Portal:Ecology

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Ecology

Ecology (from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos) 'house', and -λογία (-logía) 'study of') is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history. Ecology is a branch of biology, and is the study of abundance, biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment. It encompasses life processes, interactions, and adaptations; movement of materials and energy through living communities; successional development of ecosystems; cooperation, competition, and predation within and between species; and patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes. Ecology has practical applications in conservation biology, wetland management, natural resource management (agroecology, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries, mining, tourism), urban planning (urban ecology), community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human social interaction (human ecology). The word ecology (German: Ökologie) was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel. The science of ecology as we know it today began with a group of American botanists in the 1890s. Evolutionary concepts relating to adaptation and natural selection are cornerstones of modern ecological theory. Ecosystems are dynamically interacting systems of organisms, the communities they make up, and the non-living (abiotic) components of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, nutrient cycling, and niche construction, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment. Ecosystems have biophysical feedback mechanisms that moderate processes acting on living (biotic) and abiotic components of the planet. Ecosystems sustain life-supporting functions and provide ecosystem services like biomass production (food, fuel, fiber, and medicine), the regulation of climate, global biogeochemical cycles, water filtration, soil formation, erosion control, flood protection, and many other natural features of scientific, historical, economic, or intrinsic value. (Full article...) Selected article - An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system that environments and their organisms form through their interaction. The biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors such as climate, parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem. Internal factors are controlled, for example, by decomposition, root competition, shading, disturbance, succession, and the types of species present. While the resource inputs are generally controlled by external processes, the availability of these resources within the ecosystem is controlled by internal factors. Therefore, internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also controlled by them. (Full article...) List of selected articles History of ecology Ecological economics River ecosystem Human ecology Forest ecology Wetland Natural environment Butanol fuel Old-growth forest Bioplastic Atmosphere of Earth Conservation biology Biofuel Aquatic ecosystem Landscape ecology Cleaner fish Biome Hydrology Biosphere Life Mycology Evolution Lotic ecosystem Coral reef Fire ecology Pollination Species reintroduction Theoretical ecology Spatial ecology Ecological fitting Ecology of California Biodiversity of Albania Storage effect Vacant niche Desert ecology Disturbance (ecology) Ecological facilitation Food web Plant ecology Intertidal ecology Nitrogen cycle Restoration ecology Ecological art Ecological resilience Ecology of the North Cascades Ecology of the Rocky Mountains Altitudinal zonation Ecology of the San Francisco Estuary Environmental issues with coral reefs Acclimatisation society Island restoration Intraspecific competition Interspecific competition Taylor's law World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions Blue carbon Ciénega Metabolic theory of ecology Ecosystem-based management The Green Planet (TV series) Selected image - Shoaling and schooling Credit: Jens Petersen Schooling bigeye trevally. In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are said to be shoaling and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are said to be schooling. General images The following are images from various ecology-related articles on Wikipedia. Rich rainforest habitat in Dominica (from Habitat) An Antarctic rock split apart to show endolithic lifeforms showing as a green layer a few millimeters thick (from Habitat) Few creatures make the ice shelves of Antarctica their habitat, but water beneath the ice can provide habitat for multiple species. Animals such as penguins have adapted to live in very cold conditions. (from Habitat) A freshwater lake in Gran Canaria, an island of the Canary Islands. Clear boundaries make lakes convenient to study using an ecosystem approach. (from Ecosystem) This coral reef in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area provides habitat for numerous marine species. (from Habitat) Twenty-five years after the devastating eruption at Mount St. Helens, United States, pioneer species have moved in. (from Habitat) Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained stable over a long period until a number of introductions in the 1970s restructured its food web. (from Ecosystem) Desert scene in Egypt (from Habitat) a) A trophic pyramid showing the different trophic levels in a community. b) A food web of the same community (from Community (ecology)) The leaves of an Alnus nepalensis tree provide a microhabitat for species like the leaf beetle Aulacophora indica. (from Habitat) Table visualising size-symmetric competition, using fish as consumers and crabs as resources. (from Community (ecology)) A red-chested cuckoo chick being feed by a significantly smaller Cape robin-chat adult (from Community (ecology)) Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Ecosystem) Biological nitrogen cycling (from Ecosystem) Ibex in an alpine habitat (from Habitat) Flora of Baja California desert, Cataviña region, Mexico (from Ecosystem) Sequence of a decomposing pig carcass over time (from Ecosystem) A generalised graph of a predator-prey population density cycle (from Community (ecology)) Global oceanic and terrestrial phototroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential and not an actual estimate of it. (from Ecosystem) A bear with a salmon. Interspecific interactions such as predation are a key aspect of community ecology. (from Community (ecology)) The High Peaks Wilderness Area in the 6,000,000-acre (2,400,000 ha) Adirondack Park is an example of a diverse ecosystem. (from Ecosystem) Rainforest ecosystems are rich in biodiversity. This is the Gambia River in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park. (from Ecosystem) A simple trophic cascade diagram. On the right shows when wolves are absent, showing an increase in elks and reduction in vegetation growth. The left one shows when wolves are present and controlling the elk