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Definition of ecology. Why does ecology play a vital role in the modern world?

Ecology is a science that studies the laws of nature, the interaction of living organisms with the environment, the foundations of which were laid by Ernst Haeckel in 1866. However, people have been interested in the secrets of nature since ancient times and had a careful attitude towards it. There are hundreds of concepts of the term “ecology”; at different times, scientists gave their own definitions of ecology. The word itself consists of two particles, from Greek “oikos” is translated as house, and “logos” is translated as teaching.

With the development of technological progress, the state of the environment began to deteriorate, which attracted the attention of the world community. People have noticed that the air has become polluted, species of animals and plants are disappearing, and the water in rivers is deteriorating. These and many other phenomena were given a name -.

Global environmental problems

Most environmental problems have grown from local to global. Changing a small ecosystem in a specific place in the world can affect the ecology of the entire planet. For example, a change in the oceanic Gulf Stream will lead to major climate changes and a cooling of the climate in Europe and North America.

Today, scientists count dozens of global environmental problems. We present only the most relevant of them, which threaten life on the planet:

- changing of the climate;
— depletion of fresh water reserves;
- reduction of populations and extinction of species;
— depletion of mineral resources;

This is not the entire list of global problems. Let's just say that environmental problems that can be equated to a disaster are pollution of the biosphere and. Every year the air temperature rises by +2 degrees Celsius. The reason for this is greenhouse gases. A world conference dedicated to environmental problems was held in Paris, at which many countries around the world pledged to reduce gas emissions. As a result of the high concentration of gases, the ice at the poles melts, the water level rises, which in the future threatens the flooding of islands and the coasts of continents. To prevent the impending catastrophe, it is necessary to develop joint actions and carry out activities that will help slow down and stop the process of global warming.

Subject of study of ecology

At the moment there are several sections of ecology:

— general ecology;
— bioecology;

Each section of ecology has its own subject of study. The most popular is general ecology. She studies the surrounding world, which consists of ecosystems, their individual components - relief, soil, flora and fauna.

The importance of ecology for every person

Caring for the environment has become a fashionable activity today; the phrase “eco” is used everywhere. But many of us do not even realize the depth of all the problems. Of course, it is good that the vast humanity of people has become indifferent to the life of our planet. However, it is worth realizing that the state of the environment depends on each person.

Any inhabitant of the planet can perform simple actions every day that will help improve the environment. For example, you can recycle waste paper and reduce water use, save energy and throw garbage in the trash bin, grow plants and use reusable items. The more people follow these rules, the greater the chance of saving our planet.

How was the science of ecology formed and developed?

Ecology as a science has its roots in the distant past. Gradually, humanity accumulated data on the relationship of living organisms with their habitat, and the first scientific generalizations were made. Until the 60s. XIX century The birth and development of ecology as a science took place. And only in 1886, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel singled out environmental knowledge as an independent field of biological science, proposing the very name for it - ecology. The word "ecology" comes from two Greek words: oikos, which means home, homeland, and logos - concept, teaching. In the literal sense, ecology is “housekeeping”, “the science of habitats”.

By the beginning of the 20th century, it became clear that the subject of ecology should be not only biological objects, but also the entire natural environment in its totality and the active interaction of all its components. A great contribution to the development of modern ecology was made by the largest Russian scientist of the 20th century. V. I. Vernadsky. Verrnadsky Vladimir Ivanovich is a great Russian and Soviet naturalist of Ukrainian origin, thinker and public figure of the 20th century. For more details see: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere

IN AND. Vernadsky (1863-1945)

He was the first to point out that living organisms not only adapt to natural conditions in the process of biological evolution, but they themselves, in turn, greatly influence the formation of the geological and geochemical appearance of the Earth. Scientists have created a fundamental doctrine about the biosphere, see: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere as an integral shell of the Earth, in which it is living organisms that ensure the existence of the biosphere.

