What objects are the subject of environmental study? The concept of ecology. Object and subject of study of general ecology

Ecology is a science that studies the interaction between organisms and their living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) environment.

Ecology is a science that studies the patterns of life of organisms (in any of its manifestations, at all levels of integration) in their natural habitat, taking into account the changes introduced into the environment by human activity. The ultimate goal of ecological research is to elucidate the ways in which a species survives in a constantly changing environment. The prosperity of the species is to maintain the optimal number of its populations in the biogeocenosis. The main content of modern ecology is the study of the relationship of organisms with each other and with the environment at the population-biocenotic level and the study of the life of biological macrosystems of a higher rank: biogeocenoses (ecosystems) and the biosphere, their productivity and energy.

The subject of ecology research is biological macrosystems (populations, biocenoses, ecosystems) and their dynamics in time and space.

The main tasks can be reduced to the study of population dynamics, to the study of biogeocenoses and their systems. The main theoretical and practical task of ecology is to reveal the laws of these processes and learn how to manage them in the conditions of the inevitable industrialization and urbanization of our planet.

The main goal of ecology is to study how the ecosphere works. Objects of study: 5 levels of organized matter:

alive organisms;

population;

communities;

ecosystems;

ecosphere.

A living organism is any form of life activity. There are from 3 to 20 categories of living organisms. All organisms are usually divided into:

plants;

animals;

reducer destructors.

A population is a group of organisms of the same species living in a particular area. A species is a set of populations whose representatives actually or potentially give full-fledged offspring in natural conditions.

Community. Each organism or population has its own habitat. When multiple populations various kinds living organisms live in one place and interact with each other, they create the so-called ecological community.

An ecosystem is the relationship of communities with chemical and physical factors that create a non-living (abiotic) environment. Physical factors include:

sunlight,

evaporation,

temperature

water currents.

Chemical factors are nutrients and their compounds in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and earth's crust, which are necessary in large or small quantities for the existence, growth and reproduction of organisms.

All ecosystems on Earth make up the ecosphere.

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1.1. The subject of study of ecology

Ecology is a science that studies the relationship of organisms (individuals, populations, biocenoses, etc.) with each other and with the surrounding inorganic nature, the general laws of the functioning of ecosystems of various hierarchical levels, the habitat of living beings (including humans). The strengthening of human influence on nature is making the environmental problems of interaction between man and nature, humanity and the biosphere more and more acute.

Ecology as a science was formed in the middle of the 19th century, when there was an understanding that not only the structure and development of organisms, but also their relationship with the environment is subject to certain laws.

The concept of "ecology" was first used in 1866 by the German scientist E. Haeckel. It comes from the Greek words oikos, which means house, dwelling, place of residence, and logos, science. “By ecology we mean the sum of knowledge,” wrote E. Haeckel, “related to the economy of nature: the study of the totality of the relationship of an animal with the environment, both organic and inorganic, and above all, its friendly and hostile relations with those animals and plants, with with which it directly or indirectly comes into contact. In a word, the relationships that Darwin calls the conditions that give rise to the struggle for existence.

Initially, this term was used when it was about the study of the relationship between plant and living communities that are part of persistent and organized systems that have developed in the process of evolution of the organic world and the environment.

The American ecologist Eugene Odum gave the most concise and least specific definition of ecology as the biology of the environment.

The formation of ecology as a science took place at the beginning of the twentieth century, and for a long time it developed among the biological sciences. An important role in the differentiation of ecological science was played by the III Botanical Congress, which took place in 1910 in Brussels. It was decided to divide the ecology of plants into the ecology of individuals (autecology) and the ecology of communities (synecology). This division also extended to animal ecology and general ecology.

General ecology deals with the study of all types of ecosystems. Plant ecology studies the relationship of plant organisms with the environment. Animal ecology studies the dynamics and organization of the animal world.

In addition, there is the ecology of man and the ecology of microorganisms. Since the 70s of the twentieth century, social ecology has been developing, studying the features of the interaction between society and the environment and its protection.

However, the high rates of population growth on the globe, the rapid development of industry, transport, and construction were accompanied by ever greater volumes of consumption of natural resources. The technogenic nature of the Western-type civilization with its powerful potential for the means of destroying all life on Earth, the development of scientific and technological progress has led to great changes in the environment under the influence of human activity (anthropogenic activity).

In many countries of the world - North America, Western Europe, Japan - the ecological situation has worsened, regions of ecological crisis have arisen, where the quality of the habitat did not correspond to the normal conditions for the functioning of living organisms. In the second half of the twentieth century. there was a need to study the human environment. And this, in turn, led to the "greening" of many branches of modern science. Such sciences as economics, geography, geology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, etc. are actively engaged in the issues of protecting the human environment, rational nature management. but on problems.

Ecology has greatly expanded the subject of its study. Moreover, in a short time, mainly from the 60-70s of the twentieth century. diversification of science took place. According to M.F. Reimers, ecology is: 1) a part of biology (bioecology) that studies the relationships (relationships) of organisms (individuals, populations, biocenoses) between themselves and the environment, that is, it has the subject of study that it was outlined by E .Haeckel; 2) a discipline that studies the general laws of the functioning of ecosystems of various hierarchical levels. Hierarchy is understood as the arrangement of elements, regions, systems in a stepped row. At each stage (or levels), as a result of interaction with the environment (energy and matter), characteristic functional systems arise; 3) a complex science that studies the habitat of living beings, including humans; 4) a field of knowledge that considers a certain set of objects and phenomena from the point of view of a subject or object (mainly living and with the participation of the living); 5) study of the position of man as a species and society in the planet's ecosphere, its relationship with ecosystems and the magnitude of the impact on them.

The spectrum of ecology subdivisions is very wide. It includes specialized environmental sciences, which differ in the object and subject of study.

Bioecology is a part of biology that studies the relationship of organisms (individuals, populations, biocenoses, etc.) with each other and with the environment. It includes the ecology of individuals (autecology), populations (population ecology, demecology) and communities (synecology).

Autecology studies the relationship of members of a species with the environment. It mainly studies the limits of the stability of a species and its interaction with various environmental factors: heat, light, moisture, fertility, etc., and also investigates the influence of the environment on the morphology, physiology and behavior of organisms, reveals the general patterns of the action of environmental factors on living organisms. .

Synecology analyzes the relationship between individual representatives of a certain set of living organisms belonging to different populations, as well as between them and the environment.

In the thirties of the twentieth century, population ecology - demecology - was formed. It studies the structure of a species (biological, sexual, age, ecological) and describes fluctuations in the number of different species and establishes their causes.

On the present stage development of society, ecology solves a range of problems and uses methods, materials, principles that go far beyond the purely biological sciences. Despite the fact that some scientists (mainly biologists) continue to attribute it to the biological sciences, most of them, in particular geoecologists, believe that ecology has now formed into a fundamentally new integral discipline that combines all natural, exact, humanitarian and social sciences. This view is shared by N. Reimers, G. Golubev, A. Yablokov, A. Yanshin, G. Yagodin, A. Laptev, D. Meadows, T. Miller, K. Montgomery and many other well-known domestic and foreign researchers. 20 years ago Professor-geographer V. Alpatov noted that ecology can equally be attributed to both biological and geographical areas of knowledge, and it should be considered as a completely independent science. The task fell to the ecology to develop new, scientifically based methods, based on the idea of ​​preserving the planet's biosphere.

There are several definitions of modern ecology and several classifications of its main components. Some authors pay the main attention to the general philosophical and cultural aspects, the second - social, the third - ecological and economic, the fourth - bioecological detailing.

Thus, G. Schwebs puts culture at the center of the ecological knowledge classification scheme as the basis for the accumulation of knowledge by mankind, the wealth of human history embodied in spiritual and material values, and as an element of creative activity (culture of production, crop farming, behavior, nature management, etc.). He believes that the greening of thinking will be a natural form of activity only after it becomes an integral element of culture. And for this, appropriate training and an interdisciplinary approach are needed, when the central philosophical direction is culture.

G. Schwebs considers it inappropriate, classifying modern environmental knowledge, to give the main place to bioecology, technology or geoecology, since in this case the subject approach narrows the problem. Explaining his vision of the problem, he states: “... the core of environmental education should be social ecology - an interdisciplinary branch of knowledge about relationships in the system "nature - society". That is, it is based not on the generalizing concept of "culture", but on one of the sections general ecology- socioecology.

In the scheme of G. Schwebs, the fair allocation among the main four already known blocks of ecological knowledge (bioecology, geoecology, technoecology, human ecology), the sections “ecology of the soul” and “ecology of culture” (the study of issues of environmental ethics, the ecologization of art) deserves attention. , diplomacy). But the proposal to consider the whole of ecology only in the system of social sciences raises doubts.

In the form of a flower with six petals - branch divisions - and "theoretical socioecology" inside, G. Bachinsky proposed his structural scheme of modern environmental science. He is also of the opinion that under the influence of large anthropogenic changes in the environment over the past decades, on the verge of natural, social and technical sciences, in most developed countries a new complex scientific discipline has begun to form - socioecology. G. Bachinsky is an ardent supporter of this term and, outlining his opinion on the goals, objectives and methods of various environmental departments, he adds the prefix socio- to many previously widely known terms: socio-ecosystem, socio-ecological laws of interaction between society and nature, socio-ecological law, socio-ecological scientific institutions and the like, practically without changing the essence of the concepts themselves.

The scheme of the structure of ecology by G. Bachinsky is simplified and very unconvincingly substantiates the expediency of assigning a central place to socioecology, which “does not just mechanically summarize the results of sectoral socioecological studies, but also generalizes them at a qualitatively new system level, studying socioecosystems as integral system objects.” The author argues that "socioecology, like every independent science, has its own theoretical base, a clearly defined range of tasks that are characteristic only for it, an object, a subject of study and its own research methods." Unfortunately, the theoretical potential of socioecology is now very weak and it does not have “its own research methods”, but uses methods that are widely used in economics, geology, geography, biology, mathematics, and the like. G. Bachinsky's scheme does not give an idea of ​​the nature of the relationship between the individual divisions of ecology, as well as their hierarchy, does not cover the latest divisions of environmental science (global ecology, space, techno-ecological, urban ecology) and is too sociological.

A. Laptev offers his own diversification of modern ecology, where the main place is given to general ecology, which covers seven main divisions of the ecology of biotic and biological systems, geographical (landscape), urban planning (engineering), social, economic, industrial and agricultural ecology. This scheme is not detailed, but clearer and more logical than the scheme of G. Bachinsky. It also does not cover the newest divisions.

One of the leading Moldovan bioecologists I. Dedu in his fundamental work "Ecological encyclopedic Dictionary» paid much attention to the essence of the structure and tasks of modern ecology. He considers modern ecology to be a synthetic biological science of the relationship between living organisms and the environment.

