Ecology

What is Ecology?

Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of organisms, the interaction between organisms, the interaction between organisms and their environment, and structure and function of ecosystems.

The ecology serves the purpose to provide knowledge about the way the world works and provide evidence on the interdependence between the natural world and people. A better understanding of ecological systems will allow society to predict the consequences of human activity on the environment.

Ecological Balance

The environment in which the man and other organisms live is called the biosphere. The biosphere is made up of different regions that have different types of flora (plants) and fauna (animals). The types of organisms in an area are determined by various factors such as the climate, temperature, rainfall, etc.

Environmental pollution – The environmental pollution is any discharge of material or energy into water, land, or air that causes or may cause acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term) detriment to the Earth's ecological balance or that lowers the quality of life. Pollutants may cause primary damage, with direct identifiable impact on the environment, or secondary damage in the form of minor perturbations in the delicate balance of the biological food web that are detectable only over long time periods.

Biodiversity- Biodiversity is the variety and differences among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part. This includes genetic diversity within and between species and of ecosystems. In other words we can say biodiversity represents all life.

India is one of the mega biodiversity centres in the world and has two of the world's 18 ‘biodiversity hotspots’ located in the Western Ghats and in the Eastern Himalayas (Myers 1999). The forest cover in these areas is very dense and diverse and of pristine beauty, and incredible biodiversity.

 According to a Ministry of Environment and Forest Report (1996) of Government of India, the country is estimated to have over 45,000 plant species and 81,000 animal species representing 7% of the world’s flora and 6.5% of its fauna. The 1999 figures are 49,219 plant species representing 12.5% and 81,251 animal species representing 6.6%.

Green House Effect- The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface and the lower atmosphere, it results in an elevation of the average surface temperature above what it would be in the absence of the gases.