The modern concept of “ecology” has a broader meaning than in the first decades of the development of this science. General attention to ecology led to the expansion of the initially quite clearly defined field of knowledge (exclusively biological) by Ernst Haeckel to other natural sciences and even the humanities. In general, ecology in its modern expanded understanding has gone far beyond the scope of its biological foremother - bioecology. Since about the 50s. XX century ecology began to turn into a complex science that studies the laws of existence of living systems in their interaction with the environment. In the 70s, a rapid greening of natural science and a significant part of human science began to occur. At least 50 different branches of ecology have emerged (for example, special ecology, geoecology, geoinformatics, applied ecology, human ecology; these branches, in turn, are also divided into sub-sectors). Conventionally, the directions of ecology can be divided into two main parts - general, or fundamental, ecology, which studies all living nature as a whole, and social ecology, which studies the relationship between human society and nature. They determine the rules and techniques for rational environmental management, protection of nature and the human environment.

Why do you think all people on the planet should realize the need for rational environmental management?

Ecology, as a complex of sciences, is closely related to such sciences as biology, chemistry, mathematics, geography, physics, epidemiology, biogeochemistry

Outstanding scientist academician N.N. Moiseev The activities of the outstanding scientist of the late 20th century N.N. Moiseev have a number of common features with the scientific and social activities of Academician A.D. Sakharov, who evolved from an outstanding Soviet nuclear scientist to an equally outstanding public figure and human rights activist, for whom human rights and freedoms became the highest value and his civic position, is also an academician. N.N. Moiseev gradually moved from theoretical developments of military missile technology in the Soviet era to natural science (mathematical) and humanitarian studies of the state and forecast of the development of the biosphere and society in the context of increasing anthropogenic impact on it and the looming threat of a global environmental crisis. Not without the influence of N.V. Timofeev-Resovsky N.N. Moiseev began studying the biosphere as a single integrated system. It was precisely the interest in philosophical problems and issues of environmental education, in which the academician “saw the key to the civilization of the coming century,” that prompted N.N. Moiseev to fully devote himself to issues of globalization and environmental, political science and socio-economic problems of our time. After many years of empirical research at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences using mathematical calculations of anthropogenic impact on the biosphere and on the basis of philosophical generalizations of the interaction of nature, man and society, N.N. Moiseev formulated and introduced into scientific circulation the concept of “ecological imperative,” which means “that boundary of permissible human activity that he has no right to cross under any circumstances.” This imperative, as a law, a requirement, an unconditional principle of behavior, has an objective nature, is a basic category and the foundation of a new historical and philosophical direction - the philosophy of ecology. The effect of “nuclear night” and, as a consequence, “nuclear winter”, demonstrated at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences by mathematical modeling with the direct participation of N.N. Moiseev, warned US and USSR politicians against the nuclear arms race due to the impossibility of using nuclear weapons, taking into account the consequences of this use. After this, the problems of anthropogenic impact on the biosphere and the consequences of this for human life became the professional scientific interest of N.N. Moiseeva. Constant reflection in this direction distinguished him among domestic theorists in the field of social ecology and environmental philosophy. His expert conclusions and opinions began to be listened to in Russian government and foreign scientific circles. The close attention of scientists and the public to the personality of N.N. Moiseev, his scientific heritage is explained by the fact that he was one of the few prominent Russian scientists and public figures who successfully combined active public activity and deep natural science, philosophical and socio-economic understanding of the “problem of interaction between man, nature and society, i.e. ecology in its modern understanding, as the science of one’s own home - the biosphere and the rules of human life in this house.” Major works of the last decade of the last century and the life of N.N. Moiseev “The Agony of Russia. Does she have a future? An attempt at a systematic analysis of the problem of choice" (1996), "Civilization at a Turning Point" (1996), "World Community and the Fate of Russia" (1997), "The Fate of Civilization. The Path of Reason" (1998), "Universum. Information. Society" (2001) and a number of others formed the essence of his scientific heritage and the basis of environmental philosophy, which gave a deep socio-ecological, in its own way, a new humanistic meaning to Russian philosophy, ecology, history, political science and other sciences about society and man. believed that “today the concept of “ecology” is closest to the original understanding of the Greek term as the science of one’s own home, i.e. about the biosphere, the features of its development and the role of man in this process.