I. Dedu notes that modern theoretical fundamental ecology is still developing, but it should become the biological basis for the three basic environmental sciences - global ecology, human ecology and nature conservation. Without denying the need to single out new ecological divisions in the structure of modern ecology, which he united in the “applied ecology” block, I. Dedu put biology at the basis of the scheme, reducing the importance of geographical, geological and technogenic aspects. But it is important that, putting the focus of modern ecology on all aspects of the interaction of energy and matter in an ecosystem, the scientist believes that natural ecosystems form biotypes and biocenoses at all their levels, which are the main object of study of ecology.

That is, in solving the problem, equally great importance is attached to the study of the genesis, dynamics and relationships of all environmental factors: biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic.

The most detailed and substantiated is the scheme of the structure of modern ecology proposed by the Russian ecologist M. Reimers. He gives five different definitions of ecology (bioecology as a complex science that studies the habitat of living beings, etc.).

The central place in the scheme of M. Reimers is occupied by a large ecology (general, global megaecology), which is divided into blocks, departments and subdivisions (a total of 38 divisions).

The main blocks in the scheme are bioecology, geographic or landscape ecology, human ecology and applied ecology (technoecology). Dynamic, general analytical and space ecology are also highlighted separately.

Despite the perfection (compared to other schemes), the G. Reimers scheme, according to G. A. Belyavsky, N. M. Padun, G. S. Furdui, has certain drawbacks.

Firstly, the scheme and its explanations do not give a clear idea of ​​the difference between the functions of ecology large (global) and general, which is defined by a separate department. It is not clear why the blocks "analytical ecology" and "dynamic ecology" are torn off from the block "bioecology", and several subdivisions of "medical ecology" are separated from the block "human ecology" and placed in the block "applied ecology" together with "engineering" and " agricultural ecology".

Secondly, the scheme does not cover such important new subsections as the ecology of culture, military affairs, transport, energy, legal ecology.

Thirdly, in the geographical ecology block, smaller subdivisions are distinguished according to completely different criteria - geostructural, zonal-landscape, geochemical, and the category of natural waters. The scheme does not contain subdivisions “economics of rational use of natural resources” and “protection of resources”, geological aspects and the like are not taken into account.

These authors proposed a new classification scheme for ecology, in which for all sections of modern ecology, the generalizing concept should be “big”, or “general ecology”. Its main tasks are the following:

study from the standpoint of a systematic approach of the general state of the modern biosphere of the planet, the reasons for its formation and the characteristics of changes under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors (i.e., the study of the patterns of formation, existence and functioning of biological systems of all levels in conjunction with the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, technosphere) ;

forecast of the dynamics of the state of the biosphere in time and space;

development of ways to harmonize the relationship between human society and nature, maintaining the ability of the biosphere to self-repair and self-regulate, taking into account the basic environmental laws and general laws for optimizing the relationship between society and nature.

The scheme consists of six blocks: the central one - general (big) ecology and five main ones (bioecology, geoecology, technoecology, socioecology and space ecology). Each block has its own environmental branch departments and sub-departments. In total, the scheme has more than 80 environmental units, which cover almost all modern areas of environmental research (Fig. 1.1). With the advent of new areas of research and activity, the scheme can easily be supplemented.

The most developed and "oldest" block is bioecology - the mother substratum of ecological science. The structure of this block is built taking into account the ideas of modern prominent bioecologists (Yu. Odum, G. Dazho, N. F. Reimers, I. Dedu, etc.). But before the already known subdivisions of the bioecology block, such as the basics of bioindication, experimental ecology, conservation, biocomonitoring, biospheric, human ecology are added.

The geoecology block consists of seven main sections and nine subdivisions. The main ones are landscape ecology, environmental economics and environmental protection (to solve their problems, the results of studies of almost all other geoecological divisions, as well as many divisions structurally included in bioecology, technoecology and socioecology), atmospheric ecology, hydrosphere and lithosphere are used. In the last two subsections, the structural elements are the ecology of artificial reservoirs, the World Ocean, lakes and swamps, rivers, soils, mineral deposits (or mining), geoengineering ecology, geological conservation, etc. The newest sections of the block are geoecoinformatics and the ecology of geoenergy anomalous zones.

The main structural elements of the technoecology block are the ecology of energy, industry, agroecology, the ecology of transport, military affairs. In particular, the energy ecology has the following subsections: the ecology of nuclear power plants, thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, non-traditional energy sources (solar, geothermal, wind, bioenergy, marine energy). The ecology of industry combines such areas as the ecology of the chemical, metallurgical, fuel, electric power, woodworking, mechanical engineering and building materials industries.

Agroecology is divided into soil protection, reclamation and agrochemical ecology and livestock ecology.

The block of socioecology has 12 divisions, the main of which are psychoecology, urban ecology, population ecology, environmental legislation and international cooperation in the protection of the biosphere.

And, finally, the space ecology block is a young direction of ecological research, which has the following subsections: spacecraft ecology, near space ecology, solar system planetary ecology, outer space ecology and global space environmental monitoring.

Each of these blocks of general ecology must solve its own range of problems, but they are all closely related, and each uses the materials and results of the other during the development, models and forecasts regarding natural environment.

In our time, there is a rapid greening of various technical disciplines, which should be understood as the process of steady and consistent implementation of technological, managerial and other solutions that make it possible to increase the efficiency of using natural resources along with improving or at least maintaining the quality of the natural environment (or living environment in general) in the local , regional, national and global levels. There is also the concept of greening production technologies, the essence of which is the application of measures to prevent the negative impact of production processes on the natural environment. Ecologization of technologies is achieved by developing modern technologies with a minimum harmful substances to the output - waste-free or low-waste technologies. Recently, a wide variety of areas of environmental research have been launched all over the world in order to provide specialists with the necessary environmental information from all spheres of human activity. Now, about a hundred areas of environmental research have been formed, which can be combined according to the principle of industry affiliation, relationships, mutual ordering, priority, theoretical and practical significance (Fig. 1.2).

In this regard, ecology has broken up into a number of new branches and disciplines, which have significantly departed from the original definition of ecology as the science of the relationship of living organisms with the environment. But at the heart of all modern areas of ecology are the fundamental ideas of bioecology.

According to the size of the objects of study, ecology is divided into geographical or landscape, the objects of study of which are large geosystems, geographical processes, and global ecology, the subject of which is the biosphere and anthropogenic activity.
within it.

Global ecology. As a scientific discipline, it studies the biosphere, that is, the ecosystem covering the entire planet. The subject of the study of global ecology is also the ecological connections of the biosphere with the processes occurring in the bowels of the Earth and in space.

Global ecology has become the only doctrine of the ecological relationship of the biosphere with factors of various origins, trying to comprehensively study the influence of anthropogenic, cosmic, geographical, geochemical and other factors on it. The main tasks of global ecology are to study anthropogenic changes in the natural environment, to substantiate methods for its conservation and improvement in the interests of mankind, and to elucidate the patterns of evolution of the biosphere. The primary task is to predict changes in the biosphere in the future.

Space ecology is a branch of ecology that studies the features of the life of humans and other organisms in almost completely closed microsystems of spacecraft and stations. It develops life support systems, studies the possibilities of creating conditions for long-term interplanetary flights.

In relation to the subjects of study, ecology is divided into the ecology of microorganisms, fungi, plants, animals, humans, agricultural, applied, engineering and general ecology - a theoretical and generalizing discipline.

For the environment and components, the ecology of land, fresh water, marine, high-mountain, chemical, and the like are distinguished.

According to the approaches to the subject of study, analytical and dynamic ecology are distinguished.

In the temporal aspect, historical and evolutionary ecology are distinguished.

In the system of human ecology, there is a social ecology that studies the relationship of elementary social groups of society and humanity as a whole with the living environment.

Applied ecology is a discipline that studies the mechanisms of anthropogenic impact on the biosphere, ways to prevent negative processes and develops principles for the rational use of natural resources without environmental degradation. Applied ecology is based on a system of laws, principles and rules of environmental economics.

Applied ecology as a science is based primarily on knowledge in various fields of biology - physiology, genetics, biophysics, but it is also associated with other natural sciences - physics, chemistry, geology, geography, mathematics. Applied ecology, in addition, cannot be separated from economics, morality, law, since only in alliance with them can it radically change the relationship of man to nature.

Applied ecology in scientific areas is divided into industrial ecology, energy ecology, agricultural ecology, carcinogenesis and the like.

So, the modern interpretation of the term "ecology" as a field of knowledge is to consider and reveal the patterns of development of organisms, objects, components of communities and communities as a whole in interactions in systems of biogeocenoses, noobiogeocenoses, the biosphere from the point of view of a subject or object (living or with the participation of living) , which is central to this system.

In some cases, ecology includes related applied and applied fields of knowledge, mainly related to environmental science - a complex discipline about the human environment, mainly natural, about its quality and its protection. The term "ecology" is beginning to be identified with the discipline "Nature Protection" or "Environmental Protection". However, these disciplines are traditionally based on the introduction of prohibitions and regulations, and not on the general rationalization of nature management.

Modern environmental research should be a scientific basis for developing a strategy and tactics for human behavior in the natural environment, rational nature management, protection and reproduction of the environment. The most important conclusion of environmental studies should be the determination of the ecological capacity of territories, which completely depends on the state of their ecosystems.

Gekkel E. Natural history of the world: a public scientific presentation of the doctrine of development. - St. Petersburg: Nauch. thought, 1909. - S. 247.

Reimers N. F. Nature management: Dictionary-reference book. - M.: Thought, 1990. - S. 592-594.

Shvebs G.Y. Contour farming. Odessa: Mayak, 1985. - S. 17.

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M.E. Guselnikov, V.N. Stroynova
Bioecology
Tutorial. - Tomsk: Ed. TPU, 2002. - 104 p.

The subject of study of ecology

Ecology is a science that studies the relationship between organisms and their environment, as well as the conditions for the existence of these organisms. As a science, ecology originated in the second half of the 19th century, after the scientific works of naturalists, biologists, zoologists: Darwin, Haeckel, Humboldt, Roulier. Ecology refers to the natural sciences, uses the achievements and methods of knowledge of physics, chemistry, mathematics. For example, the development of living systems is subject to the laws of thermodynamics of open systems, the circulation of substances is described by the laws of chemistry, the laws of heredity, animal migration, population dynamics are described using probability theory. In addition, ecology includes elements of geology and geophysics (the evolution of the Earth), biology (the laws of development of living organisms), genetics (the laws of heredity of living organisms), human physiology and sociology.

Since its birth, this science has undergone significant changes and continues to develop rapidly today. Currently, the subject of ecology as a science consists of the following components:

1. Living systems and their interaction with the environment.

2. Nature as a whole and its interaction with society.

3. A special general scientific approach to the study of the problems of interaction between organisms, biosystems and the environment (ecological approach).

