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Principle of Ecology

Principle of Ecology

12:22

What is the ecosystem?
 The ecosystem comprises a living and non-living organisms interconnected through energy flow and the nutrients cycle.
  • Living or biotic organism are, human,animal,plants,insect,bacteria ,etc.
  • Non-living or abiotic organisms are air, soil, energy, water, etc.
  • Some major ecosystems are the forest, desert, tundra, taiga, grassland, freshwater, and saline water. 

What is ecology? 

 Ecology is the branch of biology that studies the ecosystem and the ecosystem is the fundamental unit of study of ecology. Under ecology, studies include:
  • Living and nonliving organism: individual, organism, population, community.
  • Interaction and interdependence among them. 
  • Energy flow
  • Nutrients cycle. 

Level of the organization?

level of organization
level of organization 
 Individual: An organism that has the ability to act or function independently, for example, a human, Species: species are a group of living organisms consisting of similar inter breading, for example homosapiens
Community: it is named after the dominant plant form, for example, the grassland community, although it may have herbs, shrubs, trees, insects, and animals.

 The principle of ecology

Mains' purpose to study ecology is to preserve the ecosystem and its diversity. Our natural ecosystem has a self-regulatory mechanism and any changes brought to the ecosystem, there will be counterbalanced by other changes. The following are principles in ecology
  • Adaptation: each organism is adapted in a particular environment, adaption allowed organisms to survive in a particular environment. in adaptation, organisms change behavior, structure, appearance, and way of life. Types of adaptation. 
    • Morphological: The shortage neck goes longer when. The tree grows higher. 
    • Physiological: The kangaroo in Australia and rat in the North American desert are meeting their water requirements through their internal fat oxidation.
    • Behavioral: Animals migrate to less stressful habitats temporarily. 
    •  Acclimatization: We need to breathe faster when we go to high mountains, our body adjusted after someday, this adjustment in a single organism is called acclimatization. 
  • Variation:  Variation in organism happened due to 
    • Additional or deletions of certain genes.
    • Mutation, climate change, and geographical variation induce variation over time in the organism. 
  • Adaptive:  In adaptation, organisms diversified from ancestors' species in all forms. When a change in the environment is made in the form of new resources availability, climate change, or entry of new organisms.
  • Speciation:  It is the process by which new speciation evolved due to different geographical locations. For example, some Ancestral populations move east and some west, and after a long time, there is no longer match in population. Mutation. This means changes in genetic material due to 
    • The error in the replication of DNA. 
    •  Reproduction is not identical, some variation is heritable. 
  • Natural selection: Due to evolutionary force, some specific gene is naturally selected that is better to adapt to their environment.
  • Evolution. It is the change that gives rise to new species. It is happened to make an organism better suited to the environment. The major force of evolution. Competition, adaptability, climate change, mutation, variation over time
  • Extinction: environmental change or biological competition leads to extinction. Human is an active agent in the environment, he or they exploited the ecosystem and reduce ecological diversity and complexity.

Try to solve the following questions:

  • Define the ecosystem and describe briefly its various components. Also, discuss how and to what extent modern man has affected the various types of ecosystems. (UPSC 1993, 15 marks)
  • Discuss the concept, components, and functioning of an ecosystem. (UPSC 2001, 12 marks)
  • Explain the different stages of ecological adaptation of man and bring out the changing balance between man and the environment. (UPSC 2015, 15 marks)
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