N.N. Moiseev (1917-2000)

Currently, most often in the mass consciousness of people, environmental issues are reduced, first of all, to environmental protection issues. In many ways, this shift in meaning occurred due to the increasingly tangible consequences of human influence on the environment, but it is necessary to separate the concepts of ecological (“related to the science of ecology”) and environmental (“relating to the environment”).

The most general laws of ecology were formulated by the American ecologist Barry Commoner (1974) in a free fictional form, in the form of aphorisms.

Commoner's First Law.

Everything is connected to everything. This is the law about everything living and inorganic in the biosphere. He draws our attention to the universal connection between processes and phenomena in nature, and warns people against thoughtless influence on individual parts of ecosystems. Destruction of ecosystems (for example, drainage of swamps, deforestation, pollution of water bodies and much more) can lead to unforeseen consequences

Commoner's second law.

Everything has to go somewhere. This is a law on human economic activity, waste from which must be included in natural processes without disturbing the natural cycles of substances and energy, without causing the death of ecosystems.

Commoner's Third Law.

Nature "knows" better. This is a law on reasonable environmental management, that is, carried out only on the basis of knowledge about the laws of nature. We must not forget that man is also a biological species, that he is a part of nature, and not its ruler. This means that it is impossible to “conquer” nature; it is necessary to take care of preserving its integrity, as if collaborating with it. In addition, let us remember that science does not have complete information about many mechanisms of the functioning of natural processes. This means that environmental management must not only be scientifically sound, but also very prudent.

Commoner's Fourth Law. Nothing comes for free. This is also a law on rational environmental management. The global ecosystem is a single whole, within which all transformations of both substances and energy are subject to strict mathematical dependencies. Therefore, we have to pay with energy for additional waste treatment, with fertilizer for increasing yields, with sanatoriums and medicines for deteriorating human health, etc.

The man proudly called himself homo sapiens, which, as you know, means Homo sapiens. However, is his interaction with nature reasonable today? Man is capable and must realize his enormous responsibility for everyone living on Earth. This is its purpose: to preserve life on the planet. The main task of our time is to take care of the health and integrity of the entire “nature-human” system. This task is only within the capabilities of all humanity. We have a common planet, and man is obliged to ensure coexistence and development (coevolution) with everyone living on it. N.N. Moiseev wrote that the future of humanity is determined by many circumstances. However, two are decisive among them.

First: people must know the laws of development of the biosphere, know the possible causes of its degradation, know what people are “allowed” and where is the fatal line that a person should not cross under any circumstances. In other words, ecology - more precisely, the totality of sciences that it is, must develop a Strategy in the relationship between Nature and man, this Strategy must be owned by all people.

This way of behavior of people N.N. Moiseev called co-evolution of Nature and society. This concept is synonymous with the development of society, which is consistent with the laws of development of the biosphere. A necessary condition for this is the awareness of society about the real state of affairs, depriving it of possible illusions and environmental education.

Nowadays they talk and write a lot about the need to educate people about their ecological culture. How do you understand the meaning of the concept “ecological culture”?

The second, no less important circumstance, without which it is pointless to talk about the future of humanity, is the need to establish a social order on the planet that would be able to implement this system of restrictions; this second condition relates to the humanitarian sphere. Its implementation will require special efforts from society and its new organization.

V.I. warned about the same thing. Vernadsky at the beginning of the 20th century. He spoke with alarm that one day the time would come when people would have to take responsibility for the further development of both Nature and man. That time has come.

