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Ecological Landscapes
The importance of ecology has increased in last few years. All living organisms are in enduring communication between each other and also with the environ in which they survive. Ecology basically evaluates how each component affects other and how it has an affect upon itself. Actually, it is a type of synthesis science because for understanding complex links that exist in an eco system, it takes some facts from physiology, zoology, botany, genetics, physiology and other fields of science such as geology, chemistry and physics.
Disciplines of ecology
Ecology is a broad term comprising several sub types under it. The classification done is as:-
Behavioral Ecology: - This sub discipline analyzes the behavior of any animal while adapting to its environment.
Ecophysiology: - It evaluates the way how the physiological functionality of living creatures effects their interaction with surrounding, both abiotic and biotic.
Population ecology: - This category examines the lively population of single species.
Ecosystem ecology: - It evaluates how matter and energy flow through abiotic and biotic parts of ecosystem.
Community ecology: - It basically studies the interaction between different living organisms with ecological population.
Landscape ecology: - This type examines relationships and processes across larger geographical areas and multiple eco systems in an explicit manner.
System ecology: - It is basically an interdisciplinary field that mainly focuses on organization, development and study of ecosystems from a holistic perception.
Political ecology: - This sub discipline links economy and politics to the predicaments of ecological change and environmental control.
Evolutionary ecology: - This segment basically studies and analyzes the history of several species and also of interactions among them.
Productivity of ecosystem
In ecosystem, the interaction among different species is generally linked to their role in the food chain. In food chain, basically three types of organisms are found as producers (usually plants through photosynthesis), consumers (animals or other secondary consumers) and decomposers (insects, fungi and bacteria). The whole food chain leads to the idea of biomass, primary productivity and secondary productivity of ecosystem. However, sometimes the net productivity of eco system is also measured by three ground based systems as forests, meadows and the lands with extreme temperatures like desert, steppes and alpine meadows.
Overall, a chief principle of ecology is that each living organism which has a continual and ongoing association with other components that create its environment.