4. Scientific and practical problems of the relationship between man and nature (environmental problems).

The structure of ecology. Systematic life

Figure 1.1 illustrates the structure of modern ecology. Modern ecology is represented by four large sections: bioecology, geoecology, applied ecology, social ecology. In our course, each of these sections will be briefly studied. Scientists have established that life on Earth has a systemic structure. That is, life exists in the form of self-sustaining and self-regulating systems. Since life on Earth has a systemic structure, ecology is characterized by the study of its objects as SYSTEMS. Moreover, living systems are open (open) and obey the laws of thermodynamics of open systems. A SYSTEM is a set of identical elements interacting with each other and forming an integral unity. Allocate material and abstract systems. Material systems are divided into inorganic (physics, chemistry, geology) and organic living (biological, social, ecosystems, populations, organisms). Abstract systems: logical, linguistic, mathematical. Systems are characterized by a hierarchy and orderliness of elements. Quantitative Order Measures - Information I, entropy S. And I proportional to 1/ S. The system itself can be part of a more complex system (subsystem). Or other systems (supersystem) can enter into it as components. An example of systems in physics: a system with distributed parameters, with lumped parameters, a system of interacting bodies.

System-Wide Laws

How will we study ecology? Living systems differ in size, ways of interacting with the environment, ways of internal connections. In general, systems differ in the degree of organization. The biosphere of the Earth has a higher organization than the population. There is a certain hierarchy of systems - subordination from top to bottom. In our lectures, we will move from top to bottom - from the biosphere to the organism, from a high level of organization of systems to a low one. All systems of the area of ​​distribution of life on Earth - BIOSPHERES - are presented in fig. 1.2. They obey the laws of physics, chemistry, genetics, ecology. All living non-closed systems obey systems theory and the laws of thermodynamics of open systems.

The main ones are: the law of similarity between the part and the whole, the law of necessary diversity, the law of minimum energy dissipation.

THE LAW OF SIMILARITY OF THE PART AND THE WHOLE: a part is a miniature copy of the whole, therefore all parts of the same level of the hierarchy of systems are similar. For example, Rutherford's model of the atom is similar to solar system, or a complex multicellular organism is similar to a unicellular organism, since genetically each cell contains information about the organism.

THE LAW OF NECESSARY VARIETY. No system can consist of absolutely identical elements. For example, atoms in a crystal lattice differ in positions in the lattice; electrons in the same orbit - spin directions (Pauli principle).

RULE OF CONSTRUCTIVE EMERGENCY: reliable system may be composed of unreliable elements or subsystems that are incapable of independent existence. For example, an anthill or a bee swarm.

THEOREM OF CONSERVATION OF ORDERING: in open systems (which are all living systems), entropy does not increase, but falls to a certain constant value S 0 > 0 or remains constant. Therefore, information I increases to a certain value I 0 > 0 or remains constant. That is, the system seeks to maintain orderliness, using the influx of energy from the environment.

LAW OF MINIMUM ENERGY DISSIPATION or ENERGY SAVING: if the process can develop in several directions allowed by the laws of thermodynamics, then the process will go in the direction of minimum energy dissipation (or minimum increase in entropy).

These comprehensive laws are valid for any systems, both living and non-living.

When studying ecology, the following main Terms and Definitions:

The BIOSPHERE is a kind of shell of the Earth, containing the totality of living organisms and that part of the substance that interacts with them. The doctrine of the biosphere was developed in 1926 by Academician Vernadsky. He understood the biosphere as the area of ​​existence of living matter.

ECOSYSTEM - a set of different types of organisms living together and the conditions for their existence, which are in close continuous relationship with each other. The ecosystem exists quite isolated from the rest of the biosphere. It includes landscape, water bodies, plants and animals. Ecosystems can vary in size from a tree to the Earth. The Earth's biosphere is called the global ecosystem.

POPULATION - a set of individuals of the same species that interact with each other, have jointly produced offspring and inhabit the same territory. The population functions in one ecosystem and is part of the community. There may be plant and animal populations.

COMMUNITY - a set of interacting populations living in the same climatic conditions within the same ecosystem. For example, insects and ground squirrels in the steppe serve as food for birds and wolves.

TYPE - a set of individuals (living organisms) capable of having a joint, capable of reproductive functions, offspring.

LIVING ORGANISM - consists of organic matter, differs in metabolism with the environment and the ability to reproduce its own kind.

Methods of ecology as a science

When studying ecology, the following methods are used:

1. Descriptive, when science describes the external relations and behavior of an object. It has been realized since ancient times in botany, geography, zoology.

2. Functional or "black box" method. Allows you to predict the behavior of a selected object based on observation and analysis of black box input and output data. At the same time, there is no analysis of the internal structure of the black box.

3. Analytical approach. The internal structure of an object consisting of simpler elements is studied.

4. A systematic (ecological) approach is the main method of understanding modern ecology as a science.

SYSTEM APPROACH is a method of scientific knowledge, which is based on the idea of ​​the studied objects as systems. The researcher must study the types of connections within the system, the interaction of systems with other systems, build a general theoretical picture of the connections. The systems approach is used not only in ecology, but also in cybernetics, technology, management, and economics. An example of a systematic approach in ecology is shown in fig. 1.3. The ecosystem is mentally divided into an object and the environment, while studying the interactions between them - the exchange of matter, energy and information, their constituent elements, the behavior and change of the system over time - dynamics.

Experiments in ecology have so far had negative consequences for the Earth's biosphere. For example, deforestation to acquire arable land has led to soil desertification. Thousands of years ago, there was lush vegetation on the site of the Sahara.

Nowadays, the environment, namely the ecological problems of interaction between man and the environment, is becoming a particularly important component of the subject of ecology as a science. Environmental problems include environmental pollution, depletion of food and energy resources of the biosphere, violation of sustainability and reduction of species diversity (Red Book). Both individuals and large organizations must deal with environmental problems.

Thus, modern ecology as a science includes not only methods for studying other natural sciences, but also forms in the minds of the current generation a responsibility to future generations for the state of the environment and people's health. The latter connects ecology with ethics, culture, and psychology.

Goals and objectives of the course.

The course of lectures is designed for a semester and consists of three modules:

1. Bioecology - 9 lectures.

2. The impact of human activity on the biosphere - 5 lectures.

3. Methods of engineering environmental protection - 3 lectures.

Course objective: the study of the basic laws of ecology as a science, the assimilation of terminology, the study of the patterns of behavior of ecosystems of different ranks, the awareness of modern environmental problems, the knowledge of environmental protection methods.

Course objectives:

1. The need for respect for nature.

2. Know the basic terms and laws of ecology.

3. Know the methods of engineering environmental protection.

4. Own the principles of a healthy lifestyle.

Test

1. Living systems obey simultaneously:

1. The law of similarity of part and whole, the first law of thermodynamics.

2. The second law of thermodynamics, the order conservation theorem.

3. The law of necessary diversity, the conservation theorem

orderliness.

2. Choose a discipline that is part of ecology:

2. Genetics.

3. Geoecology.

3. What phenomena constitute the subject of ecology as a science:

1. Human activity.

2. Plant development.

3. The relationship of living organisms with the environment.

4. A population can be called:

1. Fauna of the lake.

2. A pack of wolves.

3. Vegetation and fauna of the taiga.

5. An ecosystem can be called:

1. The river, along with the fish, algae and micro-organisms that inhabit it.

2. A herd of seals on the coast of Kamchatka.

3. Ground squirrels in the steppe and hawks that feed on them.

6. A community can be called:

1. The human family.

2. Biosphere of the Earth.

3. Lions and antelopes living nearby.

7. Modern ecology as a science uses as a method of knowledge:

1. Analytical method.

2. "Black box" method.

3. System approach.

8. Choose the task of our course of lectures:

1. Study the flora and fauna of Russian reserves.

2. Know the methods of engineering environmental protection.

3. Save the world's oceans from oil pollution.

4. Reduce gas pollution of the atmosphere.

9. Select the task of our course of lectures:

1. Save the blue whale from extinction.

2. Take care of nature.

3. Invent a wastewater filter.

ECOLOGY

1. Subject, tasks, object of study
2. Ecosystem. Biosphere.
3. Social ecology. The subject of the study of social ecology.
4. The environment surrounding a person, its specificity and condition.
5. Basic environmental requirements for the components of the human environment
6. Monitoring the quality of air, water, food
7. Demography and environmental problems.
8. Natural resources used by man and their protection. The concept of "environment pollution".
9. Applied Ecology. Ecological problems: regional and global.
10. Causes of global environmental problems. Possible ways
11. solutions to global environmental problems.
12. The emergence of the concept of sustainable development.
13. Environmental activities

1. Ecology (Greek oikos - dwelling, residence, logos - science) - the biological science of the relationship between living organisms and their environment. This term was proposed in 1866 by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel. The formation of ecology became possible after extensive information was accumulated about the diversity of living organisms on Earth and the characteristics of their way of life in various habitats, and an understanding arose that the structure, functioning and development of all living beings, their relationship with the environment are subject to certain patterns that needs to be studied.

Ecology objects are predominantly systems above the level of organisms, i.e., the study of the organization and functioning of supraorganismal systems: populations, biocenoses (communities), biogeocenoses (ecosystems) and the biosphere as a whole. In other words, the main object of study in ecology are ecosystems , i.e., unified natural complexes formed by living organisms and the environment.

Tasks of ecology change depending on the studied level of organization of living matter.

Population ecology studies the patterns of population dynamics and structure, as well as the processes of interactions (competition, predation) between populations different types. The tasks of community ecology (biocenology) include the study of the patterns of organization of various communities, or biocenoses, their structure and functioning (circulation of substances and energy transformation in food chains).

The main theoretical and practical task of ecology- reveal the general patterns of life organization and, on this basis, develop principles for the rational use of natural resources in the face of ever-increasing human influence on the biosphere.

The interaction of human society and nature has become one of the most important problems of our time, since the situation that develops in the relationship between man and nature often becomes critical: fresh water and minerals (oil, gas, non-ferrous metals, etc.) are depleted, the condition of soils is deteriorating, water and air basins, desertification of vast territories is taking place, the fight against diseases and pests of agricultural crops is becoming more complicated.

Anthropogenic changes have affected almost all ecosystems of the planet, the gas composition of the atmosphere, and the energy balance of the Earth. This means that human activity has come into conflict with nature, as a result of which its dynamic balance has been disturbed in many parts of the world.

To solve these global problems and, above all, the problem of intensification and rational use, conservation and reproduction of the resources of the biosphere, ecology unites the efforts of botanists, zoologists and microbiologists in a scientific search, gives evolutionary doctrine, genetics, biochemistry and biophysics their true universality.

The range of environmental problems also includes issues of environmental education and enlightenment, moral, ethical, philosophical and even legal issues. Consequently, ecology becomes a science not only biological, but also social.

