ecology

Ecology (from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos) 'house', and -λογία (-logía) 'study of') is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history.

Ecology is a branch of biology, and is the study of abundance, biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment. It encompasses life processes, interactions, and adaptations; movement of materials and energy through living communities; successional development of ecosystems; cooperation, competition, and predation within and between species; and patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes.

Ecology has practical applications in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management (agroecology, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries, mining, tourism), urban planning (urban ecology), community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction (human ecology).

The word ecology (German: Ökologie) was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel. The science of ecology as we know it today began with a group of American botanists in the 1890s. Evolutionary concepts relating to adaptation and natural selection are cornerstones of modern ecological theory.

Ecosystems are dynamically interacting systems of organisms, the communities they make up, and the non-living (abiotic) components of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, nutrient cycling, and niche construction, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment. Ecosystems have biophysical feedback mechanisms that moderate processes acting on living (biotic) and abiotic components of the planet. Ecosystems sustain life-supporting functions and provide ecosystem services like biomass production (food, fuel, fiber, and medicine), the regulation of climate, global biogeochemical cycles, water filtration, soil formation, erosion control, flood protection, and many other natural features of scientific, historical, economic, or intrinsic value. (Full article...)

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The issue of what exactly defines a vacant niche, also known as empty niche, and whether they exist in ecosystems is controversial. The subject is intimately tied into a much broader debate on whether ecosystems can reach equilibrium, where they could theoretically become maximally saturated with species. Given that saturation is a measure of the number of species per resource axis per ecosystem, the question becomes: is it useful to define unused resource clusters as niche 'vacancies'? (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Ecosystem History of ecology Ecological economics River ecosystem Human ecology Forest ecology Wetland Natural environment Butanol fuel Old-growth forest Bioplastic Atmosphere of Earth Conservation biology Biofuel Aquatic ecosystem Landscape ecology Cleaner fish Biome Hydrology Biosphere Life Mycology Evolution Lotic ecosystem Coral reef Fire ecology Pollination Species reintroduction Theoretical ecology Spatial ecology Ecological fitting Ecology of California Biodiversity of Albania Storage effect Desert ecology Disturbance (ecology) Ecological facilitation Food web Plant ecology Intertidal ecology Nitrogen cycle Restoration ecology Ecological art Ecological resilience Ecology of the North Cascades Ecology of the Rocky Mountains Altitudinal zonation Ecology of the San Francisco Estuary Environmental issues with coral reefs Acclimatisation society Island restoration Intraspecific competition Interspecific competition Taylor's law World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions Blue carbon Ciénega Metabolic theory of ecology Ecosystem-based management The Green Planet (TV series)

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Lake ecosystem

Credit: Paul Lenz

Lake Syväri in Nilsiä, Finland, an example of a lake ecosystem.

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General images

The following are images from various ecology-related articles on Wiki English.

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  Image 1Twenty-five years after the devastating eruption at Mount St. Helens, United States, pioneer species have moved in. (from Habitat)
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  Image 2Ibex in an alpine habitat (from Habitat)
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  Image 3A red-chested cuckoo chick being feed by a significantly smaller Cape robin-chat adult (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 4An Antarctic rock split apart to show endolithic lifeforms showing as a green layer a few millimeters thick (from Habitat)
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  Image 5Biological nitrogen cycling (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 6Global oceanic and terrestrial phototroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential and not an actual estimate of it. (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 7Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained stable over a long period until a number of introductions in the 1970s restructured its food web. (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 8Rainforest ecosystems are rich in biodiversity. This is the Gambia River in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park. (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 9Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 10The leaves of an Alnus nepalensis tree provide a microhabitat for species like the leaf beetle Aulacophora indica. (from Habitat)
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  Image 11Dense mass of white crabs at a hydrothermal vent, with stalked barnacles on right (from Habitat)
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  Image 12Table visualising size-symmetric competition, using fish as consumers and crabs as resources. (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 13This coral reef in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area provides habitat for numerous marine species. (from Habitat)
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  Image 14Rich rainforest habitat in Dominica (from Habitat)
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  Image 15Flora of Baja California desert, Cataviña region, Mexico (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 16A simple trophic cascade diagram. On the right shows when wolves are absent, showing an increase in elks and reduction in vegetation growth. The left one shows when wolves are present and controlling the elk population. (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 17Desert scene in Egypt (from Habitat)
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  Image 18A generalised graph of a predator-prey population density cycle (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 19Wetland habitat types in Borneo (from Habitat)
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  Image 20A bear with a salmon. Interspecific interactions such as predation are a key aspect of community ecology. (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 21Sequence of a decomposing pig carcass over time (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 22The High Peaks Wilderness Area in the 6,000,000-acre (2,400,000 ha) Adirondack Park is an example of a diverse ecosystem. (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 23Few creatures make the ice shelves of Antarctica their habitat, but water beneath the ice can provide habitat for multiple species. Animals such as penguins have adapted to live in very cold conditions. (from Habitat)
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  Image 24a) A trophic pyramid showing the different trophic levels in a community. b) A food web of the same community (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 25

  A freshwater lake in Gran Canaria, an island of the Canary Islands. Clear boundaries make lakes convenient to study using an ecosystem approach.

