L3.1 what is ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their physical environment.

consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, and the atmosphere.

8 km above Earth’s surface to as far as 11 km below the surface of the ocean

Economics is concerned with interactions based on money. Humans live within the biosphere and depend on ecological processes to provide such essentials as food and drinkable water that can be bought and sold for money.

a single animal

a group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area

an assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area

All the organisms that live in a place, together with their physical environment

A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms

The biological influences on organisms are called biotic factors. Physical components of an ecosystem are called abiotic factors.

observation, experimentation, and modeling.

Observation is often the first step in asking ecological questions. Questions may form the first step in designing experiments and models.

Experiments can be used to test hypotheses. An ecologist may set up an artificial environment in a laboratory or greenhouse, or carefully altered conditions in selected parts of natural ecosystems.

Many ecological events occur over such long periods of time or over such large distances that they are difficult to study directly. Ecologists make models to help them understand these phenomena.