The Importance Of Ecology

Ecology is the study of how living things and non-living interact with one another in an ecosystem. In 1869, Earnst Haeckel was the man who made the word “Ecology.” Throughout decades, the study of ecology has been rendering ecologist to be optimistic about the effect it will leave. Within the study of ecology, there are many factors, some that are limiting factors. Some normal factors would be biotic and abiotic factors. However, limiting factors range from food, water, shelter, carrying capacity, density-independent factors, and density-dependent factors. There are also flows of biological energy and biological organization within the study of ecology: level of organization, ecological pyramid, food chain, and the three cycles; water, carbon, …show more content…
Humans can have a positive or negative effect on the ecosystem. Most of the time humans have a negative effect, by taking natural resources away from an ecosystem. Other negative effects are pollution, hunting, over-fishing, deforestation, and these are situations humanity focuses on. Pollution is releasing harmful waste to the environment, mostly by factories and power plants. Hunting harms an organism’s population, predator or prey. If the prey dies due to hunting the predator’s population decrease, due to the fact of no food. As the predator population decreases, then the prey’s population can go over carrying capacity, causing organisms to die due to lack of natural resources. Over-fishing affects the water ecosystem, just like hunting, but with water predators and prey. Deforestation is a huge problem, as the human population grows, humans need space to live. Humans cut down trees to build houses. Humans also take natural resources, which is an important situation. Humans are taking resources that can affect the environment. Some of the positive effects are reforestation, which is replanting trees. There are programs allows people to help the environment. “Every living thing has an impact on its environment. Therefore, a human impact on the environment is inevitable. By simply existing, all species - including ourselves - will imprint their mark on the world around them.” (sustainablebabysteps. What is the Human Impact on the Environment?2009-2016, Para. 1). Humans mostly have a negative impact, rather than a positive impact. Overall, ecology is an important matter. Ecology analyzes different aspects in an environment. In ecology, ecologist analyzes all the factors in an environment and study the way they interact. Ecological energy flow and ecological organization, allows an ecosystem to be stable. But human interactions can make an ecosystem unstable. Ecology has many components