  (from Ecosystem)

Related WikiProjects

WikiProject Ecology

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• WikiProject Environment
  
• WikiProject Ecoregions
  
• WikiProject Extinction
  
• WikiProject Biology
  
• WikiProject Protected areas
• WikiProject Forestry
  
• WikiProject Soil
  
• WikiProject Agriculture
  
• WikiProject Science

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Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Create any of the missing articles listed on the WikiProject Ecology page, Alkali bee (Pollinator decline), Ecosystem function (presently a redirect), Nutrient flow (Synecology), Seed crop (Pollinator decline) Verify : Agroecosystem, Biologist, Botany, Ecological pyramid, Ecological selection, Ecological succession, Ecotone, Functional ecology, Macroecology, Microbial ecology, Molecular biology, Uncontacted peoples Wikify : Add {{Portal|Ecology}} to the See also sections of ecology-related articles. Other : For additional tasks, see Wiki: WikiProject Ecology/to do

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

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Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charles Darwin popularised the term "natural selection", contrasting it with artificial selection, which is intentional, whereas natural selection is not.

Variation of traits, both genotypic and phenotypic, exists within all populations of organisms. However, some traits are more likely to facilitate survival and reproductive success. Thus, these traits are passed onto the next generation. These traits can also become more common within a population if the environment that favours these traits remain fixed. If new traits become more favored due to changes in a specific niche, microevolution occurs. If new traits become more favored due to changes in the broader environment, macroevolution occurs. Sometimes, new species can arise especially if these new traits are radically different from the traits possessed by their predecessors. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

Botany Climate Sustainability Nature Automimicry Apex predator Batesian mimicry Aposematism Aggressive mimicry Countershading Albany Pine Bush Ambush predator Camouflage Flagship species Disruptive coloration Habitat Host (biology) Invasive species Keystone species Mimicry Motion camouflage Müllerian mimicry Underwater camouflage Predation Parasitoid Parasitism Geography and ecology of the Everglades Leopold Report List of invasive species in the Everglades

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Portrait by Ernst Hildebrand (1895)

Karl August Möbius (7 February 1825 in Eilenburg – 26 April 1908 in Berlin) was a German zoologist who was a pioneer in the field of ecology and a former director of the Natural History Museum in Berlin. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Ernst Haeckel Charles Darwin Eugenius Warming Aziz Ab'Sáber Sergei Winogradsky Leonty Ramensky Aldo Leopold Eugene Odum Rachel Carson Howard T. Odum William Skinner Cooper Pierre Dansereau Edward Smith Deevey Jr. John Burroughs Helena Norberg-Hodge Martin Gerzabek Exequiel Ezcurra Lian Pin Koh Ann Fowler Rhoads Ramon Margalef Charles Sutherland Elton Frances James (ecologist) John Stanley Beard Liz Chicaje Aparajita Datta C. S. Holling Marie-Josée Fortin Hanna Kokko Elsie Quarterman Ian Stirling (biologist) Paul Sears Joan Roughgarden Christen C. Raunkiær Ed Ricketts Carl Linnaeus Lincoln Brower

Did you know (auto-generated)

• ... that PlantSims, human–plant hybrids in The Sims 2: Seasons, have been studied as examples of ecofeminism and deep ecology?
• ... that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's "cli-fi" thrash metal album addresses a mix of current ecological threats and attempts to find another planet to live on?
• ... that Kühkopf-Knoblochsaue is a large Naturschutzgebiet in Hesse, Germany, protecting the ecology of the floodplains where the Rhine formerly meandered?
• ... that gynecologist Mary Lake Polan wrote a medical mystery novel to "demystify" the procedures behind in vitro fertilisation?
• ... that wampum artist Elizabeth James-Perry also works on ecological restoration projects, including the reintroduction of native plant life?
• ... that scientist Adelaida K. Semesi was known as "mama mangroves" due to her specialist knowledge of their ecology?

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“	The key.. will be a new public awareness of how serious is the threat to the global environment. Those who have a vested interest in the status quo will probably continue to be able to stifle any meaningful change until enough citizens.. are willing to speak out.	”
	— Al Gore

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Ecology news

From the Wikinews Environment portal

• April 23: European Union to reduce carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 2030
• November 27: Wikinews interviews Craig Farquharson, Liberal Democrat candidate for 2020 Groom by-election
• November 27: Wikinews interviews Sandra Jephcott, Sustainable Australia candidate for 2020 Groom by-election
• December 14: Greta Thunberg named 2019 Time Person of the Year
• November 23: Researchers break down deaths due to power plant pollution in the United States
• November 21: Slippery business: Materials scientists invent new coating for self-cleaning, water-efficient toilets
• October 19: Northern Arapaho Tribe welcomes buffalo herd in Wyoming, United States
• October 12: Scientists describe how 'upside-down rivers' of warm water break Antarctica's ice shelf
• October 5: Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, say scientists
• September 8: Scientists report skyrocketing phytoplankton population in aftermath of Kīlauea eruption

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Additional News Highlights

• November 5, 2009: "New ocean forming in African desert."

More ecology news on Wikinews

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The Journal of Animal Ecology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing research in all areas of animal ecology. It began publication in 1932, and as such is the second oldest journal of the British Ecological Society (after the Journal of Ecology). The Journal of Animal Ecology is available both in print and online. (Full article...)

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... restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action, within a short time frame? Restoration ecology emerged as a separate field in ecology in the 1980s. (Pictured left: Recently constructed wetland regeneration in Australia, on a site previously used for agriculture)

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Associated Wiki

The following Wiki Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: