Ecology
hideEcology (from Greek: οἶκος, oikos, "house"; -λογία, -logia, "study of") is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and their interactions with their environment. The environment of an organism includes all external factors, including abiotic ones such as climate and geology, and biotic factors, including members of the same species (conspecifics) and other species that share a habitat. If the general life science of biology is viewed as a hierarchy of levels of organization, from molecular processes, to cells, tissues and organs, and finally to the individual, the population and the ecosystem, then the study of the latter three levels belongs within the purview of ecology.
Examples of objects of ecological study include: Population processes, including reproductive behavior, mortality, bioenergetics and migrations, interspecific interactions such as predation, competition, parasitism and mutualism, plant and animal community structures and their function and resilience, and biogeochemical cycling. Because of its vast scope, ecological science is often closely related to other disciplines. Thus, molecular ecology addresses ecological questions using tools from genetics, paleoecology uses tools from archeology, and theoretical ecologists use often highly complex mathematical models to explore how ecosystems and their elements function.
Aside from pure scientific inquiry, ecology is also a highly applied science. Much of natural resource management, such as forestry, fisheries, wildlife management and habitat conservation is directly related to ecological sciences and many problems in agriculture, urban development and public health are informed by ecological considerations.
The term "ecology" has also been appropriated for philosophical ideologies like social ecology and deep ecology and is sometimes used as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. Likewise "ecological" is often taken in the sense of environmentally friendly.
For more information about Ecology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with ecologist
New study provides insight on energy development and sage-grouse habitat in the intermountain West
Oct 16, 2009 |
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A study released October 14th in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE will shed new light on oil and gas development potential in the Intermountain West. Maps accompanying the study show the impacts to gre ...
Research shows that animals need time to survive
Aug 01, 2009 |
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To understand how climate change may affect species survival, we need to understand how climate influences their time-keeping.
Scientists publish the discoveries that saved the large blue butterfly
Jun 16, 2009 |
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On the 25th anniversary of the project that brought the large blue butterfly back from extinction in the United Kingdom, ecologists are for the first time publishing the decades of research that helped them ...
High human impact ocean areas along US West Coast revealed
May 11, 2009 |
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Climate change, fishing and commercial shipping top the list of threats to the ocean off the West Coast of the United States.
Ecologists put price tag on invasive species
Apr 20, 2009 |
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Invasive species can disrupt natural and human-made ecosystems, throwing food webs out of balance and damaging the services they provide to people. Now scientists have begun to put a price tag on this damage. In a study ...
A venomous tale: Vipers shape lizards' tail-shedding abilities
Mar 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Michigan ecologists and their colleagues have answered a question that has puzzled biologists for more than a century: What is the main factor that determines a lizard's ability ...
Housing shortage alters reproductive behaviour in blue tits
Mar 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Increased competition for rare breeding sites causes female blue tits to invest more time in their current brood, to spend more time feeding their offspring and also to produce more male offspring ...
Crafty Australian crayfish cheat
Feb 27, 2009 |
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Nestled just off the east coast of Australia, picturesque North Stradbroke Island is a haven for local wildlife. Yet some of the inhabitants of the island's creeks and swamps are far from peaceful. Slender crayfish are aggressive ...
Abandon hope: Live sustainably just because it's the right thing to do
Feb 20, 2009 |
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Do you "hope" that everyone will see the light and start living more sustainably to save the environment? If so, you may be doing more harm than good.
