationships between people and their
environment, often the interdependence of people, collectives and
institutions. Social ecology is defined as the study of the relation between
the developing human being and the settings and contexts in which the
person is actively involved.
 Social ecology is a highly dynamic interdisciplinary research field rooted in
both social science and natural science traditions. Social ecology deals
with energy and society, land use and food production, the metabolism of
societies, and the environmental impacts of human activities.

8.Industrial Ecology
 Industrial processes, from material extraction through to product disposal,
have an adverse impact upon the environment. Industrial ecology aims to
reduce environmental stress caused by industry whilst encouraging
innovation, resource efficiency and sustained growth.
 Industrial ecology is a young science that studies industrial systems with
the goal of finding ways to lessen their environmental impact. Learn how
industries are using industrial ecology to reduce the use of natural
resources and generate less waste.
 Industries, such as manufacturing and energy plants, extract raw
materials and natural resources from the earth and transform them into
products and services that meet the demands of the population.
 Industrial ecology was developed as a way to better understand the
impact industry has on the environment.

9.Production Ecology:
 Biomass is the plant or animal material used for energy production
(electricity or heat), or in various industrial processes as raw material for a
range of products. The rate of biomass production is called productivity.
Productivity in ecosystems is of two kinds, i.e., primary and secondary.
Green plants fix solar energy and accumulate it in organic forms as
chemical energy. As this is the first and basic form of energy storage, the
rate at which the energy accumulates in the green plants or producers is
known as primary productivity.
 Productivity is a rate function, and is expressed in terms of dry matter
produced or energy captured per unit area of land, per unit time. In
ecology, productivity refers to the rate of generation of biomass in an
ecosystem. It is usually expressed in units of mass per unit surface (or
volume) per unit time(grams per square metre per day (g m−2 d−1)).
 The mass unit may relate to dry matter or to the mass of carbon
generated. Production ecology deals with the gross and net pro-duction of
different ecosystems like fresh water, sea water, agriculture, horticulture,
etc., and tries to do proper management of these eco-systems so that
maximum yield can be get from them.

10.Taxonomic Ecology:
 It is concerned with the ecology of different taxonomic groups of living
organisms and eventually in-cludes following divisions of ecology: microbial
ecology, mammalian ecology, avian ecology, insect ecology, parasitological,
human ecology and so on.
11.Applied Ecology:
 Applied ecology is a subfield of ecology. This subject considers the
application of ecology to real-world (usually management) questions. It is an
integrated treatment of the ecological, social, and biotechnological aspects
of natural resource conservation and management.
 Applied ecology aims to relate ecological concepts, theories, principles,
models, and methods to the solving of environmental problems, including
the management of natural resources, such as land, energy, food or
biodiversity.
 Applied ecology mainly focuses on the principles of geomorphology, soils,
and plant communities as the underpinnings for vegetation and wildlife
management.

If you want to take break, you can
take it for a while……….

C. Significance of ecology
Environmental Conversation
 By studying ecology, the emphasis is put on how every organism needs
other for peaceful coexistence.
 Having no ideas on ecology will responsible for degradation of land and
environment, which is the living place of other species leading to their
destruction.
Resource Allocation
 All plants and animals have roles in the environment as they sharing
limited natural resources such as air, minerals, space.
 Lack of ecological studies may be the cause of deprivation and looting of
these natural resources.

Energy Conservation
The entire living organism needs energy such as nutrition, light, radiation
etc. So lack of ecological studies will be the cause for destruction of the
energy resources. Oil, coal, and natural gases are the non-renewable
sources which will destruct the ozone layer.
Eco-friendliness
It helps to appreciate living among the organisms; this will follow natural
order of things.
Ecosystem services: World's Great Barrier Reef provides essential ecosystem
services such as water purification, which supports the marine biodiversity
and livelihoods of coastal communities.
Human-nature connection: Engaging with nature, whether through activities
like hiking, gardening, or wildlife observation, promotes a sense of awe,
serenity, and connectedness with the natural world. This connection with
nature enhances mental well-being and reduces stress.
Biomedical: World's unique biodiversity, such as funnel-web spiders and the
Kakadu plum, has the potential to be used in the development of new
medicines.

Human health: Air pollution can lead to respiratory diseases such as
asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema, which can have significant
impacts on human health and wellbeing. Ecologists study ways to
improve air quality via natural ecosystem processes.
Threatened species: To conserve iconic species like the Tasmanian
devil, ecologists and conservationists have developed strategies
such as captive breeding programs, habitat restoration, and public
education campaigns.
Forestry: Ecologists and foresters are working together to develop
more sustainable and ecologically-friendly approaches to forestry,
such as selective logging and forest restoration programs.
Agriculture: Ecologists and farmers are working together to develop
more sustainable and ecologically-friendly approaches to
agriculture, such as natural pest control.
Fisheries: Sustainable seafood production uses ecological knowledge
to ensure that fish populations are harvested at a level that allows
for their continued replenishment.