Ecology methods are divided into field (study of the life of organisms and their communities in natural conditions, i.e., long-term observation in nature using various equipment) and experimental (experiments in stationary laboratories, where it is possible not only to vary, but also strictly control the effect on living organisms any factors according to a given program). At the same time, ecologists operate not only with biological, but also with modern physical and chemical methods, use the modeling of biological phenomena, i.e., reproduction in artificial ecosystems various processes occurring in nature. Through modeling, it is possible to study the behavior of any system in order to assess the possible consequences of applying various resource management strategies and methods, i.e. for environmental forecasting.

The method of mathematical modeling is also widely used to study and predict natural processes.

Such ecosystem models are built on the basis of numerous data accumulated in field and laboratory conditions. At the same time, correctly constructed mathematical models help to see what is difficult or impossible to verify in an experiment.

Subject, structure and tasks of ecology

However, the mathematical model itself cannot serve as an absolute proof of the correctness of a particular hypothesis, but it serves as one of the ways to analyze reality.

The combination of field and experimental research methods allows the ecologist to find out all aspects of the relationship between living organisms and numerous environmental factors, which will allow not only to restore the dynamic balance of nature, but also to manage ecosystems.

2. Ecosystem. Biosphere

Ecosystem is a system consisting of living beings and their habitat united into a single functional whole.

Basic properties:

1) the ability to carry out the cycle of substances

2) resist external influences

3) produce biological products

Types of ecosystems:

1) microecosystems (a tree trunk in the breeding stage, an aquarium, a small pond, a drop of water, etc.)

2) mesoecosystem (forest, pond, steppe, river)

3) macroecosystem (ocean, continent, natural area)

4) global ecosystem (biosphere as a whole)

Y. Odum proposed a classification of the ecosystem based on biomes. These are large natural ecosystems corresponding to physical and geographical zones. It is characterized by some basic type of vegetation or other characteristic feature of the landscape.

Biome types

1) terrestrial (tundra, taiga, steppes, deserts)

2) freshwater (flowing waters: rivers, streams, stagnant waters: lakes, ponds, swampy waters: swamps)

3) marine (open ocean, shelf waters, deep water zones)

concept biogeocenosis and ecosystem close, but there are differences. Any biogeocenosis is a system. An ecosystem may include several biogeocenoses, but not every ecosystem has a biogeocenosis, since it does not have all the features of it.

In an ecosystem, one can two components - biotic and abiotic . Biotic is divided into autotrophic (organisms that receive primary energy for existence from photo- and chemosynthesis or producers) and heterotrophic (organisms that receive energy from the processes of oxidation of organic matter - consumers and decomposers) components that form the trophic structure of the ecosystem.

The only source of energy for the existence of an ecosystem and the maintenance of various processes in it are producers that absorb the energy of the sun (heat, chemical bonds) with an efficiency of 0.1-1%, rarely 3-4.5% of the initial amount. Autotrophs represent the first trophic level of an ecosystem. Subsequent trophic levels of the ecosystem are formed due to consumers (2nd, 3rd, 4th and subsequent levels) and are closed by decomposers that convert inanimate organic matter into a mineral form (abiotic component), which can be assimilated by an autotrophic element.

Main components of the ecosystem

From the point of view of the structure in the ecosystem, there are:

1. climatic regime, which determines the temperature, humidity, lighting regime and other physical characteristics of the environment;

2. inorganic substances included in the cycle;

3.organic compounds that link the biotic and abiotic parts in the cycle of matter and energy:

- producers - organisms that create primary products;

- macroconsumers, or phagotrophs, - heterotrophs that eat other organisms or large particles of organic matter;

- microconsumers (saprotrophs) - heterotrophs, mainly fungi and bacteria, which destroy dead organic matter, mineralizing it, thereby returning it to the cycle.

The last three components form biomass ecosystems.

From the point of view of the functioning of the ecosystem, the following functional blocks of organisms are distinguished (in addition to autotrophs):

biophages - organisms that eat other living organisms,

saprophages - organisms that eat dead organic matter.

This division shows the temporal-functional relationship in the ecosystem, focusing on the division in time of the formation of organic matter and its redistribution within the ecosystem (biophages) and processing by saprophages. Between the death of organic matter and the re-inclusion of its components in the cycle of matter in the ecosystem, a significant period of time can pass, for example, in the case of a pine log, 100 years or more.

All these components are interconnected in space and time and form a single structural and functional system.

Term biosphere was introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck at the beginning of the 19th century, and proposed in geology by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess in 1875.

However, the creation of a holistic doctrine of the biosphere belongs to the Russian scientist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky.

Biosphere - an ecosystem of a higher order, uniting all other ecosystems and ensuring the existence of life on Earth. The biosphere includes the following "spheres":

The atmosphere is the lightest of the shells of the Earth, it borders on outer space; through the atmosphere there is an exchange of matter and energy with space (outer space).

The hydrosphere is the water shell of the Earth. Almost as mobile as the atmosphere, it actually penetrates everywhere. Water is a compound with unique properties, one of the foundations of life, a universal solvent.

Lithosphere - the outer solid shell of the Earth, consists of sedimentary and igneous rocks. At the moment, the earth's crust is understood as the upper layer of the planet's solid body, located above the Mohorovichic boundary.

The biosphere is also not a closed system, it is actually completely provided by the energy of the Sun, a small part is the heat of the Earth itself. Every year, the Earth receives about 1.3 1024 calories from the Sun. 40% of this energy is radiated back into space, about 15% goes to heat the atmosphere, soil and water, the rest of the energy is visible light, which is the source of photosynthesis.

V. I. Vernadsky for the first time clearly formulated the understanding that all life on the planet is inextricably linked with the biosphere and owes its existence to it:

V. I. Vernadsky

Living matter (the totality of all organisms on Earth) is an insignificantly small part of the mass of the Earth, but the influence of living matter on the processes of transformation of the Earth is enormous. All that appearance of the Earth, which is observed now, would not be possible without billions of years of vital activity of living matter.

At the moment, man himself, as part of living matter, is a significant geological force and significantly changes the direction of the processes occurring in the biosphere, thereby endangering his existence:

In a vivid way, the economist L. Brentano illustrated the planetary significance of this phenomenon. He calculated that if each person were given one square meter and put all people side by side, they would not even occupy the entire area of ​​the small Lake Constance on the border of Bavaria and Switzerland. The rest of the Earth's surface would remain empty of man. Thus, all mankind taken together represents an insignificant mass of the planet's matter. Its power is connected not with its matter, but with its brain, with its mind and its work directed by this mind. In the thick, in intensity and in complexity modern life man practically forgets that he himself and all of humanity, from which he cannot be separated, are inextricably linked with the biosphere - with a certain part of the planet on which they live. They are geologically naturally connected with its material and energy structure. Humanity is like living matter, is inextricably linked with the material and energy processes of a certain geological shell of the Earth - with its biosphere. It cannot physically be independent from it even for one minute. The face of the planet - the biosphere - chemically changes sharply by man consciously and mostly unconsciously. Man changes physically and chemically the air shell of the land, all its natural waters.

Subject, tasks and goals of ecology

LECTURE #1

The name "ECOLOGY" comes from the Greek "OYKOS" - house, dwelling and "LOGOS" - teaching.

Brief history of ecology. Definition and content

The origins of ecology go back to the distant past and are associated with the need to get plants and animals for food at the earliest stages of the formation and development of human societies. It was necessary to know how edible fruits, roots and stems of plants look like, where and when they ripen, where the migration routes of wild animals lie, when and where they reproduce offspring. Primary knowledge of this kind was reflected in the works of Plato, Hippocrates, Aristotle, and other learned philosophers of the ancient world.

The term ecology was introduced into science by the German biologist Ernest Haeckel in 1866 in his work “General Morphology”.

Ecology is a science that studies the conditions for the existence of living organisms and the relationship between organisms and the environment in which they live. That is, ecology simultaneously studies inanimate nature (оikos - house) and living nature, between which there is an inextricable link. In addition, ecology is classified according to specific objects and environments of study. Allocate the ecology of man, animals, plants and microorganisms. In turn, these groups can be studied at the level of an individual or community, or in water, soil or atmosphere, in terrestrial or space conditions.
Ecology as a science is based on different branches of biology (physiology, genetics, biophysics), is connected with other sciences (physics, chemistry, mathematics, geography, geology), uses their methods and terms.
In this regard, there appeared last years the concepts of "geographical ecology", "chemical ecology", "mathematical ecology", "space ecology", and "human ecology".

What is the role of ECOLOGY, environmental knowledge in the training of specialists - future production managers? In the process of professional activity, the future specialist engineer will inevitably influence the environment and the living organisms living in it.

Therefore, the extent to which he understands and owns the laws of nature and its structure will depend on the elimination of the negative consequences of the production in which he works.

The tasks of ecology in relation to the activities of an engineer of industrial production or a design enterprise are as follows:

1) Optimization of technological and design solutions, based on the minimum damage to the environment.

2) Forecasting and assessment of possible negative consequences of existing and planned enterprises on the environment.

3) Timely detection and correction of technological processes that damage the environment.

4) Creation of industrial waste processing systems.

Modern ecology is a significant cycle of knowledge, which has incorporated sections of various sciences.

Including biology, geography, geology, chemistry, physics, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, economics, pedagogy and technical sciences. This implies a variety of objects, methods and means of environmental research, many of which are borrowed from related fields of knowledge.

In addition, modern ecology not only studies the laws of the functioning of natural and man-made systems, but is looking for ways to harmonize the relationship between nature and society, the nature of which determines the health of people, their economic prosperity and the preservation of man as a biological species. Solving environmental problems requires a lot of work in all areas of science and technology. Therefore, the ideas and problems of ecology in every possible way penetrate into other scientific disciplines and are introduced into community development. This process is called greening society.

In recent decades, ecology has actually gone beyond the scope of biology only and is experiencing tremendous development in various directions.

Ecosystems are the main object of study of ecology.

For the first time the concept of ECOSYSTEM was introduced by Haeckel: ECOSYSTEMS- this is a combination of living and non-living organisms and their interaction with the environment (for example: a field sown with wheat is an artificial ecosystem, an anthropogenic system, a forest is a natural ecosystem).

However, biological ecology does not take into account a person and his impact on the environment, so the modern concept of an ecosystem: ECOSYSTEM- this is a set of living beings and habitat, united into a single whole, in which there is an exchange of matter, energy, information through the circulation of substances. The cycle of substances is the basis for the stability of an ecosystem.

In addition, the object of ecology is the study of individual species, organisms, populations, communities and the biosphere generally.

VIEW- this is a set of individuals capable of interbreeding and having fertile offspring in natural conditions, possessing similar morphological features and inhabiting a common, continuous or partially expanded range (species habitat). (For example, wolf, whale, dolphin, elephant).

POPULATION- a set of individuals of the same species occupying a certain area, capable of self-regulation and maintenance of the number of individuals (FOR EXAMPLE: Indian elephants, mountain deer). There can be several populations in one species)

Community. Each organism or population has its own habitat. When several populations of different species of living organisms live in the same place and interact with each other, they create a so-called ecological community.