To create a society capable of such responsibility, it is necessary to adhere to strict rules and a number of prohibitions - the so-called environmental imperative. The concept of it was proposed and developed by N.N. Moiseev. The ecological imperative has an absolute priority of preserving wildlife, the species diversity of the planet, and protecting the environment from excessive pollution that is incompatible with life. The introduction of an environmental imperative means that certain types of human activities and the degree of human impact on the environment as a whole must be strictly limited and controlled.

Deforestation

Thus, humanity is faced with an urgent need to find a way of its development through which it would be possible to coordinate the needs of man, his active activity with the capabilities of the biosphere.

Why does everyone on the planet need to learn the basics of ecology?

This is due to the severity of global problems, the dependence of the state of nature on every inhabitant of the Planet, as well as the rapid increase in information and the rapid obsolescence of knowledge.

As N.N. wrote Moiseev, “the establishment of education, which is based on a clear understanding of man’s place in Nature, is in fact the main thing that humanity has to do in the next decade” (1). Moiseev N.N. Thinking about the future, or a reminder to my students about the need for unity of action in order to survive // In the book: Moiseev N.N. A barrier to the Middle Ages. - M.: Tydex Co., 2003. - 312 p. (Library of the journal “Ecology and Life”).

What opportunities do you see in your daily life to follow the principle of the environmental imperative?
Think about why the implementation of restrictions and prohibitions of the environmental imperative encounters significant obstacles in society?

Some scientists and journalists note that recently in Russia the concept of “ecology” and everything connected with it has been discredited. The deterioration of the environment and serious environmental problems, paradoxically, are gradually losing their relevance in the public consciousness and cease to worry and disturb people. What could be the reason for this trend?

For many years, a person has been hearing that he lives in conditions that are not just critical, but practically “incompatible with life,” when disasters await him at every step, this often gives rise to indifference. It appears as a natural reaction to familiar information. This is aggravated by the fact that sudden changes occur unnoticed by each person (or the person does not notice them). Everything happens somewhere “not here” and “not with him”.

How wise is the media coverage of environmental issues?

Often, environmental issues are presented as random, fragmentary, biased and often contradictory information that the media regularly supplies us with, and the reaction boils down to bewilderment and sluggish interest (they say, what are they talking about again?). And after listening to the next news, you can calmly brush it aside and return to your daily routine, without thinking about the fact that environmental problems do not only happen somewhere far away.

The attitude of the media towards environmental issues is often not serious and thoughtful enough. Here is a fragment of a conversation with a guest of the television program “Environmental Problems of Today,” environmental scientist T. A. Puzanova. Here is just a small fragment of a conversation with the guest of the television program “Environmental Problems of Today,” environmental scientist T. A. Puzanova.
Video 1.

The cheeky, careless reaction of the program's presenters is quite typical for illustrating the attitude of both the media and a significant part of the population towards the coverage of environmental issues.

Publications on environmental topics usually appear in waves - in connection with a disaster, in connection with an environmental date, in connection with protests, etc. Let's say, about the tragedy of Chernobyl, as a rule, once a year: on the anniversary of the disaster, or in connection with the social problems of the liquidators of the accident (2) Orekhova I. “Ecological problems in the information field”: see: http://www.index. org.ru/journal/12/orehova.html

Let's draw conclusions.

Over more than 100 years of its development, ecology has become one of the most relevant modern sciences. During this period, as a result of human economic activity, our planet, in a number of key environmental parameters, went beyond the limits of the natural variability that occurred over the last half a million years. The changes currently taking place are unprecedented in scale and pace.
Video 2.

Ecology allows us not only to assess the scale of the catastrophe threatening the Earth, but also to develop recommendations and rules that will help avoid it. Ecology is a science aimed at the future; it is aimed at passing on Nature, our common home to children and grandchildren in such a state that it preserves everything necessary for human life.

For this, it is important both the further development of ecology and broad environmental education of people all over the world.

The modern world is characterized by extraordinary complexity and contradictory events; it is riddled with opposing trends, full of complex alternatives, anxieties and hopes.

