Define Ecology Each day the sunrises and we begin our daily grind, we inevitably will be in tou ch with

the ecology that surround us. When we run the water to brush our teeth a nd take our showers, when we get in our vehicles and drive to work, when we come home and check our email on our computers, when we call our friends on our cell phones, and when we dispose of our trash throughout our day. Ecology is the study of our earth it s relationships with organisms and their envi ronment, and how those relationships affect the planet. There is a lot we can do as a species to help our environment sustain itself. And a great way to begin i s to get educated. Define Ecology / It s All About Relationships As defined by Wikipedia, Ecology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of th e distribution and abundance of organisms and their interactions with the enviro nment. Ecology as a word is derived from two Greek words oikos which means house o r household and logia which means the study of. Additionally Wikipedia says that the concerns of ecology as a field is the netwo rk or inter-relationship of all organisms at varying scales of organization. Some of these inter-relationships include external relations and interactions be tween and among organisms, life processes which result and explain various metho ds of adaptations, the flow of materials and energy through living communities, successional development of ecosystems, and the abundance and distribution of bi odiversity in relation to the environment. Define Ecology / Let s Get Nitty-Gritty Ecology as a word is most often confused with environment. It is however an enti rely different from environmental studies in that it is one of the few academic pursuits that are concerned with holism. Environment describes all external or a biotic factors of an organism like temperature range where they thrive, chemistr y that is optimum to them, and other factors that exist external to the organism . Ecology also seeks to describe internal or biotic factors such as genetic factor s, cells, members of species, and other organisms sharing the habitat with them. Ecology is also distinct from natural history which deals on with the descripti ve study of organisms. Define Ecology / Ecology vs Environment The more apparent distinction that ecology has over other physical disciplines c oncerned with the environment is the holism that is central to ecology. For inst ance there are phenomena that are in a continual state of flux occurring from th e lowest to the galactic scales of the environment. These occurrences require different scientific models and different sets of scie ntific explanations which operate with synergistic properties or can be summed u p as the sum being greater than the parts . A distinction between environment and e cology needs to be realized at the conceptual level for even a basic understandi ng of the emerging phenomena. For instance, for an organism everything that exis t outside of it is part of its environment but some levels are obviously more im portant and others less so. Define Ecology / Let s Get Nitty-Gritty

The most common ecological systems that are being studied are the ecosystems tha t most accessible. These ecosystems are at the local or community systems level. Examples of these are studies of primary production in wetlands or measurement and analysis of predator-prey relationship that can affect amphibian bio-mass. These are all local level studies that also reflect the microcosm. There are dyn amics that also affect energy and nutrient flow all the way up to the planetary scale. This totality of global ecosystems is known as the biosphere. Ecological theory called the Gaia Hypothesis is used to explain phenomena that seem regulat ory and emerge seemingly without cause. This hypothesis is an example of a holistic focus by ecology that can be used to explain an evolving and self regulating planetary hypothesis that is entirely d ifferent form the set of parameters that is used to measure the ecosystem of a w etland.