Biosphere(bio - life) - a part of the Earth in which the life of organisms that inhabit the surface of the land, the lower layers of the atmosphere and the hydrosphere develops.

BIOSPHERE (bio - life, sphere - ball)- that part of the Earth in which life exists or once existed. This definition was introduced by Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky.

Biosphere or the ecosphere is the sum of ecosystems, including all living organisms interconnected with the physical environment of the Earth.

Thus, the biosphere includes:

1) Living organisms (plants, animals, microorganisms).

2) Troposphere (lower layer of the atmosphere).

3) Hydrosphere - the world's oceans (oceans, seas, rivers, etc.) (this is the most inhabited part of the biosphere).

4) Lithosphere (upper part of the earth's crust).

(Boundaries of the biosphere: Atmosphere - air cover of the earth. In turn, the atmosphere is divided into the troposphere, stratosphere, nanosphere.

1. Ecology as a science

The troposphere - the lower part of the atmosphere, then the stratosphere - is conditionally inhabited, microorganisms, pollen live in it, it is crowned with the ozone layer. To the ozone layer 20-25 km. Next comes space.

Vernadsky expanded the concept of the biosphere, considering rocks also an object.

Depending on the object of study Ecology is divided into:

a) autoecology (auto - single), a section that studies individual species;

b) population or de-ecology - studies the structure and dynamics of populations; (demecology from the word "demography").

c) synecology - studies the relationship of populations, communities and ecosystems with the environment.

In addition, ECOLOGY is classified according to specific objects and environments of study, i.e. distinguish between the ecology of animals, the ecology of plants and the ecology of microorganisms.

Classification of ecosystems by size:

1. Microecosystem: an anthill, a puddle, a drop of water, a large boulder in the steppe, a fallen tree in the forest, the exit of several springs, a swamp tussock, a backwater or a rocky rift in a mountain stream, etc.

2. Mesoecosystem: a ravine in the steppe, a small grove, a small lake or pond, the northern or southern slopes of a separate mountain.

3. Macroecosystem : forest massif, mountain gorge, large lake, deltas of large rivers, oceans, desert.

BIOME- a widely used term for large regional or subcontinental ecosystems: biomes of deciduous forests or steppes, tundra or taiga biomes.

4. Global ecosystem - biosphere

VIEW MORE:

Lecture #1 Introduction

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1. The object of study of ecology is the interaction of living systems.

2. Methods used in ecological research.

3. The role of ecology in the formation of a modern picture of the world and in the practical activities of people.

4. The importance of ecology in the development of professions and specialties of secondary vocational education.

1. The object of study of ecology is the interaction of living systems

The founder of ecology is considered to be the German biologist E. Haeckel (1834-1919), who for the first time in 1866 used the term "ecology". He wrote: “By ecology, we mean the general science of the relationship between the organism and the environment, where we include all the “conditions of existence” in the broad sense of the word. They are partly organic and partly inorganic.”

Initially, this science was biology, which studies the populations of animals and plants in their habitat.

Ecology is the study of systems at a level above the individual organism. The main objects of its study are:

- population - a group of organisms belonging to the same or similar species and occupying a certain territory;

— an ecosystem that includes a biotic community (a set of populations in the territory under consideration) and a habitat;

The biosphere is the area of ​​distribution of life on Earth.

2. Methods used in environmental studies

Ecology, like any science, uses a variety of research methods. There are a lot of these methods in ecology, since ecology is an interdisciplinary science, which is based, in addition to biological foundations, on the foundations of geographical, technical, economic and social sciences, mathematical, medical, meteorological, etc. In this regard, in ecology both general methods, which have found their application in many sciences, and specific ones, which are usually used only in ecology, are used.

All environmental methods can be divided into three main groups:

– Methods by which information is collected on the state of environmental objects: plants, animals, microorganisms, ecosystems, biosphere,

– Processing of the received information, folding, compression and generalization,

— Methods for interpreting the received factual materials.

The following research methods are used in ecology: chemical, physical, biological, environmental indication methods, meteorological, environmental monitoring method, monitoring can be local, regional or global.

Field environmental studies are usually divided into route, stationary, descriptive and experimental.

- Route methods are used to determine the presence of certain life forms of organisms, ecological groups, phytocenoses, etc., their diversity and occurrence in the study area. The main techniques are: direct observation, assessment of the state, measurement, description, drawing up diagrams and maps.

- Stationary methods include methods of long-term (seasonal, year-round or long-term) observation of the same objects, requiring repeated descriptions, measurements, measurements of the observed objects. Stationary methods include field and laboratory methods. A characteristic example of a stationary method is monitoring (observation, assessment, forecast) of the state of the environment.

— Descriptive methods are one of the main ones in environmental monitoring. Direct, direct observation of the objects under study, fixing the dynamics of their state over time and assessing the recorded changes make it possible to predict possible processes in the natural environment.

- Experimental methods combine various methods of direct intervention in the normal, natural state of the objects under study. Observations, descriptions and measurements of the properties of an object made in the experiment are necessarily compared with its own properties under conditions not involved in the experiment (background experiment).

- Recently, the method of modeling environmental phenomena has become widespread, that is, imitation in artificial conditions of various processes inherent in living nature. So, in "model conditions" many chemical reactions that occur in the plant during photosynthesis.

Definition of ecology

In some areas of biology and ecology, so-called "living models" are widely used. Despite the fact that different organisms differ from each other, many physiological processes in them proceed in almost the same way. Therefore, it is convenient to study them on simpler creatures. They become living models. For example, zoochlorella, unicellular microscopic algae that rapidly multiply under artificial conditions, can serve as a model for studying metabolism, while giant plant and animal cells are used to study intracellular processes, etc.

- Now more and more widely used computer modelling environmental situations.

3. The role of ecology in the formation of a modern picture of the world and in the practical activities of people

Today, the role of ecology in the life and practical activities of man is growing. This is due to the aggravation of the ecological situation on Earth, caused by population growth, high energy consumption, exacerbation of social contradictions.

Further development and even the existence of modern civilization is possible only in harmony with the environment, which requires a deep knowledge and observance of biological laws, the widespread use of biotechnology.

4. The importance of ecology in the development of professions and specialties of secondary vocational education

The purpose of the discipline "Ecology" is justified by the need to preserve ecological well-being on Earth, which entirely depends, first of all, on the level of environmental knowledge. Man, in a competitive struggle for survival in the natural environment, began to build his own artificial anthropogenic ecosystems.

At the present stage, in order to meet its ever-increasing needs, it is forced to change natural ecosystems and even destroy them, perhaps without wanting to. The discipline is designed to form an ecological position among students, to intensify the creative activity of students in educational process taking into account current trends and assist in mastering the skills of conducting independent scientific research. The main goal in the training of a veterinarian in the discipline "Ecology" is to give students the concept of "environmentally friendly livestock and crop products."

SECTION 1. ECOLOGY AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE

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Anthropogenic transformation of landscapes during the industrial production of hydrocarbon raw materials

1. Study methods

Anthropogenic impact in the areas of oil fields has an integral character. Anthropogenic complexes generated by various types of transforming disturbances and pollution ...

1. What changes in agriculture lead to global environmental problems

The influence of ecology on acceleration

2. What environmental factors lead to acceleration

Ecosystem protection

Question No. 1. What types of territories and objects under state protection are usually divided into, and what are the features of the division of specially protected territories of the Russian Federation?

protection technogenic ecosystem demographic Categories and types of specially protected natural areas. An important role in the conservation of biological diversity is played by a network of specially protected natural areas (SPNA)…

Methodology for determining the environmental impact of a winery

1.1.1 Information about the documents that are the basis for the development of EIA materials as part of the investment program or construction project

Technical passport of the enterprise. - Specifications for the placement and disposal of waste No. 168 dated 18.03.10. - Registration certificate No. 2 dated February 18, 2004 ...

Some environmental questions

6.5 Which animals are involved in self-purification of water and aquatic ecosystems

Self-purification of water bodies is determined by a number of factors. Conventionally, they can be divided into physical, chemical and biological. Physical factors...

Some environmental questions

15.9 What were the first agreements on nature protection signed by Russia

The legislative system of each state differs from each other in its own way, and in this respect Russia is no exception. An important task is the most complete legal support at the federal level for the protection of wildlife ...

Specially protected natural areas

Department of Ecology of Plant Resources of the Institute of Human Ecology SB RAS (Kuzbass Botanical Garden)

The Kuzbass Botanical Garden is one of the youngest botanical gardens in Russia.

1.1. The subject of study of ecology

Organized in 1991 in the system of the Kemerovo Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences ...

Concepts of modern ecology

6. What pollutants (pollutants) pose the greatest danger?

Pollutants are technogenic pollutants of the environment of living beings: air (aeropollutants), water (hydropollutants), earth (terrapollutants). Distinguish between industrial pollutants (e.g. emissions of CO, S02, NH3 gases)…

Relationship between human ecology and health

1. Fundamentals of human ecology. Relationship between human ecology and health

In the history of the organic world of the Earth, perfection and diversity have been achieved at the cost of the extinction of hundreds of millions of species, and this process continues to this day. The evolution of living beings on our planet went in the direction of progressive development...

Preservation of protected areas of Ukraine

4. What are the prospects for its development?

Let's consider some facts: Zapadnoe Polissya (Poland) and Shatsky (Ukraine), having a common border, joined the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves…

Ecological and ethnographic studies of Lake Dalnee

§eight.

History of the study of the lake in dates

1879 - 1883 - the study of Lake Dalnee by B. Dybovsky. 1908 - 1909 - the work of a complex expedition of the Russian Geographical Society to study Kamchatka, including Lake Dalniy. 1932….

Ecological pyramids

4. What are the types of liability of officials for environmental violations?

Environmental and legal liability is a kind of general legal liability, but at the same time differs from other types of legal liability ...

Ecology of the city of Kamyshlov

What soils prevail in the city and what is their condition

The soil cover is dominated mainly by varieties of gray forest soils, leached chernozems, meadow. The soil of the territory of the city of Kamyshlov is assessed according to the category "permissible" (see Appendix No. 8) ...

Ecology and environmental monitoring

Question number 1: The concept of ecology, the main sections of ecology. The relationship of ecology with other sciences

Ecology is a science that studies the patterns of interaction between organisms and their environment, the laws of development and existence of biogeocenoses as complexes in various parts of the biosphere ...

Ecology originally arose as the science of the habitat of living organisms: plants, animals (including humans), fungi, bacteria and viruses, about the relationship between organisms and their environment and about the relationship of organisms with each other. The word "ecology" itself appeared much later in comparison with the time when ecological knowledge itself appeared. It was introduced by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel (1869) and was formed from the Greek word "oikos" - house, dwelling. Until the 1930s, general ecology as a generally recognized science did not yet exist. For a long time, ecology was represented by all kinds of private ecological disciplines: plant ecology, animal ecology, fungal ecology, etc. These disciplines were formed within the framework of the corresponding taxonomic sections of biology - botany, zoology, mycology, etc., as subdivisions of these sciences.

