What is ecology?
Our lifecycle is closely related to ecology. Austrian geologist Eduard Suess first studied this relationship nearly a century ago. The word “ecology”, however, was derived from the Greek words “Oikos” meaning the house and logos meaning study.
Now the question arises what actually “ecology” means? Ecology is the study of animals and plants in their natural surroundings or environments and how each species fits into its ecosystem. An ecosystem is a community of plants and animals spreading over a certain area together with the soil and other non-living materials. Therefore, the whole earth can be considered as a large ecological unit. Within an ecosystem, the organisms make up the balance with the environments.
We all know that the most important factor for any organism is its source of energy or food. Thus within any such system a complex pattern of feeding relationship which we call food-chain, is built up to maintain the ecological balance. For instance, plants are a primary source of food and energy — the herbivores obtain their foods by eating plants. In their turn, herbivores are played upon by carnivores, which may also be a source of food for other carnivores.
A typical example of an ecosystem is a pond, a desert or a forest. Within such an area are the major factors determining the type of ecological system that develops? In any ecological system, each organism however large or small plays a vital role in maintaining the stability of the community. Within this system carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen (in water) are continually being recycled, through a number of processes. These are known as Carbon cycle, Nitrogen cycle and Photosynthesis.
Over millions of years nature has moved towards the overall creation of a stable ecological balance. Natural changes such as adaption to the slow-changes tend to be gradual. But man is often responsible for causing sudden ecological imbalances through activities like deforestation; polluting the atmosphere, rivers, lakes and seas; by rapid industrialization or sometimes through the outbreak of a new disease. The effects of such types of change can be fast and irreversible. Upto now these changes have not been too serious except in some areas like disturbances of carbon cycle in the atmosphere. This is seen as a serious threat that may lead to the Global warming to change the ecology and thus an impending danger to the humanity all over the world.
However, there is an increasing awareness of what could happen if a worldwide disturbance in ecological balance could not be checked in time.
