Portal:Ecology

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Ecology

Ecology (from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos) 'house' and -λογία (-logía) 'study of') is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history.

Ecology is a branch of biology, and is the study of abundance, biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment. It encompasses life processes, interactions, and adaptations; movement of materials and energy through living communities; successional development of ecosystems; cooperation, competition, and predation within and between species; and patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes.

Ecology has practical applications in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management (agroecology, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries, mining, tourism), urban planning (urban ecology), community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction (human ecology).

The word ecology (German: Ökologie) was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel. The science of ecology as we know it today began with a group of American botanists in the 1890s. Evolutionary concepts relating to adaptation and natural selection are cornerstones of modern ecological theory.

Ecosystems are dynamically interacting systems of organisms, the communities they make up, and the non-living (abiotic) components of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, nutrient cycling, and niche construction, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment. Ecosystems have biophysical feedback mechanisms that moderate processes acting on living (biotic) and abiotic components of the planet. Ecosystems sustain life-supporting functions and provide ecosystem services like biomass production (food, fuel, fiber, and medicine), the regulation of climate, global biogeochemical cycles, water filtration, soil formation, erosion control, flood protection, and many other natural features of scientific, historical, economic, or intrinsic value. (Full article...)

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Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences, and the practice of natural resource management.^{[page needed]}

The conservation ethic is based on the findings of conservation biology. (Full article...)

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Colony (biology)

Credit: User:Krokodild

Termite mounds in Tanzania with varied heights of chimneys regulate gas exchange, temperature and other environmental parameters that are needed to sustain the internal physiology of the entire termite colony.

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General images

The following are images from various ecology-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Ecosystem)
Image 2This coral reef in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area provides habitat for numerous marine species. (from Habitat)
Image 3The leaves of an Alnus nepalensis tree provide a microhabitat for species like the leaf beetle Aulacophora indica. (from Habitat)
Image 4Wetland habitat types in Borneo (from Habitat)
Image 5Biological nitrogen cycling (from Ecosystem)
Image 6An Antarctic rock split apart to show endolithic lifeforms showing as a green layer a few millimeters thick (from Habitat)
Image 7Sequence of a decomposing pig carcass over time (from Ecosystem)
Image 8Few creatures make the ice shelves of Antarctica their habitat, but water beneath the ice can provide habitat for multiple species. Animals such as penguins have adapted to live in very cold conditions. (from Habitat)
Image 9a) A trophic pyramid showing the different trophic levels in a community. b) A food web of the same community (from Community (ecology))
Image 10Flora of Baja California desert, Cataviña region, Mexico (from Ecosystem)
Image 11Rich rainforest habitat in Dominica (from Habitat)
Image 12A bear with a salmon. Interspecific interactions such as predation are a key aspect of community ecology. (from Community (ecology))
Image 13Ibex in an alpine habitat (from Habitat)
Image 14Rainforest ecosystems are rich in biodiversity. This is the Gambia River in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park. (from Ecosystem)
Image 15Twenty-five years after the devastating eruption at Mount St. Helens, United States, pioneer species have moved in. (from Habitat)
Image 16Dense mass of white crabs at a hydrothermal vent, with stalked barnacles on right (from Habitat)
Image 17A red-chested cuckoo chick being feed by a significantly smaller Cape robin-chat adult (from Community (ecology))
Image 18A generalised graph of a predator-prey population density cycle (from Community (ecology))
Image 19Table visualising size-symmetric competition, using fish as consumers and crabs as resources. (from Community (ecology))
Image 20Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained stable over a long period until a number of introductions in the 1970s restructured its food web. (from Ecosystem)
Image 21
A freshwater lake in Gran Canaria, an island of the Canary Islands. Clear boundaries make lakes convenient to study using an ecosystem approach.
(from Ecosystem)
Image 22A simple trophic cascade diagram. On the right shows when wolves are absent, showing an increase in elks and reduction in vegetation growth. The left one shows when wolves are present and controlling the elk population. (from Community (ecology))
Image 23Global oceanic and terrestrial phototroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential and not an actual estimate of it. (from Ecosystem)
Image 24The High Peaks Wilderness Area in the 6,000,000-acre (2,400,000 ha) Adirondack Park is an example of a diverse ecosystem. (from Ecosystem)
Image 25Desert scene in Egypt (from Habitat)

Related WikiProjects

WikiProject Ecology

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

In conservation biology, a flagship species is a species chosen to raise support for biodiversity conservation in a given place or social context. Definitions have varied, but they have tended to focus on the strategic goals and the socio-economic nature of the concept, to support the marketing of a conservation effort. The species need to be popular, to work as symbols or icons, and to stimulate people to provide money or support.

Species selected since the idea was developed in 1980s include widely recognised and charismatic species like the black rhinoceros, the Bengal tiger, and the Asian elephant. Some species such as the Chesapeake blue crab and the Pemba flying fox, the former of which is locally significant to Northern America, have suited a cultural and social context. Although animal species that can be described as "charismatic megafauna" are frequently the flagship species for a protected ecosystem, large, dominant plant species sometimes serve this role as well, for example, several United States national parks, including Redwood National and State Parks, Joshua Tree National Park, and Saguaro National Park, are named for the flagship plant species for those protected areas. Butterfly species, such as the monarch butterfly, have also served as flagship species in some contexts. (Full article...)

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Koh Lian Pin in September 2023

Koh Lian Pin (born 1976 in Singapore) is a Singaporean conservation scientist. He is Associate Vice President and Chief Sustainability Scientist at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he oversees and champions sustainability-related research. He employs a whole-of-University strategy to bridge academia with policy makers, industry and civil society, driving the change needed across all sectors to tackle the twin planetary crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

By initiating and spearheading engagements with stakeholders locally and at international fora, Koh seeks to promote societal understanding of the world we live in, and amplify the university’s and Singapore’s contributions to sustainability efforts globally. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that one of the founders of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, Andrius Domaševičius, had his own private gynecology practice, treating poor women free of charge?
... that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's "cli-fi" thrash metal album addresses a mix of current ecological threats and attempts to find another planet to live on?
... that Luxembourgian myrmecologist Robert Stumper also played as a goalkeeper for his nation's football team?
... that gynaecologist Oon Chiew Seng, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2013, was the founding chairperson of the first dementia home in Singapore?
... that ancient Roman gynecologists believed that menstrual blood could be used to drive dogs insane?
... that PlantSims, human–plant hybrids in The Sims 2: Seasons, have been studied as examples of ecofeminism and deep ecology?

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“

The key.. will be a new public awareness of how serious is the threat to the global environment. Those who have a vested interest in the status quo will probably continue to be able to stifle any meaningful change until enough citizens.. are willing to speak out.

”

— Al Gore

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Ecology news

From the Wikinews Environment portal

Additional News Highlights

November 5, 2009: "New ocean forming in African desert."

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Plant Ecology is a scientific journal on plant ecology, formerly known as Vegetatio. The journal publishes original scientific papers on the ecology of vascular plants and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The editor in chief is Neal J. Enright (Murdoch University). (Full article...)

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