Topic:-2 Historical Development
1.The botanical geography and Alexander von Humboldt- "Idea for a Plant
Geography" (1805).
2.In 1825, the French naturalist, Adolphe Dureau de la Malle used the term
societé about an assemblage of plant individuals of different species.
3.The notion of biocoenosis: Wallace and Möbius
• Alfred Russel Wallace, contemporary and competitor to Darwin, was first
to propose a "geography" of animal species. Several authors recognized at
the time that species were not independent of each other, and grouped
them into plant species, animal species, and later into communities of
living beings or biocoenosis. The first use of this term is attributed to Karl
Möbius in 1877.

4.Warming and the foundation of ecology as a discipline
• Eugen Warming devised a new discipline that took abiotic factors, that is
drought, fire, salt, cold etc., as seriously as biotic factors in the assembly of
biotic communities. Warming gave the first university course in ecological
plant geography.
5.Darwinism and the science of ecology
• The roots of scientific ecology may be traced back to Darwin. It comes
from his work On the Origin of Species which is full of observations and
proposed mechanisms that clearly fit within the boundaries of modern
ecology. The term ecology was coined in 1866 by a strong proponent of
Darwinism, Ernst Haeckel.
6.Early 20th century ~ Expansion of ecological thought
• By the 19th century, ecology blossomed due to new discoveries in
chemistry by Lavoisier and de Saussure, notably the nitrogen cycle.

• After observing the fact that life developed only within strict limits of each
compartment that makes up the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and
lithosphere, the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess proposed the term
biosphere in 1875.
• Suess proposed the name biosphere for the conditions promoting life,
such as those found on Earth, which includes flora, fauna, minerals, matter
cycles, etc.
7.In the 1920s Vladimir I. Vernadsky, a Russian geologist, detailed the idea of
the biosphere in his work "The biosphere" (1926). It was he who
described the fundamental principles of the biogeochemical cycles. He
thus redefined the biosphere as the sum of all ecosystems.
8.The Ecosystem: Arthur Tansley
• Over the 19th century, botanical geography and zoogeography combined
to form the basis of biogeography.

 This science, which deals with habitats of species, seeks to explain the
reasons for the presence of certain species in a given location. It was in
1935 that Arthur Tansley, the British ecologist, coined the term
ecosystem, the interactive system established between the biocoenosis
(the group of living creatures), and their biotope, the environment in
which they live. Ecology thus became the science of ecosystems.
9.Eugene Odum
 Tansley's concept of the ecosystem was adopted by the energetic
and influential biology educator Eugene Odum. Along with his
brother, Howard Odum, Eugene P. Odum wrote a textbook which
(starting in 1953) educated more than one generation of biologists
and ecologists all over the world.
 Eugene Odum, published his popular ecology textbook in 1953. He
became the champion of the ecosystem concept. This ecosystem science
dominated the International Biological Program of the 1960s and 1970s,
bringing both money and prestige to ecology.

10.Ecological Succession - Henry Chandler Cowles
 At the turn of the 20th century, Henry Chandler Cowles was one of the
founders of the emerging study of "dynamic ecology", through his study of
ecological succession.
11.Ecology's influence in the social sciences and humanities
 Human ecology has been a topic of interest for researchers, after 1920.
Humans greatly modify the environment through the development of the
habitat (in particular urban planning and growth ), by intensive
exploitation activities such as logging and fishing, and as side effects of
agriculture, mining, and industry.
 Besides ecology and biology, this discipline involved many other natural
and social sciences, such as anthropology and ethnology, economics,
demography, architecture and urban planning, medicine and psychology,
and allied areas.
 The development of human ecology led to the increasing role of ecological
science in the design and management of cities.

12.Ecology and global policy
 Ecology became the central part of the World's politics as early as 1971. It is
mainly due to role of UNESCO which launched a research program called
Man and Biosphere, with the objective of increasing knowledge about the
mutual relationship between humans and nature.
 A few years later it defined the concept of Biosphere Reserve. In 1972, the
United Nations held the first international Conference on the Human
Environment in Stockholm, prepared by Rene Dubos and other experts. This
conference was the origin of the phrase "Think Globally, Act Locally".

…………THANKS………..

REFERENCES……..
Friederichs K, et al, A definition of ecology and some thoughts about basic concepts. Ecology.
1958;39:154–159.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335715336_INTRODUCTION_TO_ECOLOGY
Fundamentals Of Ecology : Odum : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335715344_BRANCHES_OF_ECOLOGY
ttps://www.rroij.com/open-access/the-importance-of-studying-ecology-.pdf

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