The end of the 20th century is characterized by a powerful breakthrough in the development of scientific and technological progress, the growth of social contradictions, a sharp demographic explosion, and the deterioration of the natural environment around humans.

Truly, our planet has never before been subjected to such physical and political overloads as it is experiencing at the turn of the 20th - 21st centuries. Man has never before exacted so much tribute from nature and never found himself so vulnerable to the power that he himself created.

What does the coming century bring us - new problems or a cloudless future? What will humanity be like in 150, 200 years? Will a person, with his mind and will, be able to save himself and our planet from the numerous threats hanging over it?

These questions undoubtedly concern many people. The future of the biosphere has become the subject of close attention of representatives of many branches of scientific knowledge, which in itself may be a sufficient basis for identifying a special group of problems - philosophical and methodological problems of environmental forecasting. It should be emphasized that this aspect is one of the “weaknesses of the young science of futurology” as a whole. The development of these problems is one of the most important requirements for the development of human culture at the present stage of human development. Scientists agreed that the adopted policy of “react and correct” was fruitless and led to a dead end everywhere. “Predict and prevent is the only realistic approach.” Future research will help all countries of the world solve the most pressing question: how to direct the enormous circulation of natural forces and resources along a path that will better satisfy people's needs and not disrupt environmental processes?

The growth in the scale of human economic activity and the rapid development of the scientific and technological revolution have increased the negative impact on nature and led to a disruption of the ecological balance on the planet. Consumption in the sphere of material production of natural resources has increased. In the years after the Second World War, as many mineral raw materials were used as in the entire previous history of mankind. Since the reserves of coal, oil, gas, iron and other minerals are not renewable, they will be exhausted, according to scientists, in a few decades. But even if the resources that are constantly renewed are in fact rapidly declining, deforestation on a global scale significantly exceeds the growth of wood, and the area of forests that provide oxygen to the earth decreases every year.

The main foundation of life—soils everywhere on Earth—are degrading. While the Earth accumulates one centimeter of black soil in 300 years, now one centimeter of soil dies in three years. No less dangerous is the pollution of the planet.

The world's oceans are constantly being polluted due to the expansion of oil production in marine fields. Huge oil spills are detrimental to ocean life. Millions of tons of phosphorus, lead, and radioactive waste are dumped into the ocean. For every square kilometer of ocean water there are now 17 tons of various land wastes. Fresh water has become the most vulnerable part of nature. Sewage, pesticides, fertilizers, mercury, arsenic, lead and much more find their way into rivers and lakes in huge quantities.

The Danube, Volga, Rhine, Mississippi, and Great American Lakes are heavily polluted. According to experts, in some areas of the world 80% of all diseases are caused by poor quality water.

Air pollution has exceeded all permissible limits. The concentration of substances harmful to health in the air exceeds medical standards in many cities by tens of times. Acid rain, containing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, resulting from the operation of thermal power plants and factories, brings death to lakes and forests. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant showed the environmental threat posed by accidents at nuclear power plants; they are operated in 26 countries around the world. Clean air is disappearing around cities, rivers are turning into sewers, there are piles of garbage, landfills, mutilated nature everywhere - this is a striking picture of the insane industrialization of the world.

The main thing, however, is not the completeness of the list of these problems, but in understanding the reasons for their occurrence, their nature and, most importantly, in identifying effective ways and means of resolving them. (found on the Internet)

Ecology (from the Greek oikos - house and logos - teaching) is the science of the laws of interaction of living organisms with their environment.

The founder of ecology is considered to be the German biologist E. Haeckel (1834-1919), who first used the term “ecology” in 1866. He wrote: “By ecology we mean the general science of the relationship between an organism and the environment, where we include all “conditions of existence” in the broad sense of the word. They are partly organic and partly inorganic in nature.”

This science was originally biology, which studies populations of animals and plants in their environment.