With the accumulation of knowledge about the interaction of living organisms with the environment, researchers realized that on Earth there are peculiar systems consisting of living organisms and inanimate matter. They are characterized high level organizations, the presence of direct and feedback between components (parts of these systems), the ability to maintain its state under all kinds of disturbances, i.e. these systems consist of orderly interacting and interdependent components that form a single whole. They were called ecological, or ecosystems.

Ecosystems are all around us. Where there is life, there are ecosystems. And life on Earth is everywhere: in the depths of the ocean at the bottom of the deepest sea trenches, and in the atmosphere at an altitude of several tens of kilometers, and in deep caves where a ray of light never penetrates, and on the surface of glaciers in Antarctica and in the high Arctic. The largest ecosystem is the biosphere, or ecosphere, of the Earth. It includes the entire set of living organisms of the planet interacting with inanimate nature, and the energy of the Sun passes through it, ensuring a stable balance of the biosphere.

But far from all the properties of ecosystems can be characterized by studying only their individual components (higher plants, animals, fungi, bacteria) or individual levels of organization (gene level, cellular, or higher - systems of organisms).

Only by studying all the components of the biota in the aggregate and taking into account environmental factors, one can obtain complete and objective information about ecosystems of different ranks and predict the course of their development, the degree of resistance to destructive factors and the ability to self-repair when exposed to the latter.

Ecosystems are a specific object of study of general ecology. Thus, general ecology is the science of ecosystems, which include living organisms and non-living matter with which these organisms constantly interact. According to the definition of Vsevolod Anatolyevich Radkevich (1998: 7) "... Ecology is a science that studies the patterns of life of organisms in their natural environment, and taking into account the changes that human activity makes to this environment ...". A similar but more precise definition of ecology is given by Igor Aleksandrovich Shilov (2001:9), interpreting it "... as the science of the patterns of formation, development and stability of biological systems of different ranks in their relationship with the environment ...".

Therefore, the subject of her research is macrosystems: populations, biocenoses, ecosystems, and their dynamics in time and space.

Term ecology(ekos - house, logos - teaching, gr.) was introduced into science by the German biologist Ernest Haeckel in 1886.

Word "ecology" It is formed from two Greek words: "oicos", which means house, dwelling, and "logos" - science and literally translates as the science of the house, habitat.

Ecology - It is the science of studying the relationship of living organisms with their environment.

Since the interaction of organisms with each other and their environment is always systemic, that is, it is always implemented in the form of some systems of interconnections supported by the exchange of matter, energy and information, the main object of study of ecology are ecosystems. The largest in the hierarchy of ecosystems is biosphere. The doctrine of the biosphere is a vast field of knowledge about the functioning and development of the biosphere, which includes a number of scientific areas of natural science and public profile.

The subject of ecology is the totality or structure of relationships between organisms and the environment.

Based on the above concepts and directions, it follows that tasks of ecology are very diverse.

In general terms, these include:

– development general theory sustainability of ecological systems;

– study of ecological mechanisms of adaptation to the environment;

– study of the regulation of the number of populations;

Study of biological diversity and mechanisms of its maintenance;

Research of production processes;

Study of the processes taking place in the biosphere in order to maintain its stability;

Modeling the state of ecosystems and global biospheric processes.

The main applied tasks that ecology must solve at the present time are the following:

– forecasting and assessment of possible negative consequences in the natural environment under the influence of human activity;

– improvement of the quality of the natural environment;

– conservation, reproduction and rational use of natural resources;

– optimization of engineering, economic, organizational, legal, social and other solutions to ensure environmentally safe sustainable development, primarily in the most environmentally disadvantaged areas.

strategic objective ecology is considered to be the development of the theory of interaction between nature and society based on a new view that considers human society as an integral part of the biosphere.

Thus, ecology becomes one of the most important sciences of the future, and “perhaps the very existence of man on our planet will depend on its progress” (F. Dre, 1976).

Ecology is often referred to a large number of related branches of knowledge, mainly from the field of environmental protection.

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PRedmet, tasks and objects of the study of ecology, the structure of modern ecology. Brief history of development

Ecology (Greek oikos - dwelling, residence, logos - science) is the biological science of the relationship between living organisms and their environment. This term was proposed in 1866 by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel. The formation of ecology became possible after extensive information was accumulated about the diversity of living organisms on Earth and the characteristics of their way of life in various habitats, and an understanding arose that the structure, functioning and development of all living beings, their relationship with the environment are subject to certain patterns that needs to be studied.

The objects of ecology are predominantly systems above the level of organisms, that is, the study of the organization and functioning of supraorganismal systems: populations, biocenoses (communities), biogeocenoses (ecosystems) and the biosphere as a whole. In other words, the main object of study in ecology is ecosystems, that is, unified natural complexes formed by living organisms and the environment.

The tasks of ecology vary depending on the studied level of organization of living matter. Population ecology studies the patterns of population dynamics and structure, as well as the processes of interactions (competition, predation) between populations of different species. The tasks of community ecology (biocenology) include the study of the patterns of organization of various communities, or biocenoses, their structure and functioning (circulation of substances and energy transformation in food chains).

But the main theoretical and practical task of ecology is to reveal the general laws governing the organization of life and, on this basis, to develop principles for the rational use of natural resources under the ever-increasing influence of man on the biosphere.

The interaction of human society and nature has become one of the most important problems of our time, since the situation that develops in the relationship between man and nature often becomes critical: fresh water and minerals (oil, gas, non-ferrous metals, etc.) are depleted, the condition of soils is deteriorating, water and air basins, desertification of vast territories is taking place, the fight against diseases and pests of agricultural crops is becoming more complicated. Anthropogenic changes have affected almost all ecosystems of the planet, the gas composition of the atmosphere, and the energy balance of the Earth. This means that human activity has come into conflict with nature, as a result of which its dynamic balance has been disturbed in many parts of the world.

To solve these global problems and, above all, the problem of intensification and rational use, conservation and reproduction of the resources of the biosphere, ecology unites the efforts of botanists, zoologists and microbiologists in a scientific search, gives evolutionary doctrine, genetics, biochemistry and biophysics their true universality.

The range of environmental problems also includes issues of environmental education and enlightenment, moral, ethical, philosophical and even legal issues. Consequently, ecology becomes a science not only biological, but also social.

Methods of ecology are divided into field methods (the study of the life of organisms and their communities in natural conditions, i.e., long-term observation in nature using various equipment) and experimental methods (experiments in stationary laboratories, where it is possible not only to vary, but also to strictly control the effect on living organisms of any factors according to a given program). At the same time, ecologists operate not only with biological, but also with modern physical and chemical methods, use the modeling of biological phenomena, that is, the reproduction in artificial ecosystems of various processes occurring in wildlife. Through modeling, it is possible to study the behavior of any system in order to assess the possible consequences of applying various resource management strategies and methods, i.e. for environmental forecasting.

The method of mathematical modeling is also widely used to study and predict natural processes. Such ecosystem models are built on the basis of numerous data accumulated in field and laboratory conditions. At the same time, correctly constructed mathematical models help to see what is difficult or impossible to verify in an experiment. However, the mathematical model itself cannot serve as an absolute proof of the correctness of a particular hypothesis, but it serves as one of the ways to analyze reality.

The combination of field and experimental research methods allows the ecologist to find out all aspects of the relationship between living organisms and numerous environmental factors, which will allow not only to restore the dynamic balance of nature, but also to manage ecosystems.

* Ecology is a science that studies the conditions of existence of living organisms and the complete relationship between the environment and organisms. From the very beginning, ecology developed as a separate integral branch of biological science in very close connection with other natural sciences - physics, chemistry, geography, geology, and mathematics.

The state invests a lot of money in nature protection, financial groups offer to provide contracts to companies that perform this function, but you cannot protect nature, use it, without knowing at all how it works, and also according to what laws it develops and exists, how it reacts to various human impact, what allowable loads on natural systems society allows itself in order not to destroy them. All this is a kind of subject of ecology.

It is necessary to know that the main subject of ecology is the structure or set of relationships between the environment and organisms. The main object of study in ecology is individual ecosystems, that is, unified natural complexes that were formed by the environment and living organisms. In addition, the scope of its competence also includes the study of species of organisms (the so-called organismal level), their populations, that is, aggregates of individuals of a single species (the so-called population-species level) and the biosphere as a whole (a special biospheric level). The main, traditional part of ecology as a separate biological science is general ecology, which studies the general patterns of relationships between individual living organisms and the environment (including man himself as a biological being).

As part of the ecology, it is customary to distinguish the following main sections:

Autecology, which explores the individual relationships of an individual organism with the entire environment;

Population ecology, the main task of which is to study the dynamics and structure of populations of individual species. Population ecology is also commonly considered as a separate section of autecology;

Synecology (biocenology), which studies the relationship of communities, populations, and ecosystems with the environment.

For all directions, the most important thing is the study of survival in the environment of living beings and, naturally, they face tasks of an exclusively biological nature - to learn various patterns of adaptation of organisms to a particular environment, self-regulation, as well as the stability of the biosphere and ecosystems.

The structure of modern ecology. Modern ecology has a complex and branched structure. About 90 directions (sections and subsections) have been formed over the past decades and represent branches of human activity where greening processes take place. Environmental science (megaecology, general ecology, panecology, neoecology) combines two main areas: theoretical (classical) and applied. Classical ecology covers all sections of modern bioecology. Depending on the level and subject of research, autecology (the ecology of organisms), de-ecology (the ecology of populations), and synecology (the ecology of communities) are distinguished. In addition, this includes such areas as paleoecology, the theory of conservation, the basics of bioindication, radiation ecology, ecological toxicology, etc. The complication of the relationship between man and nature has led to the emergence of a number of applied ecological areas, which are much more than in the block of classical bioecology. Applied ecology studies the mechanisms of destruction of the biosphere, methods of preventing these processes, methods of rational nature management. Applied ecology consists of three main blocks - geo-ecological, techno-ecological and socio-ecological, each of which has a number of branches. In particular, geoecology studies the ecological aspects of the functioning of the Earth's spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, pedosphere), includes landscape and geological ecology. Technoecology studies and classifies man-made pollution of the environment, the ability to prevent them and deal with the consequences of negative human actions in relation to nature. It finds out the ecological consequences of the influence of different types of economic activity on the environment. In the technoecology block, such areas as standardization in the field of environmental protection and ecotechnics are highlighted. The socio-ecological block examines the features of modern relationships between society and nature and ways to harmonize them. It covers environmental education, culture, law, politics, management, business, ethnic and demographic ecology, urban ecology, and human ecology. Environmental economics and national and global environmental policy are among the main generalizing sections of ecology. Environmental economics studies methods for the most efficient use of natural conditions and natural resources by man in order to maintain the dynamic balance of the biosphere. The national eco-policy is based on the international strategy for sustainable development, proclaimed at the UN International Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, and takes into account the national characteristics of modern environmental problems and approaches to their solution. The place of modern ecology and the system of sciences. The science of the environment has united in itself separate areas and subsections of the natural, humanitarian and technical sciences. Therefore, it can be attributed to a complex integrating science, developing at the intersection of these three main scientific areas and attracting their theoretical and practical developments to the scientific arsenal. Ecology, which by its origin is a natural science, acquires humanitarian and technological features in the process of evolutionary development and is transformed into an interdisciplinary direction

Brief history of ecology. Ecology is the science of the relationships that sustain life in an environment. Life is the most complex phenomenon in the world around us. It is studied by many sciences, which together form a differentiated and multifaceted system of biology. However, the achievements of many other, non-biological sciences (for example, mechanics, optics, colloid chemistry, physical geography, etc.) contribute to the understanding of life. Ecology in this diverse system of knowledge about nature occupies its own, special place. The focus of her attention is not only biological objects, but also the conditions that are necessary for their existence. Therefore, ecology, having its roots in biology, also invades other areas of knowledge, trying to comprehend the laws of interaction between living and non-living systems. As a separate science, ecology began to take shape only about a century and a half ago and went through a turbulent path of development, during which it contributed to the formation of ideas about the complexity and, at the same time, the orderliness of the organization of life on Earth.

