Ecology

Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms – including humans – and the world around them. Ecologists seek to understand the complex connections between these living organisms and their habitats. Ecologists study plants and animals at various levels, including individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems. While ecology is considered a part of biology, it is a highly interdisciplinary field and touches upon all the major branches of sciences. Some of the biggest problems confronting science and society today, including expanding populations, food scarcities, environmental pollution, climate change, global warming, and the extinction of plant and animal species, are to a great degree ecological.[1]

An ecological community is all the animal and plant populations occupying a given area. The living (biotic) and nonliving environment (abiotic) function as an ecological system or ecosystem governed by population dynamics, competition, and energy and material cycling principles.[2] Our understanding of ecology contributes to decisions about how natural resources are managed. Research to understand ecosystem use by humans has led to the development of fields such as sustainable development, resilience theory, restoration ecology, and ecosystem services.[3]

The field of ecology consists of many sub-disciplines, including:

Population Ecology

Population ecology is the branch of ecology that tries to understand the patterns and processes of change over time or space for populations of a single species.[4] Scientists predict that in the coming decades, a significant percentage of amphibians, birds, fish, invertebrates, primates, plants, and reptiles will be at risk of extinction. This raises two critical questions: one, why are some species more vulnerable to extinction than others, and two, what will be the survival rates of individual populations in the future? Population ecologists study these and other questions about what factors affect population and how and why a population might change over time.[5]

Landscape Ecology

Landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary science that focuses on the pattern and interaction between ecosystems within a particular area of interest and how the various interactions in that area affect ecological processes.[6] The development and dynamics of spatial heterogeneity (e.g., the uneven distribution of multiple concentrations of each species within a region) in landscapes is a central theme of landscape ecological studies, especially the effects of the conversion of natural ecosystems into human-dominated systems such as agricultural, housing or urban land use.[7]

Community Ecology

Community ecology is the study of the organization and functioning of communities. An ecological community is all the animal and plant populations occupying a given area. Communities are bound together by a shared environment and a network of influence each species has on the other.[8] The number of interacting species in these communities and the complexity of their relationships exemplifies what is meant by the term “biodiversity.”[9]

Conservation Ecology

Biological diversity (or “biodiversity”) refers to the variety of life on Earth at all levels, from genes to ecosystems, and can encompass the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life.[10] Conservation ecology is the branch of ecology that deals with the preservation and management of biological diversity and natural resources. Conservation ecology is an interdisciplinary field emerging rapidly due to the accelerating deterioration of natural systems and the worldwide epidemic of species extinctions.[11] It aims to ensure the long-term preservation of biodiversity. To achieve this, a conservation ecologist pursues three main goals: (i) to document Earth’s biological diversity; (ii) to investigate how humans influence species, evolution, and ecosystem processes; and (iii) to investigate practical approaches to protect and restore biological communities, maintain genetic diversity, and prevent the extinction of species.[12]

Behavioral Ecology

Behavioral ecology focuses on how the behavior of animals affects their ability to survive and reproduce. Behavioral ecologists study how competition and cooperation between and within species affect evolutionary fitness and how organisms behaviorally interact with their physical and social environment.[13]

Physiological Ecology

Physiological Ecology is the study of relationships between the physiology (e.g., the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system) of organisms and their adaptation to environmental conditions. Physiological ecologists study what happens when an organism’s environment changes, including the short and long-term behavioral and physiological adjustments organisms make to survive and reproduce successfully in their ever-changing environments.[14]

Evolutionary Ecology

Evolutionary ecology, a field within both ecology and evolution, studies changes in species based on their ecological environment. Evolutionary ecologists try and unravel the mysteries of how animals, plants, and microbes function, how they interact, and how they evolve in a changing world. Evolutionary ecologists consider the evolutionary effects of competitors, mutualists, predators, prey, and pathogens.[15]

Ecosystem Ecology

Nothing on Earth occurs in isolation, and to fully understand what is happening to a species, a chemical, or a body of water, scientists need to study communities of interacting organisms and their environments (e.g., ecosystems).[16] Ecosystem ecology examines the biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) components within the environment, how these factors interact, and how natural and human-induced changes affect how they function.[17]

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Citations

1. Ecology, Encyclopedia Britannica.
2. Ecosystem Ecology, USGS.
3. Ecosystem Ecology, USGS.
4. What is population ecology?, Biology, LibreTexts Libraries.
5. Population Ecology, Nature Education.
6. Clark, W. (2010). Principles of Landscape Ecology. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):34.
7. Clark, W. (2010). Principles of Landscape Ecology. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):34.
8. Community Ecology, Nature Education.
9. Community Ecology, Encyclopedia Britannica.
10. What Is Biodiversity?, Museum of Natural History.
11. Conservation Ecology, University of California, Davis.
12. The Science of Conservation Biology, Biology, LibreTexts Libraries.
13. Sylvia L. Halkin, Alicia M. Bray, in Exploring Animal Behavior in Laboratory and Field (Second Edition), 2021.
14. Physiological Ecology, Nature Education.
15. Evolutionary Ecology, Nature Portfolio.
16. Ecosystems Ecology, Smithsonian.
17. Ecosystem Ecology, Nature Education.