Ecology and Environment – Concept

Ecology 

• Ecology is defined as the scientific study of living organisms and their interactions with one another and with their environment.’
• Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist, first invented the term ecology in 1869.
• It is made of two Greek phrases: ‘Oikos,’ which means home or estate, and ‘trademarks,’ which means study.
• The consciousness is on the interactions between organisms and environmental additives, each abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) (living).
• It is concerned with how organisms are shaped by their environment, as well as how they utilize environmental assets including energy flow and mineral cycling.

History of Ecology

• Ecology did not have a particular beginning.
• It developed from the historical Greeks’ natural records, especially that of Theophrastus, Aristotle’s friend, and associate.
• Theophrastus was the first to describe the interrelationships among organisms and their nonliving environment.
• The early studies of plant and animal physiologists created the basis for modern ecology.
• Plant and animal ecology evolved independently until American biologists began to stress the interdependence of plant and animal populations as a whole biotic system.

Ecological History in India

• The origins of ecology may be traced again to the sunrise of civilization in India.
• For survival in early societies, every person was required to have a radical expertise of its own environment, consisting of the forces of nature in addition to the plant life and animals which can be present in the same.
• The ideas of ecology are referred to in Indian classical old writings.
• Many references to ecological principles may be observed within the Vedas, Samhitas, Brahmanas, and Aranyakas-Upanishads.
• The Charaka Samhita, an Indian scientific treatise, and the Susruta Samhita, a surgical manual, screen that people in this period had an amazing hold close and understanding of plant and animal ecology.
• Thus it was ultimately realized that ecology is the medical study of living species’ interactions with each other and with their environment.

Environment

• The term “environment” refers to the “totality of living and nonliving additives; affects and occurrences that surround an organism.”
• The environment encompasses both living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) additives.
• It also includes the whole thing that surrounds or affects an organism at some stage in its whole life span.
• For food, energy, water, oxygen, safe home, and different necessities, all species (from viruses to human beings) are reliant on the environment.

Components of Environment

• Biotic Components (Biological Component)

• • • All living things are covered in the biological issue of the environment, as the name implies.
    • As a result, it’s also referred to as the atmosphere’s biotic component.
    • Ecosystems are shaped while animals, plants, and microorganisms have interaction with abiotic components.
    • The biotic community is also divided into
      • Autotrophs (manufacturers)
      • Heterotrophs (customers)
      • Saprotrophs (decomposers)
    • On the food chain, they also occupy diverse trophic tiers.
    • For example, all autotrophs are manufacturers and live at the lowest of the food chain.

• Abiotic Components (Physical Components)

• • The non-living part of the environment is referred to as the physical thing.
  • These also are called abiotic variables, and they include things like air, water, soil, and climate.
  • These are similarly divided into
    • Atmosphere
    • Hydrosphere
    • Lithosphere
  • The term “biosphere” is also used by scientists to define the zone of life (or the global combination of ecosystems).

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