Planet Earth is a small blue pearl, lost in the endless cold worlds of outer space and home to billions of living creatures. Literally permeated the whole space of our world: water, earth, air.
And all this variety of living forms, starting with the simplest microorganisms and ending with the pinnacle of evolution - the rational man - is capable of exerting the most direct influence on the vital activity of the planet. Ecology is a science that studies the interaction of all living organisms that inhabit the Earth, as well as their many communities, both among themselves and with their environment.
A bit of history
Many modern people do not know that ecology began to develop as a separate branch of science only in the middle of the 20th century. Until that time, it was only part of biology. And the founder of ecology was an ardent supporter and supporter of Darwin's theory, a talented natural scientist and biologist - German E. Haeckel.
They influenced the formation of ecology as a separate science: on the one hand, the strengthening of scientific and technological progress in the 20th century, and on the other, the rapid growth of the population of our planet. The development of technology and industry has led to a multiple increase in the consumed natural resources, which, in turn, has a detrimental effect on the environment.
While the number of people was rapidly multiplying, the number of other living creatures began to decrease steadily. NTP allowed people to equip their location on the planet as comfortable as possible, but at the same time served as a disastrous factor for nature. There was an urgent need for operational study and study of the habitat. The connection of ecology with other sciences has become inevitable.
Fundamentals of Ecology Science
The basics of ecology include the study of interaction with the environment of objects organized at the species, biosphere, organism and biocentric levels. Thus, several main sections can be distinguished, which include the general ecology:
- Autecology, or ecology of organisms, is a section that deals with the study of individual relationships with the environment of each individual species and organisms in the general species group.
- Demecology, or ecology of populations. The objectives of this section are to study the natural mechanisms responsible for regulating the abundance of various living organisms, their optimal density, as well as identifying the permissible boundaries of the seizure of various species and populations.
- The synecology or ecology of communities studies in detail the interaction of ecosystems and populations with the natural environment, as well as the mechanisms and structure of biogeocenoses.
Environmental Research Methods
Modern ecology uses many methods for research. However, all of them can be conditionally divided into two categories: field methods and laboratory.
By the names themselves, you can understand that all field research is carried out directly in the natural environment. They, in turn, can be divided into:
- Stationary These studies include both long-term observation of natural objects and measurements, a detailed description, as well as an instrumental report.
- Route Direct observations are made of the object, its condition is evaluated, measurement, description is made, maps and diagrams are compiled.
- Descriptive - at the initial acquaintance with the object of study.
- Experimental. The main thing here is experience and experiment, a variety of chemical analyzes, quantification, etc.
Laboratory methods are based on research in the laboratory. Since ecology is a science that studies the totality of a huge number of factors, a special place in the practical study of biological objects is given to the modeling method.
The living environment of living organisms
In order to better understand how environmental factors affect different living species, you must first understand the relationship between the environment and the life of various objects. A variety of natural conditions that are found on our Earth - water, ground-air, soil, organismic - are a living environment for a variety of species of plants and animals. It is from the environment that all living things receive the substances necessary for life. And there also come back the products of the exchange of living organisms.
The very first habitat for the smallest inhabitants of the planet became ponds. It was in water that life emerged in the form of tiny bacteria - in order to then master the ground-air and soil environment. A parasite and symbionts successfully populated the body.
Thus, it is precisely the difference in the conditions of existence in different environments that made it possible for different organisms to develop a set of specific physiological, morphological, behavioral, and other various properties that help them adapt to the most difficult living conditions.
Environmental factors
Basics of Ecology like science attach great importance to individual environmental factors. The latter should be understood as any elements or environmental conditions that cause certain organisms to adapt to and adapt to them. There are only three groups of environmental factors:
Biotic factors include various properties of wildlife. They are able to cause adaptive reactions both in plants (phytogenic) and in animals (zoogenic) and fungi (mycogenic).