The idea that living beings not only react to changes in the environment, but also materially interact with it, was formed in ancient times. Naturally, at different times the essence of these views was different. “Our bodies flow like streams, and matter is eternally renewed in them, like water in a stream,” wrote the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. “Life is a whirlwind,” said the famous zoologist early XIX centuries of J. Cuvier, - the direction of which is constant and which always carries along molecules of the same kind, but where individual molecules enter and constantly exit in such a way that the form of a living body is more essential to it than matter. It is firmly established in science that metabolism is one of the most fundamental characteristics of life. From a philosophical point of view, living organisms belong to the so-called open systems that support themselves through the flow of matter and energy from the environment. The famous physicist E. Schrödinger first tried to answer the question about the importance of metabolism for wildlife in the middle of the last century. He showed that in this way organisms compensate for the increase in entropy (i.e., the transition of body molecules to a chaotic state due to thermal motion), maintaining the orderliness of their organization, and thereby resist death.

Other fundamental properties of life related to relationships with the environment are the ability to reflect and adapt, i.e., reactions to changing conditions and the ability to adjust to them within certain limits. In these reactions, not only material and energy, but also information flows. Thus, it is no coincidence that the connections that support life on Earth turned out to be the object of attention of a separate science - ecology. The science of ecology was not formed immediately and had a long prehistory of development. Its isolation is a natural stage in the growth of knowledge about nature.

The accumulation of information about the way of life, dependence on external conditions, the nature of the distribution of animals and plants began a very long time ago. We meet the first attempts to generalize this information in the works of ancient philosophers. Aristotle (384-322 BC) described over 500 species of animals known to him and spoke about their behavior: about migrations, hibernation, construction activities, ways of self-defense, etc. Aristotle's student, "father of botany" Theophrastus of Eresia ( 371-280 BC) gave information about the dependence of the form and growth of plants on different conditions, soil and climate.

In the Middle Ages, interest in the study of nature wanes and is replaced by the dominance of theology and scholasticism. The great geographical discoveries during the Renaissance, the colonization of new countries served as an impetus for the development of taxonomy. Description of plants and animals, their external and internal structure, variety of forms - the main content of biological science in the early stages of its development. The first taxonomists - A. Cezalpin (1519-1603), D. Rey (1623-1705), J. Tournefort (1656-1708) and others also reported on the dependence of plants on growing or cultivation conditions. Similar information was accumulated about the behavior, habits, and lifestyle of animals. Gradually, such information began to show special interest.

Descriptions of the life of animals and plants have been called the "natural history" of organisms. In the XVIII century. the famous French naturalist J. Buffon (1707-1788) published 44 volumes of Natural History, where he first argued that the influence of conditions (food, climate, oppression of domestication, etc.) can cause a change ("degeneration") of the types.

In addition to the accumulation of information about individual species, ideas began to form about global dependencies in the distribution of plants and animals. This was served by materials collected during travels devoted to the study of distant countries. In the XVIII century. many such trips were organized to the unexplored lands of Russia. In the works of S. P. Krasheninnikov (1711-1755), I. I. Lepekhin (1740-1802), P. S. Pallas (1741-1811) and other Russian geographers and naturalists, the connection between climate change, vegetation and animal peace over vast areas of the country. The first attempts to identify general patterns in the influence of climate on the vegetation of the globe belong to the German naturalist A. Humboldt. His works (1807) laid the foundation for the development of a new direction in science - biogeography. A. Humboldt introduced into science the idea that the "physiognomy" of the landscape is determined appearance vegetation. Under similar climatic conditions, plants of different taxonomic groups develop similar "physiognomic" forms, and the distribution and correlation of these forms can be used to judge the specifics of the physical and geographical environment. The first special works devoted to the influence of climatic factors on the distribution and biology of animals appeared, for example, a book by the German zoologist K. Gloger on changes in the color of birds under the influence of climate (1833). K. Bergman revealed geographical patterns in the change in the size of warm-blooded animals (1848). A. Dekandol in "Geography of Plants" (1855) summarized all the accumulated information about the influence of individual environmental factors (temperature, humidity, light, soil type, slope exposure) on plants and drew attention to their increased plasticity compared to animals. The entire first half of the 19th century. characterized by growing interest in the interaction of organisms with "conditions". Back in 1809, in the Philosophy of Zoology, the French naturalist J.B. Lamarck proclaimed the idea of ​​the evolution of the entire living world, its constant development from simple to complex. One of the reasons for the diversity of forms on the path of this development, he considered the "influence of conditions", the need for all living things to adapt to environmental conditions. The important role of conditions in the survival and changes of species was also emphasized by another well-known French zoologist, J. Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844).

The ideas of the "unity" of organisms with the conditions of their life were developed and ardently defended by Professor of Moscow University K. F. Rul'e (1814-1858). He promoted the need for a special direction in zoology, devoted to a comprehensive study of the life of animals, their complex relationships with the outside world, emphasizing the role of these relationships in the fate of species. K. F. Roulier was the first to draw attention to the similarity of the external structure in different species leading a similar lifestyle in a particular environment (“earth”, “water”, “air”, etc.), initiating the study of life forms in the animal world . Singling out "phenomena of individual life" and "phenomena of common life" (including "life in partnership" and "life in society"), he, in essence, outlined a number of future subdivisions of ecology. K. F. Rul’e deeply influenced the direction and nature of the work of his students, who later formed a brilliant galaxy of Russian environmental naturalists (N. A. Severtsov, A. F. Middendorf, A. N. Beketov, and others).

In 1859, Charles Darwin's book "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Breeds in the Struggle for Life" appeared. C. Darwin showed that the "struggle for existence" in nature, by which he meant all forms of contradictory relationships between species and the environment, leads to natural selection, i.e., is the driving factor of evolution. It became clear that the relationship of the living beings themselves and their connection with the inorganic components of the environment ("struggle for existence") is a large independent area of ​​research. Therefore, it is no coincidence that shortly after the publication of Charles Darwin's book, attempts were made to assess the essence and name this new direction.

The term "ecology" was introduced by the famous German zoologist E. Haeckel (1834-1919), who in his works "General Morphology of Organisms" (1866) and "Natural History of the World" (1868) first tried to define the essence of the new science. The word "ecology" comes from the Greek word oikos, which means "dwelling", "place", "refuge". E. Haeckel defined ecology as “the general science of the relationship of organisms to the environment, where we include in a broad sense all the conditions of existence. They are partly organic, partly inorganic in nature, but both of them ... are of great importance for the forms of organisms, as they force them to adapt to themselves. According to E. Haeckel, ecology is the science of the "domestic life" of living organisms, it is designed to explore "all those intricate relationships that Darwin conditionally designated as" the struggle for existence ". Among other names of the new science in the XIX century. the term "economy of nature" was often used. This term emphasized the problem of natural balance, "balance of species", which is still one of the most important issues of ecology.

C. Darwin singled out three main directions in the struggle for the existence of organisms: relations with the physical environment, with individuals of their own species, with individuals of other species. Not all born individuals survive and give offspring, but only those that are able to withstand the pressure of the environment. With the theory of natural selection, Charles Darwin shifted his attention from the “organism-environment” connections to what happens among many organisms in the struggle for existence. Thus, he actually laid the foundations of population thinking, however, in the emerging ecology, these ideas were developed only in the 20th century.

The main direction of the emerging science continued to be the study of the adaptation of species to the conditions of existence, and any organism was considered as a typical representative of its species. However, the accumulation of data has led to an understanding of a more complex organization of life. In 1877, the German hydrobiologist K. Möbius (1825-1908) put forward the concept of biocenosis. Based on the study of oyster banks of the North Sea, he substantiated the concept of biocenosis as a deeply regular combination of organisms under certain environmental conditions. Biocenoses, or natural communities, according to Möbius, are due to a long history of adaptation of species to each other and to a similar ecological environment. Thus, the idea has taken shape that living nature, in addition to the species represented by organisms, consists of naturally developing supraorganismal systems - biocenoses, outside of which organisms cannot exist, because they need connections with each other. In the depths of ecology, a special direction began to emerge - the biocenotic direction, the task of which was to study the patterns of formation and functioning of communities.

The study of communities required the development of methods for quantitative accounting, assessment of species ratios in biocenoses. This was first done by hydrobiologists for plankton (Genzen, 1887), and then for benthic fauna. At the beginning of the XX century. quantitative accounting methods began to be applied to terrestrial fauna.

A special place in biocenotic studies was occupied by the study of vegetation cover. Studying after A. Humboldt the patterns of distribution of plants in climatic zones, botanists began to link the set of species and their appearance with habitat conditions in more detail. In the 1990s, a summary of the Danish botanist E. Warming "Oikological geography of plants" appeared, developing ideas about the life forms of species and types of vegetation cover. At the same time, the doctrine of plant communities - phytocenoses - was being formed, which soon became a separate area of ​​​​botanical ecology. A major role in this was played by the works of Russian scientists S. I. Korzhinsky and I. K. Pachossky, who called the new science “phytosociology”. Among Western botanists, its development was facilitated by the works of A. Kerner, A. Grisebach, and others. Later, the doctrine of phytocenoses was transformed into phytocenology and geobotany. On the example of plants, many principles of community organization were revealed. American botanist F. Clements in 1910-1911 developed the concept of the dynamics of phytocenoses, which became the basis for further ideas about the laws of formation and development of communities.