population. (from Community (ecology)) Dense mass of white crabs at a hydrothermal vent, with stalked barnacles on right (from Habitat) Wetland habitat types in Borneo (from Habitat) Related WikiProjects WikiProject Ecology WikiProject Environment WikiProject Ecoregions WikiProject Extinction WikiProject Biology WikiProject Protected areas WikiProject Forestry WikiProject Soil WikiProject Agriculture WikiProject Science Things you can do Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Create any of the missing articles listed on the WikiProject Ecology page, Alkali bee (Pollinator decline), Ecosystem function (presently a redirect), Nutrient flow (Synecology), Seed crop (Pollinator decline) Verify : Agroecosystem, Biologist, Botany, Ecological pyramid, Ecological selection, Ecological succession, Ecotone, Functional ecology, Macroecology, Microbial ecology, Molecular biology, Uncontacted peoples Wikify : Add {{Portal|Ecology}} to the See also sections of ecology-related articles. Other : For additional tasks, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Ecology/to do  – When a task is completed, please remove it from the list. Recognized content - Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards. Many animals, such as this grey reef shark, are countershaded. Countershading, or Thayer's law, is a method of camouflage in which an animal's coloration is darker on the top or upper side and lighter on the underside of the body. This pattern is found in many species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, and insects, both in predators and in prey. When light falls from above on a uniformly coloured three-dimensional object such as a sphere, it makes the upper side appear lighter and the underside darker, grading from one to the other. This pattern of light and shade makes the object appear solid, and therefore easier to detect. The classical form of countershading, discovered in 1909 by the artist Abbott Handerson Thayer, works by counterbalancing the effects of self-shadowing, again typically with grading from dark to light. In theory this could be useful for military camouflage, but in practice it has rarely been applied, despite the best efforts of Thayer and, later, in the Second World War, of the zoologist Hugh Cott. (Full article...) List of recognized articles Botany Climate Sustainability Nature Automimicry Apex predator Batesian mimicry Aposematism Aggressive mimicry Albany Pine Bush Ambush predator Camouflage Flagship species Disruptive coloration Habitat Host (biology) Invasive species Keystone species Mimicry Motion camouflage Müllerian mimicry Natural selection Underwater camouflage Predation Parasitoid Parasitism Geography and ecology of the Everglades Leopold Report List of invasive species in the Everglades Selected biography - Dansereau, circa 1942–43 Pierre Dansereau CC GOQ FRSC (October 5, 1911 – September 28, 2011) was a Canadian ecologist from Quebec known as one of the "fathers of ecology". (Full article...) List of selected biographies Ernst Haeckel Charles Darwin Eugenius Warming Aziz Ab'Sáber Sergei Winogradsky Leonty Ramensky Aldo Leopold Eugene Odum Rachel Carson Howard T. Odum William Skinner Cooper Edward Smith Deevey Jr. John Burroughs Helena Norberg-Hodge Martin Gerzabek Exequiel Ezcurra Lian Pin Koh Ann Fowler Rhoads Ramon Margalef Charles Sutherland Elton Frances James (ecologist) John Stanley Beard Liz Chicaje Aparajita Datta C. S. Holling Marie-Josée Fortin Hanna Kokko Karl Möbius Elsie Quarterman Ian Stirling (biologist) Paul Sears Joan Roughgarden Christen C. Raunkiær Ed Ricketts Carl Linnaeus Lincoln Brower Did you know (auto-generated) ... that the British political theorist Chris Armstrong has called for a "blue new deal" to secure ecological resilience for the ocean and a just blue economy? ... that gynaecologist Oon Chiew Seng, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2013, was the founding chairperson of the first dementia home in Singapore? ... that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's "cli-fi" thrash metal album addresses a mix of current ecological threats and attempts to find another planet to live on? ... that ancient Roman gynecologists believed that menstrual blood could be used to drive dogs insane? ... that wampum artist Elizabeth James-Perry also works on ecological restoration projects, including the reintroduction of native plant life? ... that PlantSims, human–plant hybrids in The Sims 2: Seasons, have been studied as examples of ecofeminism and deep ecology? Selected quote - “ Acknowledging the physical realities of our planet does not mean a dismal future of endless sacrifice. In fact, acknowledging these realities is the first step in dealing with them. We can meet the resource problems of the world—water, food, minerals, farmlands, forests, overpopulation, pollution—if we tackle them with courage and foresight. ” — Jimmy Carter Ecology news From the Wikinews Environment portal April 23: European Union to reduce carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 2030 November 27: Wikinews interviews Craig Farquharson, Liberal Democrat candidate for 2020 Groom by-election November 27: Wikinews interviews Sandra Jephcott, Sustainable Australia candidate for 2020 Groom by-election December 14: Greta Thunberg named 2019 Time Person of the Year November 23: Researchers break down deaths due to power plant pollution in the United States November 21: Slippery business: Materials scientists invent new coating for self-cleaning, water-efficient toilets October 19: Northern Arapaho Tribe welcomes buffalo herd in Wyoming, United States October 12: Scientists describe how 'upside-down rivers' of warm water break Antarctica's ice shelf October 5: Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, say scientists September 8: Scientists report skyrocketing phytoplankton population in aftermath of Kīlauea eruption Additional News Highlights November 5, 2009: "New ocean forming in African desert." Selected publication - Forest Ecology and Management is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles linking forest ecology with the management of forest resources. The journal publishes research manuscripts that report results of original research, review articles, and book reviews. Articles may report work related to any forest ecosystems worldwide, including plantations and natural forests. (Full article...) More selected publications Related portals More did you know - Related articles Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Web resources Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Ecology The Encyclopedia of Earth – Ecology The Nature Education Knowledge Project – Ecology National Geographic – Ecology Discover Wikipedia using portals List of all portals The arts portal Biography portal Current events portal Geography portal History portal Mathematics portal Science portal Society portal Technology portal Random portal WikiProject Portals