The concept of "ecology" comes from the Greek word "oikos", which means "residence", "refuge", "home". Each species of inhabitants of the planet has its own habitat, the so-called house. In particular, the whole planet Earth, including the outer space surrounding it, has become the home for man.
The first laws of ecology were presented by the great physician of antiquity Hippocrates more than two thousand years ago. He was able to describe not only the direct impact of climate, topography, water and seasons on the health of inhabitants of various areas, but also compiled a comparative anthropological description of the peoples living on the African, Asian and European shores of the Mediterranean Sea. His works contain numerous evidence of the influence of lifestyle and environmental factors on the formation of mental and physical qualities of a person.
Later, in the 17th century, a new science appeared - medical geography. She studied the influence of social and natural conditions prevailing in various territories on the health of the population of those lands. The founder of this science was the Italian physician B. Rammacini.
A certain contribution to the laws of ecology was made by the famous Russian scientist V.I. Vernadsky. According to his definition, the biosphere is the shell of the Earth, where the life of a wide variety of organisms develops. Contrary to the current opinion at that time that the task of the body is to constantly adapt to circumstances, Vernadsky proved that living matter is quite capable of changing the surface of the planet, forming an ideally favorable ecosystem for its development. Each process within the biosphere is interconnected. Moreover, humanity is only an insignificant part of the biosphere, and the person himself is one of the types of organic life.
Also, this great scientist belongs to the priority of the doctrine of the noosphere. This concept means a qualitatively new phase - the sphere of the mind, or “thinking shell”. This is the highest stage of development of the biosphere, directly related to the origin and development of civilization in it. The noosphere is a period when intelligent human activity becomes the dominant development factor on the planet.
Any combination of inorganic components and organisms that tend to cycle substances is called an ecosystem. This term was proposed by A. Tensley in 1935. The laws of social ecology or, more simply, human ecology, determine the nature of the relationship of the organism with the environment. Such relationships are based on the morphophysiological reactions of the human body to the effects of the environment during ontogenesis.
There are various ecological foundations that affect the most diverse areas of the life of organisms. But the main ones are those that directly relate to human life and health. In particular, we can distinguish the basic laws of ecology related to human health:
- Weak impacts often do not cause any responses from the natural system, but this does not mean that due to accumulation they will not be able to cause violent and unpredictable dynamic processes.
- The type of organism exists due to the fact that the surrounding natural environment fully complies with all the genetic possibilities of adaptation of the species to its changes and fluctuations.
- An ecological niche (place) of any kind represented in nature must be filled. For example, the AIDS pandemic was predicted by scientists even before the discovery of the first symptoms and pathogens of this disease. The basis of such a prediction was that the victory over the majority of human infectious diseases freed up an appropriate ecological niche.
- Biosphere response. The laws of ecology are such that during the use of natural systems no one has the right to cross the permissible boundaries that allow these systems to fully preserve the unique property of self-regulation, self-organization and self-maintenance. Otherwise, the response forces of the opposition of nature exceed the strength of anthropogenic influence.
The science of "ecology" is a huge set of laws and rules that must be strictly observed if humanity wants to achieve harmony and unity with nature. But, unfortunately, they are most often neglected for the sake of their own desires and needs, and many basic laws of ecology are simply ignored, which causes practically irreparable consequences and huge destruction.