News tagged with ecologist
Global warming winner: Once rare butterfly thrives
(AP) -- Global warming is rescuing the once-rare brown Argus butterfly, scientists say.
May 24, 2012 |
4.3 / 5 (4) |
3
European mountain plant population shows delayed response to climate change
A modeling study from the European Alps suggests that population declines to be observed during the upcoming decades will probably underestimate the long-term effects of recent climate warming on mountain plants. A European ...
May 07, 2012 |
4 / 5 (4) |
3
US tiger shrimp sightings worry scientists
(AP) -- A big increase in reports of Asian tiger shrimp along the U.S. Southeast coast and in the Gulf of Mexico has federal biologists worried the species is encroaching on native species' territory.
Apr 27, 2012 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
New strategy offers hope for Florida's gopher tortoises
Florida's approach to saving gopher tortoises from extinction a decade ago allowed developers to bury the docile reptiles alive in their burrows in return for what critics called "blood money" that was used to buy and protect ...
Apr 23, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
Task force recommends reducing global harvest of 'forage fish'
A task force that conducted one of the most comprehensive analyses of global "forage fish" populations issued its report this week, which strongly recommends implementing more conservative catch limits for these crucial prey ...
Apr 03, 2012 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
0
|
Study compares growth around Yellowstone, Glacier and other national parks
The land around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks might look like it's filling up with people and houses, but it's nothing compared to the rate of development around some other U.S. national parks, according to a new ...
Mar 29, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
Lyme disease surge predicted for the northeastern US
The northeastern U.S. should prepare for a surge in Lyme disease this spring. And we can blame fluctuations in acorns and mouse populations, not the mild winter. So reports Dr. Richard S. Ostfeld, a disease ...
Mar 16, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
Study on brain shrinkage shifts to Tassie Devils
The quality of captive breeding enclosures and time spent in them may be crucial to the success of marsupials once released back to the wild, new research suggests.
Feb 14, 2012 |
not rated yet |
0
Soundscape ecologists spawn new field
Geophony. Biophony. Anthrophony. Unfamiliar words. But they shouldn't be. We're surrounded by them morning, noon and night, say ecologist Bryan Pijanowski of Purdue University and colleagues.
Feb 07, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
Redder ladybirds more deadly, say scientists
A ladybird's colour indicates how well-fed and how toxic it is, according to an international team of scientists. Research led by the Universities of Exeter and Liverpool directly shows that differences between ...
Feb 06, 2012 |
4.3 / 5 (6) |
2
|
Living on the edge: An innovative model of mangrove-hammock boundaries in Florida
The key to understanding how future hurricanes and sea level rise may trigger changes to South Florida's native coastal forests lurks below the surface, according to a new model linking coastal forests to groundwater. Just ...
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Managing fire and biodiversity
A 23-year study of dry sclerophyll forests in south-eastern NSW has thrown new light on the role of fire in the landscape.
Jan 25, 2012 |
4 / 5 (2) |
0
Fungi-filled forests are critical for endangered orchids
When it comes to conserving the world's orchids, not all forests are equal. In a paper to be published Jan. 25 in the journal Molecular Ecology, Smithsonian ecologists revealed that an orchid's fate hinges ...
Jan 24, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
|
Sweeten up your profits with the right hybrid
New University of Illinois sweet corn research shows that higher yield and profitability are possible with greater plant populations of certain hybrids.
Jan 23, 2012 |
not rated yet |
0
Climate change models may underestimate extinctions
Predictions of the loss of animal and plant diversity around the world are common under models of future climate change. But a new study shows that because these climate models don't account for species competition ...
Jan 04, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (8) |
6
|
Ecology
Ecology (from Greek: οἶκος, oikos, "house"; -λογία, -logia, "study of") is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and their interactions with their environment. The environment of an organism includes all external factors, including abiotic ones such as climate and geology, and biotic factors, including members of the same species (conspecifics) and other species that share a habitat. If the general life science of biology is viewed as a hierarchy of levels of organization, from molecular processes, to cells, tissues and organs, and finally to the individual, the population and the ecosystem, then the study of the latter three levels belongs within the purview of ecology.
Examples of objects of ecological study include: Population processes, including reproductive behavior, mortality, bioenergetics and migrations, interspecific interactions such as predation, competition, parasitism and mutualism, plant and animal community structures and their function and resilience, and biogeochemical cycling. Because of its vast scope, ecological science is often closely related to other disciplines. Thus, molecular ecology addresses ecological questions using tools from genetics, paleoecology uses tools from archeology, and theoretical ecologists use often highly complex mathematical models to explore how ecosystems and their elements function.
Aside from pure scientific inquiry, ecology is also a highly applied science. Much of natural resource management, such as forestry, fisheries, wildlife management and habitat conservation is directly related to ecological sciences and many problems in agriculture, urban development and public health are informed by ecological considerations.
The term "ecology" has also been appropriated for philosophical ideologies like social ecology and deep ecology and is sometimes used as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. Likewise "ecological" is often taken in the sense of environmentally friendly.
For more information about Ecology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