For the development of ideas of general biocenology in the first half of the 20th century. of great importance in our country were the phytocenological studies of G. F. Morozov, V. N. Sukachev, B. A. Keller, L. G. Ramensky, V. V. Alekhin, A. P. Shennikov and others, abroad - K. Raunkier in Denmark, G. Du Rieu in Sweden, I. Braun-Blanque in Switzerland. A variety of vegetation classification systems were created based on morphological (physiognomic), ecological-morphological, dynamic and other features of communities, ideas about environmental indicators were developed, the structure, productivity, and dynamic relationships of phytocenoses were studied.

The rapid growth of the world's population has posed the problem of the potential of food resources. In ecology, this is primarily a problem of biological productivity. In the 1960s, the development of science and the demands of practice gave rise to the International Biological Program (IBP). For the first time, biologists from different countries joined forces to solve a common problem - to assess the production capacity of the biosphere. These studies made it possible to calculate the maximum biological productivity of our entire planet, that is, the natural fund that mankind has, and the maximum possible norms withdrawal of products for the needs of the growing population of the Earth. The ultimate goal of the IBP was to identify the main patterns of qualitative and quantitative distribution and reproduction of organic matter in the interests of the most rational use of them by man. To assess the scale of the impact of human activity on the biosphere in the 70s, the IBP was followed by a new international program "Man and the Biosphere". Its result was a list and description of the most important global environmental problems that threaten not only the well-being, but also the very survival of mankind on Earth. International cooperation in the field of global environmental research continues. Several global scientific programs , including "Climate Change", "Biodiversity" and others. The problem of nature protection, its reasonable and rational use on the basis of environmental laws is becoming one of the most important for mankind. Ecology is the main theoretical basis for solving this problem. The main practical result of the development of ecosystem ecology was a clear realization of how great the dependence of human society on the state of nature on our planet, the need to rebuild the economy in accordance with environmental laws. Thus, originating as a “natural history” of species, the main object of attention of which was the “organism-environment” relationship, ecology went through a number of stages of development, forming ideas about the complex system of connections of the organic world and gradually covering all the main levels of life organization. From an ecological point of view, life on Earth is expressed simultaneously at four main levels: organism - population - biocenosis - ecosystem. Carriers of life - organisms of varying degrees of complexity, from bacterial cells to multicellular plants and animals, are necessarily members of any species population. In turn, the life of any population is impossible outside of biocenoses, i.e., links with populations of other species. The biocenosis is an integral part of the ecosystem and provides its existence with the flows of matter and energy from the environment. This whole complex system of life is supported by the connections of organisms. Such a conception of the organization of life makes obsolete the recently sharp debate about which of its levels is the main object in the study of ecology. The development of science has shown that the connections of organisms with the environment are the mechanism of stability not only of the living beings themselves, but also of all supraorganismal systems, outside of which their life is impossible. Therefore, ecology still remains a “science of connections,” as E. Haeckel wrote about it, but it covers an immeasurably larger field of our knowledge about the structure and functioning of living nature, including human society. Along with the development of the content of ecology, research methods are also developing. The main tool of ecological search is represented by methods of quantitative analysis. Supra-organismal associations (populations, communities, ecosystems) are controlled mainly by quantitative ratios of individuals, species, energy flows. Quantitative changes in the structure of populations and ecosystems can radically change the way and results of their functioning. Along with the methods of observation common in biology, field records, laboratory and field experiments, special techniques for ordering materials, etc. methods of mathematical analysis of ecological situations have arisen and are multiplying. In the 1920s, the American scientist A. Lotka and the Italian V. Volterra initiated the mathematical modeling of biotic relationships. Initially, mathematical formulas designed to reflect natural relationships were built on the basis of a few logical speculative assumptions. They did not reflect reality well, but they made it possible to understand some principles of species interaction. Later, the so-called simulation modeling developed, in which many real parameters of the systems under study and the principles of their functioning are put into the model, and then, by changing the variables, the state of objects is observed under different conditions. Such models are used to predict changes in populations, communities or ecosystems and give good results if the initial data are sufficiently complete. Models of a research nature are also being developed, on which possible options are played, allowing to understand the nature of the studied dependencies. Mathematical modeling is referred to as "theoretical ecology", which accompanies the development of science, testing, developing and detailing the concepts put forward. Currently, ecology is a branched system of sciences. Its central core is general ecology with four main divisions corresponding to the study of relationships at different levels of life organization: autecology, or the ecology of organisms, population ecology, biocenology and ecosystem ecology. Population and biocenotic ecology are often combined under the general name "synecology", since their common task is the study of the joint life of organisms (Greek syn - together). There is a large field of private ecology that studies the specifics of relationships with the environment in different groups of organisms (the ecology of plants, animals, fungi, microorganisms, and, more specifically, birds, insects, fish, etc.). In connection with the development ecological ideas a whole series of new divisions in other biological sciences came to light, and new sciences of ecological content appeared. Physiological ecology reveals patterns of physiological changes underlying the adaptation of organisms. In biochemical ecology, attention is focused on molecular mechanisms adaptive reactions of organisms under changes in the environment. Paleoecology studies the ecological relationships of extinct organisms and ancient communities, evolutionary ecology studies the ecological mechanisms of population transformation, morphological ecology studies the regularities in the structure of organs and structures of organisms depending on habitat conditions, geobotany studies the features of the composition and distribution of phytocenoses. Hydrobiology is also an ecological science, studying the ecosystems of water bodies at different levels. Ecological sections appeared both in the earth sciences (for example, landscape ecology, global ecology, geoecology, etc.) and in the social sciences (for example, social ecology). There is an extensive educational and popular scientific domestic literature that acquaints the reader with the main issues of modern ecology. In recent years, general reports by I. A. Shilov (1997) and N. K. Khristoforova (1999) have appeared. Books by Y. Odum (1975, 1976), V. Larcher (1978), R. Ricklefs (1979), M. Bigon, J. Harper, C. Townsend (1979), R. Whittaker (1980), E. Pianki (1981), T. Miller (1990), B. Nebel (1992), R. Margalef (1992) and other authors. Many works are devoted to applied ecology. Ecological thinking becomes necessary for solving the most pressing problems of our lives. In this regard, modern ecology has gone far beyond the scope of a purely academic academic discipline. The need for environmental and environmental education and upbringing of the younger generation is obvious. In the international sphere, there are special commissions of UNESCO, UNEP and other organizations whose task is to promote and implement environmental approaches in various areas of human practical activity. The main goal of international efforts is to prevent the ecological crisis threatening humanity and to ensure further development and the welfare of society.

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Ecology originally arose as the science of the habitat of living organisms: plants, animals (including humans), fungi, bacteria and viruses, about the relationship between organisms and their environment and about the relationship of organisms with each other. The word "ecology" itself appeared much later in comparison with the time when ecological knowledge itself appeared. It was introduced by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel (1869) and was formed from the Greek word "oikos" - house, dwelling. Until the 1930s, general ecology as a generally recognized science did not yet exist. For a long time, ecology was represented by all kinds of private ecological disciplines: plant ecology, animal ecology, fungal ecology, etc. These disciplines were formed within the framework of the corresponding taxonomic sections of biology - botany, zoology, mycology, etc., as subdivisions of these sciences.

With the accumulation of knowledge about the interaction of living organisms with the environment, researchers realized that on Earth there are peculiar systems consisting of living organisms and inanimate matter. They are characterized by a high level of organization, the presence of direct and feedback links between the components (parts of these systems), the ability to maintain their state under all kinds of disturbances, i.e. these systems consist of orderly interacting and interdependent components that form a single whole. They were called ecological, or ecosystems.

Ecosystems are all around us. Where there is life, there are ecosystems. And life on Earth is everywhere: in the depths of the ocean at the bottom of the deepest sea trenches, and in the atmosphere at an altitude of several tens of kilometers, and in deep caves where a ray of light never penetrates, and on the surface of glaciers in Antarctica and in the high Arctic. The largest ecosystem is the biosphere, or ecosphere, of the Earth. It includes the entire set of living organisms of the planet interacting with inanimate nature, and the energy of the Sun passes through it, ensuring a stable balance of the biosphere.

But far from all the properties of ecosystems can be characterized by studying only their individual components (higher plants, animals, fungi, bacteria) or individual levels of organization (gene level, cellular, or higher - systems of organisms). Only by studying all the components of the biota in the aggregate and taking into account environmental factors, one can obtain complete and objective information about ecosystems of different ranks and predict the course of their development, the degree of resistance to destructive factors and the ability to self-repair when exposed to the latter.

Ecosystems are a specific object of study of general ecology. Thus, general ecology is the science of ecosystems, which include living organisms and non-living matter with which these organisms constantly interact. According to the definition of Vsevolod Anatolyevich Radkevich (1998: 7) "... Ecology is a science that studies the patterns of life of organisms in their natural environment, and taking into account the changes that human activity makes to this environment ...". A similar but more precise definition of ecology is given by Igor Aleksandrovich Shilov (2001:9), interpreting it "... as the science of the patterns of formation, development and stability of biological systems of different ranks in their relationship with the environment ...". Therefore, the subject of her research is macrosystems: populations, biocenoses, ecosystems, and their dynamics in time and space.

Term ecology(ekos - house, logos - teaching, gr.) was introduced into science by the German biologist Ernest Haeckel in 1886.

Word "ecology" formed from two Greek words: "oicos", which means house, dwelling, and "logos" - science and literally translates as the science of the house, habitat.

Ecology - It is the science of studying the relationship of living organisms with their environment.

Since the interaction of organisms with each other and their environment is always systemic, that is, it is always implemented in the form of some systems of interconnections supported by the exchange of matter, energy and information, the main object of study of ecology are ecosystems. The largest in the hierarchy of ecosystems is biosphere. The doctrine of the biosphere is a vast field of knowledge about the functioning and development of the biosphere, which includes a number of scientific areas of natural science and public profile.

The subject of ecology is the totality or structure of relationships between organisms and the environment.

Based on the above concepts and directions, it follows that tasks of ecology are very diverse.

In general terms, these include:

– development of a general theory of sustainability of ecological systems;

– study of ecological mechanisms of adaptation to the environment;

– study of the regulation of the number of populations;

Study of biological diversity and mechanisms of its maintenance;

Research of production processes;

Study of the processes taking place in the biosphere in order to maintain its stability;

Modeling the state of ecosystems and global biospheric processes.

The main applied tasks that ecology must solve at the present time are the following:

– forecasting and assessment of possible negative consequences in the natural environment under the influence of human activity;

– improvement of the quality of the natural environment;

– conservation, reproduction and rational use of natural resources;

– optimization of engineering, economic, organizational, legal, social and other solutions to ensure environmentally safe sustainable development, primarily in the most environmentally disadvantaged areas.

strategic objective ecology is considered to be the development of the theory of interaction between nature and society based on a new view that considers human society as an integral part of the biosphere.

Thus, ecology becomes one of the most important sciences of the future, and “perhaps the very existence of man on our planet will depend on its progress” (F. Dre, 1976).

Ecology often includes a large number of related branches of knowledge, mainly from the field of environmental protection.