Ecology is life

Ecology is a science that studies the relationships of living organisms with each other and with their environment. The term was first used by E. Haeckel in 1866. To date, ecology is one of the most important natural sciences, having A huge significance for the life of any modern person. Nevertheless, this discipline still causes much controversy among scientists: the object of its study, its structure, the definition of the term "ecology" and many other issues are being discussed. The general conclusion that can be drawn from the set of existing points of view is the following: ecological studies can be called any studies conducted to study the vital activity of living organisms in their natural habitat, establish links between them and determine their impact on the environment. We also note that it is wrong to say, for example, "bad natural ecology", because ecology is a science, and not a characteristic of the environment.

The object of study for the ecology are large biological systems: populations, biocenoses, ecosystems. The subject of the study is the development of these systems in time and space. Ecology is a science that seeks to solve a set of Various theoretical and practical problems, we distinguish among them the most important. So, the ecology tries to establish the laws by which the necessary resources for life activity are effectively distributed among the established biocenoses, and to learn how to control these regularities in conditions of active human intervention in natural processes.

As noted above, ecology is a very controversial discipline, and its structure is also considered ambiguous: different scientists identify different areas of its study. Let us turn to the classification of the levels of organization of living matter that are studied by ecology .

1. Autoecology studies individuals, organism level. Explores the limits of environmental conditions under which individuals can exist.
2. Demecology studies the population level. Explores the conditions under which populations and relationships are formed.
3. Eydecology studies species. At the moment, this is the least relevant area of ecology, as the interest of researchers switches from the population level to the biocenotic level, bypassing the species level.
4. Synecology studies the biocenotic level. He studies the formation, vital activity and dynamics of biocenosis.
5. Global ecology studies the biosphere. Explores the problems of the latter.

Based on the basic directions of ecology, many new and more highly specialized ones are being formed. The newest departments of ecology closely intertwine with other biological sciences, which leads to an increase in the effectiveness of research in all involved areas.

Academician SS Shvarts said that ecology "becomes the theoretical basis for the behavior of a man in an industrial society in nature." According to this statement one can judge the importance of the science described by us. Today, ecology and nature management are studied in a number of universities in the territory of the Russian Federation.