Ecology studies systems at a level above the individual organism. The main objects of its study are:

population – a group of organisms belonging to the same or similar species and occupying a certain territory; an ecosystem that includes a biotic community (a set of populations on...

Science often runs counter to religion and “everyday” knowledge. Science offers a person a really good understanding of the phenomenon being studied and obtaining high-quality and verified data. Let's talk a little about the science of ecology.

Subject of study of ecology

What does ecology study? Ecology is a special section of general biology. She studies the interaction of living organisms, their adaptation to life with each other. Ecology also studies the nature of the connection and dependence of living beings on the conditions of their existence.

It is known that in the course of evolution, the fittest species survive by being able to adapt themselves to environmental conditions. This law of survival applies to absolutely all living organisms without exception. The theory of natural selection was created and developed by Charles Darwin.

Types of ecology science

Ecology covers a wide range of issues. First of all, environmental factors and complexes of these factors are studied. The answer is given to the question of how...

In the twentieth century, having separated from biology into a separate science, ecology began its life. This discipline immediately began to gain popularity. Until now, it continues to develop rapidly. Although it covers a fairly wide range of questions, probably everyone can roughly answer if you ask him: “What does ecology study?” The subject of research of this science by different specialists is usually characterized in the same way. Thus, answering the question of what ecology studies, they say quite simply: the object of study is the interaction of living organisms with their permanent habitat. In order to make it more clear, a detailed explanation is necessary.

Firstly, these are living organisms. If we consider them individually, they are influenced by three main groups of factors:

– habitat (this may include air humidity, vegetation, level of illumination of the area, air temperature at night and during the day, relief and others...

Subject of study of ecology

Types of ecology science

Ecology covers a wide range of issues. First of all, environmental factors and complexes of these factors are studied. An answer is given to the question of how some elements of the environment can influence the life of a species and what adaptation methods they lead to. The main factors include physicochemical (temperature, light, humidity, precipitation, wind, soil, etc.), biotic factor (the influence of organisms and species on each other), anthropogenic (the influence of human activity on natural life ). This is what ecology studies.

The second block of ecology science deals with the study of plant and animal populations. Populations are defined as a certain grouping of individuals of the same species that live in the same territory and use its resources. Also, individuals have the same organic structure and biological properties.

And the third section of ecology is called biocenology. This section occupies a very important place in ecology. He studies entire plant and animal communities. These large formations consist of populations of different species.

The life and appearance of any animal determine the living conditions in which the animal finds itself. All the diversity of life forms on Earth was formed due to different habitats. Let's say a mole does not need good eyesight, since it lives underground. He would rather benefit from good olfactory abilities. But the inhabitants of the sky, for example, eagles, simply need a sharp eye that can see the victim from a distance of several kilometers. Thus, in the sky you need wings, but underground you need smooth wool that can easily glide in the soil. This is what ecology studies.

Activities of ecologists

Well, what do environmental scientists themselves do? The main platform for their activity is nature itself. Ecologists are selected on expeditions where they study all the factors that interest them. They study the life of plants and animals in various conditions, the density and nature of the population of different territories by species, try to identify patterns of influence of environmental factors on animals and plants, carry out quantitative calculations, and study populations and large communities in detail. Surely they have something to do. Typically, expeditions can take several months to complete. But often, this is not enough to have time to learn everything you need.

The technical equipment of environmentalists will amaze the imagination of even the most ardent fans of spy and detective films. They are armed with airplanes, helicopters, off-road vehicles, various high-precision instruments for measuring plant synthesis, thermometers operating at a distance, echolocators, radio trackers, night vision devices and much, much more. This is what ecology studies.

The science of ecology occupies an important place in the system of all natural scientific areas of knowledge. The data obtained by ecologists can be used to improve the quality of life on our planet as a whole. Thus, ecology allows us to understand our planet, the laws of its nature and the role of human influence on the Earth. To what extent are we spoiling or, conversely, improving the life of our native planet? This is the question ecology can answer.