What is Ecology?
- Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their relationship with the environment.
- This means that ecology is fundamental to understanding the relationship between the components of the environment and the function of the ecosystem.
- That also means that ecology helps us to understand the natural law that exists on the earth.
- The first time ecology term was used in 1866 by the German biologist, Ernst Haeckel.
Principle of ecology( पारिस्थितिकी का सिद्धांत);
The general meaning of principle is the core rule to live life with dignity. In the same line, Principles of ecology are facts or rules that help to sustain the environment and ecosystem, and these are very important for the existence of the environment[ both living and non-living things].
The principle of ecology works for both environment and the ecosystem.
There are many principles of ecology, the following are some important principles of ecology:
- Energy flow principle
- Biochemical cycle
- Symbiosis relation between different biotic organism
- Biomass productivity
- Ecotone & Ecocline
- Biological succession
- Principle of adaptation and adjustment
- The homeostatic mechanism or self-regulatory mechanism
- Energy flow is unidirectional and passes through the first trophic level[producer] to the fourth trophic level.
- Energy flow is non-cyclic. The main source of energy for the earth is Sun. The energy [in form of radiant energy ] is generated by the Sun and it never returned to the Sun.
- An increase in a relative loss of energy through respiration is higher at higher trophic levels.
- It follows the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
- Law-1: Energy is neither created nor destroyed however it can be transferred from one form to another form. It is applicable to the energy flow of the ecosystem.
- Law-2: Work is done when one form of energy is converted to other forms.
Principle of Biogeochemical cycle:
The circulation of matter in the ecosystem is cyclic in nature and total biomass remains the same, it is called the biogeochemical cycle.
The following are two types of biogeochemical cycles.
Gaseous Cycle :
- Water cycle
- Nitrogen Cycle
- Carbon cycle
- Sulfur cycle
- Phosphorus cycle
Principle of Symbiosis relationship between the living organism
The following are possible interactions between the living organisms of the ecosystem:
- Mutualism
- Competition
- Predation
- Parasitism
- Commensalism
- Amensalism
Visit the page for more detail: Principle of Symbiosis relationship between the living organism
Principle of biomass productivity:- Primary productivity
- Secondary productivity
Please visit the page for more details: Principle of biomass productivity
Principle of Ecotone and Ecocline
- Ecotone
- Ecocline
- Home range
- Edge effect
Please visit the page for more details: Principle of Ecotone and Ecocline
Principle of Biological Succession:
In the habitat with particular environmental conditions, there is successional development of the vegetation community. It is an orderly and sequential process. Successional development can be categorized into two categories;
- Primary succession
- Secondary succession
Principle of Adaptation and Adjustment:
The biological feature by which an organism fitted in the environment. It is the result of natural selection and heritable variation over several generations.
Adaptation and adjustment can happen in two ways:
- Organisms adapt by adjusting to their immediate environment. For example, changing temperature and metabolism with increasing altitude, or adverse conditions.
- Through reproduction, adding new features to individuals to adapt to the environment. For example, the streamlined body of aquatic animals.
Principle of Homeostatic mechanism or self-regulatory mechanism:
- The ecosystem has the power to make a balance between the different components.
- Any changes in one ecosystem, there are cascading impacts within ecosystems and the other ecosystems.
- Let us take the example of the Himalayas' ecosystem. Stability in the Himalayas region is very much necessary for surrounding plain regions, any changes in the Himalayan ecosystem harm has a cascading impact on the surrounding region.
Try to solve the following questions:
Question:
Describe how ecosystem services of the Himalayas are essential for Highland-Lowland sustainability in Asia. ( UPSC 2021 geography paper 1, 10 Marks, 150 words)
Answer.
The ecosystem of the Himalayas is fragile and diverse. West east extension of the highland of the Himalayas spread from the Hindukush region in the west to Mizo Hills in the east, and the north-south extension of the Himalayas extends from the Karakoram in the north to the Shivalik ranges in the south. From the perspective of the ecosystem, there is a hilly area ecosystem in the Himalayas.
The lowland of the Himalayas includes the plain area of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China.
The ecosystem services of the Himalayas are essential for Highland-Lowland sustainability in Asia. The ecosystem of highland[ hilly ecosystem] and low-land[ plains ecosystem] are inter-dependent for the sustainability of the region.
The following ecosystem services are provided by the highland Himalayas to lowlands areas:
- The highland of the Himalayas is a storehouse of water, many perennial rivers such as Indus, Ganga, Satluj, Brahmaputra, etc rivers are originated from the Himalayan region and supply water to the plains region for the whole year. Nearly 1.3 billion people of Asia are dependent on the Himalayan river for their livelihood.
- Himalaya has a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna and also have forest; it provides the following benefits to the plain regions:
- Forest prevents soil to erode and prevent flooding in plain regions.
- Lots of medicinal plants are also there.
- It acts as a carbon sink and minimizes the impact of greenhouses gases that are emitted by plain areas people.
- It is an attractive place for many tourists in a variety of ways.
- As per the estimate, Uttrakhand state alone provides $ 2.4 billion of services per year to the plain region.
- Himalayan rivers are the source of hydroelectricity. A huge chunk of the money of Nepal and Bhutan's economy comes from hydroelectricity.
We can not imagine such diverse culture and very big population in the plains region of Asia, without the eco-services support that we are getting from the Himalayas.
And thus, we can say that the ecosystem services of the Himalayas are essential for Highland-Lowland sustainability in Asia.
The following services are provided by lowland to highland Himalayas:
- Most of the food production is done in the plain areas and they provide the agricultural produce to people living in the highland areas, in this way it prevents the shifting cultivation activities in the Himalayan region.
You may like also:
- पारिस्थितिकी का सिद्धांत
- Principle of Ecology
- Principle of ecology UPSC | Environmental Geography
- Principle of Ecotone and Ecocline
- Principle of biomass productivity
- Principle of Symbiosis relationship between the living organism
- Principle of Ecological Succession
- Principle of energy flow| Principle of Trophic level
- Principle of Biogeochemical cycles
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