Abiotic, on the contrary, are components of nonliving nature: geological (glacier movements, volcanic activity, radiation, etc.), climatic (temperature, light, wind, humidity, pressure, etc.), soil (soil structure, density and composition) as well as hydrological factors (water, pressure, salinity, flow).
Anthropogenic environmental factors relate to human activity. I must say that it is a person who causes very serious shifts in biogeocenoses. Moreover, it becomes favorable for some species, but not for others.
Ecological problems of our time
Today's environmental problems are mainly associated with anthropogenic impact on nature. Global ecology announces the following serious dangers: acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer, greenhouse effect, pollution of the world and the problem of disposing of human waste, degradation and soil erosion, desertification, widespread tree felling, extinction of animals, climate change, general weakening of human immunity , depletion of resources (water, gas, oil, other natural resources), photochemical smog and other fatal changes.
All this is largely provoked by the active intervention of people in natural processes, as well as by the unreasonable implementation of recreational, military, economic and other plans that change the natural environment.
Environmental pollution
Ecology is a science that also studies environmental pollution (biosphere). In this case, pollution is understood as the active intake of energy or substances into the biosphere, the amount, location or properties of which can negatively affect the living environment of various living species.
Industrial development and worldwide urbanization lead to pollution of the surrounding space not only by solid, liquid and gaseous substances and microorganisms, but also by various energies (sounds, noise, radiation), which adversely affect various ecosystems of the planet.
There are two types of pollution of the biosphere, differing in origin: natural (natural) - occurs without the participation of people, and anthropogenic. The latter is much more dangerous, since a person has not yet learned how to restore his habitat.
Nowadays, pollution is going at an enormous pace and concerns atmospheric air, underground and surface sources of water, soil. Mankind has polluted even near-Earth outer space. All this does not add optimism to people and can provoke a worldwide ecological catastrophe. The early development of ecology as a science gives humanity a chance to avoid the threat.
Soil pollution
As a result of careless, unreasonable human activity, the soil around large cities and territories where large industrial metallurgical enterprises, thermal power plants, and machine-building enterprises are located turned out to be polluted for great distances.
Heavy metals, petroleum products, sulfur and lead compounds in conjunction with household waste - this is what is saturated with the modern living environment of a civilized person. Any institute of ecology will confirm that, along with the above substances, various carcinogens are abundant in the soil, which have the ability to cause terrible diseases in people.
The land that feeds us is subjected not only to erosion and pollution by harmful chemical elements, but also to swamp, saline, and to be removed for the construction of various structures. And if the natural destruction of the surface fertile layer can occur very slowly, then erosion caused by anthropogenic activity is striking at its accelerated pace.
Agriculture with the abundant use of pesticides is becoming a real scourge for mankind. In this case, the most dangerous are stable chlorine compounds that can persist in the soil for many years and accumulate in it.
Air pollution
The next major environmental threat is air pollution. Again, it can be caused by natural factors, for example, volcanic activity, flowering plants, smoke from burning forests or wind erosion. But the anthropogenic impact harms the atmosphere much more.
Anthropogenic or technogenic air pollution occurs due to the ingress of a large amount of certain harmful substances into the atmosphere. The chemical industry is particularly harmful in this regard. Thanks to it, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen sulfide, hydrocarbons, halogens and other substances are released into the air. Entering chemical reactions with each other, they are able to form very dangerous highly toxic compounds.
The situation is exacerbated by car exhausts. In most major cities, in calm weather, a photochemical smog has become common.
Planet pollution
Life on the planet is impossible without water, but in our time, environmental studies have led scientists to come to a bitter conclusion: anthropological activity has a devastating effect on the earth’s hydrosphere. Natural reserves of fresh water are reduced, and even the vast oceans undergoes global changes in their ecosystem today, and many marine inhabitants are doomed to extinction.
Particularly alarming is the fact that not only surface waters, but also underground waters are subject to pollution, the condition of which is affected not only by industrial waste, but also by numerous municipal landfills, sewage, waste from livestock farms, fertilizer and chemical storage facilities. Everything else, civilization is not complete without major accidents. Emergency discharges of waste into water bodies are not such a rare case.
