ecology

Examples of ecology in the following topics:

• Introduction to Ecology

  • Within the discipline of ecology, researchers work at four specific levels, sometimes discretely and sometimes with overlap.
  • There are many practical applications of ecology in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management (agroecology, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries), city planning (urban ecology), community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction (human ecology).
  • There are also many subcategories of ecology, such as ecosystem ecology, animal ecology, and plant ecology, which look at the differences and similarities of various plants in various climates and habitats.
  • In addition, physiological ecology, or ecophysiology, studies the responses of the individual organism to the environment, while population ecology looks at the similarities and dissimilarities of populations and how they replace each other over time.
  • Finally, it is important to note that ecology is not synonymous with environment, environmentalism, natural history, or environmental science.

• Ecological Pyramids

  • Ecological pyramids, which can be inverted or upright, depict biomass, energy, and the number of organisms in each trophic level.
  • Ecological pyramids show the relative amounts of various parameters (such as number of organisms, energy, and biomass) across trophic levels.
  • Ecological pyramids can also be called trophic pyramids or energy pyramids.
  • All types of ecological pyramids are useful for characterizing ecosystem structure.
  • Ecological pyramids depict the (a) biomass, (b) number of organisms, and (c) energy in each trophic level.

• Community Ecology and Ecosystem Ecology

  • Community ecology studies interactions between different species; abiotic and biotic factors affect these on an ecosystem level.
  • These interactions can have regulating effects on population sizes and can impact ecological and evolutionary processes affecting diversity.
  • Ecosystem ecology is an extension of organismal, population, and community ecology.
  • Researchers interested in ecosystem ecology could ask questions about the importance of limited resources and the movement of resources, such as nutrients, though the biotic and abiotic portions of the ecosystem.
  • This mutualistic relationship is an example of a community ecological study, which aims to examine the interactions between different species living in an area.

• Ecological Fallacy

  • An ecological fallacy is an interpretation of statistical data where inferences about individuals are deduced from inferences about the group as a whole.
  • Some researchers suggest that the ecological correlation gives a better picture of the outcome of public policy actions, thus they recommend the ecological correlation over the individual level correlation for this purpose.
  • A striking ecological fallacy is Simpson's paradox, diagramed in .
  • A third example of ecological fallacy is when the average of a population is assumed to have an interpretation in terms of likelihood at the individual level.
  • Discuss ecological fallacy in terms of aggregate versus individual inference and give specific examples of its occurrence.

• Organismal Ecology and Population Ecology

  • Organismal and population ecology study the adaptations that allow organisms to live in a habitat and organisms' relationships to one another.
  • Researchers studying ecology at the organismal level are interested in the adaptations that enable individuals to live in specific habitats.
  • The study of population ecology focuses on the number of individuals in an area and how and why population size changes over time.
  • Describe populations as studied in population ecology and organisms as studied in organismal ecology

• Ecological rucksack

  • The term for the amount of waste a product leaves behind as it winds its way from raw material harvesting through production and afterwards is called ecological rucksack – and almost every product carries a greater load than meets the eye.
  • For example, according to Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek, formerly of the German Umweltbundesamt and the Wuppertal Institute, an ordinary cotton T-shirt carries an ecological rucksack of approximately 4,584 kilos.

• Ecological Restoration

  • The purpose of ecological restoration projects, such as wildlife and ecosystem preserves, is to return ecosystems to pre-disturbance states.
  • Restoration ecology aims to return ecosystems to a more natural, pre-disturbance state.
  • Removing a keystone species from an ecological community may cause a collapse in diversity.
  • In the United States, since the mid-1980s, many aging dams are being considered for removal rather than replacement because of shifting beliefs about the ecological value of free-flowing rivers and because many dams no longer provide the benefit and functions that they did when they were first built.
  • The large-scale ecological experiments that these removal projects constitute will provide valuable data for other dam projects slated either for removal or construction.

• The Interactionist Perspective

  • Evolving out of the mid-20th century "Chicago School" of urban sociology, Park created the term human ecology, which borrowed the concepts of symbiosis, invasion, succession, and dominance from the science of natural ecology.
  • Competition was created by groups fighting for urban resources, like land, which led to a division of urban space into ecological niches.
  • Within these niches people shared similar social characteristics because they were subject to the same ecological pressure.

• Microbes and Ecosystem Niches

  • Microorganisms participate in a host of fundamental ecological processes including production, decomposition, and fixation.
  • In addition, microbial processes can be co-opted for biodegradation or bioremediation of domestic, agricultural, and industrial wastes, making the study of microbial ecology particularly important for biotechnological and environmental applications.
  • The ecological niche of a microorganism describes how it responds to the distribution of resources and competing species, as well as the ways in which it alters those same factors in turn.
  • The precise ecological niche of a microbe is primarily determined by the specific metabolic properties of that organism.
  • Thermophiles, which thrive at relatively high temperatures, occupy a unique ecological niche.

• Species Distribution

  • Scientists gain insight into a species' biology and ecology from studying spatial distribution of individuals.
  • Scientists gain additional insight into a species' biology and ecology from studying how individuals are spatially distributed.