What is Ecology?

 Ecology is describing the relationships

between living organisms and their
environment.
 Ecology comes from the Greek words
 Oîkos= House
 logia= Study of Life
 Study of the “house/environment” in
which we live.
Ecology—the scientific study of interactions between
different organisms and between organisms
and their environment or surroundings
Biotic—living factors that influence an ecosystem

Abiotic—non-living factors that influence an

ecosystem
Ecology is study of interactions
between
 non-living components in the environment…
 light
 water
 wind
 nutrients in soil
 heat
 solar radiation
 atmosphere, etc.

AND…
 Living organisms…
 Plants
 Animals
 microorganisms in soil, etc.
 Ernst Haeckel, a German zoologist coined
the term Ecology in 1866.

 After that….

 Danish botanist, Eugenius Warming

elaborate the idea of Ecology.
Classification of Ecology
 Ecology is a broad discipline comprising
many sub-disciplines. Under this system the
subjects studies:
 Ecophysiology examines how the physiological
functions of organisms influence the way they
interact with the environment, both biotic and
abiotic.
 Behavioral ecology examines the roles of
behavior in enabling an animal to adapt to its
environment.
Classification of Ecology (cont…)
 Population ecology studies the
dynamics of populations of a single
species.
 Community ecology (or synecology)
focuses on the interactions between
species within an ecological community.
 Ecosystem ecology studies the flows of
energy and matter through the biotic
and abiotic components of ecosystems.
Classification of Ecology (cont…)
 Systems ecology is an interdisciplinary
field focusing on the study, development,
and organization of ecological systems
from a holistic perspective
 Landscape ecology examines
processes and relationship in a spatially
explicit manner, often across multiple
ecosystems or very large geographic
areas.
Classification of Ecology (cont…)
 Evolutionary ecology studies ecology
in a way that explicitly considers the
evolutionary histories of species and their
interactions.
 Political ecology connects politics and
economy to problems of environmental
control and ecological change.
 Biosphere

Region = Biome

Landscape

Ecosystem “Levels” of
Ecology
Community

Population interactions

Population

Individual
Levels of Ecology
 Biosphere
 Surface of the earth
 It is the whole portion of Earth colonized
by living beings
 Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Region
 Group of ecosystems with the same climate and
dominant communities.

Tropical rain forest Temperate grassland Temperate forest Tundra

Tropical dry forest Desert Northwestern Mountains and
coniferous forest ice caps
Tropical savanna Temperate woodland
Boreal forest
and shrubland
(Taiga)
Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Landscape
 a group of ecosystems that may or may
not interact in a given region
Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Ecosystem
 A group of communities and the populations
within them embedded in a common physical
environment and tied together by physical
processes.
 It refers to all the abiotic factors (physical and
chemical constituents) and all the communities
that established in a specific area.
 It is a collection of organisms that live in a place
with the nonliving environment.
Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Community
 A group of populations of different
species occurring in one place;
individuals of different species may
interact with each other
 And all the living beings distributed into a
specific geographical area. A community
includes organisms of different species.
Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Population
 A group of individuals of a given species
that live in a specific geographic area.
 A group of organisms, all of the same
species, which interbreed and live in the
same area.
 A group of individuals that collectively
interact to give birth to new individuals
and eventually die
Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Individual
 Group of similar organisms that can breed
and produce fertile offspring
Applications of Ecology

1. Agriculture
2. Forestry
3. Wildlife Management
4. Fisheries and Aquaculture
5. Rangeland management
6. Watershed management
7. Conservation of soil
8. Control of pollution
THANK YOU