[Chalky]

I was writing an essay today about ecology, and realised that I didn't actually know what it meant. What sort of areas of science does is cover? Is classification of organisms included?

[FarmForest Research]

Ecology is the science of natural systems..how they relate to each other and how they interact. A television is as natural as a tree..because we are part of nature and we are a major driver of ecosystems..look at your living room and the refrigerator. Having the ability to manipulate our environment has made us the "gardeners' of this world. So we have to step up to the plate and garden and maintain this world. Its ours and everything in it is our kids. So look at it like you own it but must maintain it.

[Dekan]

FarmForest Research, on 14 June 2011 - 01:21 PM, said:

Ecology is the science of natural systems..how they relate to each other and how they interact. A television is as natural as a tree..because we are part of nature and we are a major driver of ecosystems..look at your living room and the refrigerator. Having the ability to manipulate our environment has made us the "gardeners' of this world. So we have to step up to the plate and garden and maintain this world. Its ours and everything in it is our kids. So look at it like you own it but must maintain it.

"A television is as natural as a tree"?

But a tree just grows by itself, naturally.

Whereas my 50" plasma television, didn't grow by itself. It had to be designed and manufactured by the Panasonic Company of Osaka, Japan.

There's a difference, surely?

[xxSilverPhinxx]

The classification or organisms is taxonomy, and as for ecology, the wiki link explains it well. It's basically the study of ecosystems.

[bombus]

Strictly 'Ecology' deals with the 'economy of nature' i.e. the energy transfers that occur in an ECOsystem (hence the Eco part in Ecology and Economy). However, it's usually used more broadly than this.

[Cailyn Brown]

Ecology is the study of plants and animals in their natural environment. This is very important with respect to the survival and sustenance of living beings in a particular environment. It also shows the stability of an ecosystem. Their are a lot of processes which constitutes an ecology. More details about the types of ecology and various processes associated with ecology are given in the following site.http://www.rpi.edu/d...GY/project.html

[JorgeLobo]

Ecology is a study - no more importanty than any other -ology. It does not place value on nor sustain the survival of a species - it merely describes a system and its dynamics.

[Essay]

Eco- comes from the Greek Oikos, meaning house or (environment) the place where we live.
...and nemein means "management" so...

So ecology is the study of our environment, and...

economy is the management of our environment.
===


Learning more from ecology might help us fix our economy, yes?

This post has been edited by Essay: 8 August 2011 - 09:41 PM

[insane_alien]

Dekan, on 28 June 2011 - 10:25 PM, said:

"A television is as natural as a tree"?

But a tree just grows by itself, naturally.

Whereas my 50" plasma television, didn't grow by itself. It had to be designed and manufactured by the Panasonic Company of Osaka, Japan.

There's a difference, surely?

how is it different from a birds nest? most people would classify a birds nest as natural.

[Weirdmaskman]

Ecology <oikos_logo>is the study of the Ecosystem. Someway, somehow it might have a link with taxonomy, but they are two different things.

[chiwi]

Classification of organisms is not included, I don't believe. Ecology is the study of organisms in relation to their environment, for the older definition. New sub branches are being added all the time, though.

oops, forgot to add some branches of ecology; for example, ecosystems ecology, and agroecology, etc.

Can you make a television out of sticks, grass, mud, or milkweed stems?

insane_alien, on 8 August 2011 - 09:50 PM, said:

how is it different from a birds nest? most people would classify a birds nest as natural.

[Leader Bee]

chiwi, on 25 August 2011 - 03:26 AM, said:

Can you make a television out of sticks, grass, mud, or milkweed stems?

Can you make a birds nest out of glass, plastic and man made alloys? It works both ways and as such would be an association fallacy.

A) Birds are born naturally
B) Birds build nests
C) Therefore nests must be natural

A) Man is born naturally (in most cases)
B) Man builds TV's
C) TV's must be natural?

Saying that, how can anything that is built with naturally occuring resources not be natural? Infact even something like Plutonium which is "man made" came from natural substances I don't see how anything that can physically exist in the universe could be called un-natural?

How would one define natural and un-natural? Perhaps natural could be described as "Only without the intervention of man"?

This post has been edited by Leader Bee: 25 August 2011 - 02:22 PM

[edwardreed]

Ecology (from Greek: οίκος, oikos, "household"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how the distribution and abundance are affected by interactions between the organisms and their environment. The environment of an organism includes both physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors such as insolation (sunlight), climate, and geology, and biotic factors, which are other organisms that share its habitat.

[StringJunky]

edwardreed, on 21 October 2011 - 06:33 AM, said:

Ecology (from Greek: οίκος, oikos, "household"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how the distribution and abundance are affected by interactions between the organisms and their environment. The environment of an organism includes both physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors such as insolation (sunlight), climate, and geology, and biotic factors, which are other organisms that share its habitat.

I don't think you intended to deceive but if you cut and paste a quote you should give a link to the source with it or else it looks like plagiarism.

[Ryota]

Do not confuse Ecology and Environmental science, such as Sustainability.

[swansont]

edwardreed, on 21 October 2011 - 06:33 AM, said:

Ecology (from Greek: οίκος, oikos, "household"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how the distribution and abundance are affected by interactions between the organisms and their environment. The environment of an organism includes both physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors such as insolation (sunlight), climate, and geology, and biotic factors, which are other organisms that share its habitat.

!

Moderator Note

Let me officially state what StringJunky said. Plagiarism and/or copyright violation are very serious transgressions.

[JorgeLobo]

Sustainability is not a science, ecology is.

[Etudiante]

ecology is an Ancient Greek word which contains two words - home and science. Science about our home -Earth.

but can somebody explain me which is the differens between ecology and environmental sciences?

I can advice the interesting book about ecology:

http://reslib.com/bo...ical_World_View

[Etudiante]

And another interesting, but not strictly concerned by the ecology:

http://reslib.com/bo...and_Biosphere#1