The relationship of ecology with other sciences
First of all, ecology is a science that studies the problems of the environment, and it is not within its power to correct the current situation. Now that it has become clear how alarming the situation in different ecosystems is, it becomes even clearer how important the connection of ecology with other sciences is. Without close interaction with medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, and some other scientific fields, it will simply be impossible to actively solve environmental problems.
Scientists have to make joint efforts in order to try to minimize the harm that people do to nature. Scientists from different countries are hastily seeking safe sources of energy. In some countries, the share of cars powered by electricity has already increased significantly. Much depends on the efforts of chemists, they have in the new century to radically solve the problem of minimizing the harm of industrial waste. In solving common problems, all areas of ecology must be involved.
The environmental situation in Russia
Unfortunately, Russia's ecology is far from being in the best condition. According to authoritative ecologists, our country is one of the three states that pollute the planet’s ecosystem most actively. In addition to Russia, China and the United States were included in the shameful list.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that while the most developed European countries spend annually up to 6% of their budget on environmental measures, in Russia these costs do not even reach 1%. The authorities stubbornly do not want to respond to environmentalists' attempts to turn their attention to the deplorable state of affairs in this area.
Meanwhile, the ecology of Russia It causes concern of the entire world community, since the territories it occupies are truly huge, there are a lot of industrial enterprises, the waste is not recycled and not disposed of properly, and against the backdrop of the economic crisis, it all looks threatening.
Environmental impact on human health
It has already been said above how harmful environmental factors are to adversely affect human health. First of all, this, of course, concerns children, because this is our future. But what will this future be like if a little man from the diaper has to breathe polluted air, eat foods that contain harmful chemical preservatives, drink water only from plastic bottles, etc.?
In recent years, doctors have focused on the fact that the incidence of bronchopulmonary diseases is higher and higher. The number of patients with allergies is growing, and most of them, again, are children. Around the world there is an increase in diseases associated with immunodeficiency conditions. It can be assumed that if humanity does not come to its senses in the near future and does not try to conclude a peaceful harmonious alliance with Mother Nature, then in the not too distant future we may suffer the fate of many extinct species. It must be remembered that the environment and human health are inextricably linked.
2014 - year of ecology
Every year in our country there are many events dedicated to educational activities in environmental issues. And 2014 was no exception. So, since the beginning of the year, a large-scale competition "National Environmental Award" ERAECO "has been held in Russia. As part of this event, films on environmental topics are shown in various cities of Russia, festivals and lectures are held.
There will also be presentations on eco-construction and a demonstration of the possibilities of ecological farms in Moscow and the Moscow Region. Eco-lessons were held at schools, where children were told about environmental issues and various environmental issues were discussed in detail.
The organizers of "ERAECO" plan to open a mobile ecological mini-laboratory, with the help of which it will be possible to carry out rapid analysis of samples taken from water, air and soil. Laboratory experts with the support of environmental experts will be schoolchildren of different ages and students.
Eco-patrol units will be formed, which will continue to operate not only during the competition, but also after its completion. Children of primary school age will also be able to join many interesting events, and after they will be asked to create a visual report in the drawings.
International cooperation in environmental protection
Our planet is united, and despite the fact that people have differentiated it into many different countries and states, solving acute environmental issues requires unification. Such cooperation is carried out within the framework of international programs of organizations such as UNESCO and the UN, and is regulated by interstate agreements.
The principles of environmental cooperation have been developed. One of them says that the ecological well-being of a state should not be ensured without taking into account the interests of other countries or at their expense. For example, more powerful countries cannot use the natural resources of underdeveloped world regions.
Another principle proclaims that at all levels must be established mandatory control over threatening changes in the environment and all states are obliged to provide all possible assistance to each other in case of complex environmental problems and emergency situations.
It is important to realize that only by rallying will mankind be able to save the Earth from impending environmental collapse. From now on, every citizen of the planet must understand this.