History of ecology
is generally spoken of as a new science, having only
become prominent in the second half of the 20th
century. More precisely, there is agreement that ecology
emerged as a distinct discipline at the turn of the 20th
century, and that it gained public prominence in the
1960s, due to widespread concern for the state of the
environment.[1] Nonetheless, ecological thinking at some
level has been around for a long time, and the principles
of ecology have developed gradually, closely intertwined
with the development of other biological disciplines. It is
likely that early humans had an ecological understanding
of at least those aspects of their environment that
enhanced their survival. One of the first ecologists whose
writings survive may have been Aristotle or perhaps his
student, Theophrastus, both of whom had interest in
many species of animals. Theophrastus described
interrelationships
between
animals
and
their
environment as early as the 4th century BC.[2]
1) Early greek philosphers and scientists knew the
importance of environmental studies
a)
Hipocrates(460 B.C.): He was taken as the father of medicine.
He wrote about air, water and places. He advices doctors
of his time to study the seasons and surroundings of their
patients and co-relate them with their disease.
b)
Aristotal (384 B.C.): He discussed different kinds of animals
and their habitat. He believes that adaptation of animals
depend on their habitat and environmantal conditions.
c)
Theofrastus (300 B.C.): He is considered to be the father of
Botany. He is also regarded a pioneer ecologist. He wrote
about plant communities. He also wrote about the types of
plants found in different habitats. These plants were the land
plants, marshy plants etc.
Timeline of ecologists
A list of founders, innovators and their significant
contributions to ecology, from Romanticism onward.
Notable figure Lifespan Major contribution & citation
Antoni van Leeuwenhoeke 1632–1723 First to develop concept of
food chains
Carl Linnaeus 1707–1778 Influential naturalist, inventor of science on
the economy of nature[13][11]
Alexander Humboldt 1769–1859 First to describe ecological gradient
of latitudinal biodiversity increase toward the tropics [14] in 1807
Charles Darwin 1809–1882 Discoverer of evolution by means of
natural selection, founder of ecological studies of soils[15]
Herbert Spencer 1820–1903 Early founder of social ecology, coined
the phrase 'survival of the fittest'[11][16]
Karl Möbius 1825–1908 First to develop concept of ecological
community, biocenosis, or living community[17][18][19]
Ernst Haeckel 1834–1919 Invented the term ecology, popularized
research links between ecology and evolution
Timeline of ecologists cont…
Victor Hensen 1835–1924 Invented term plankton,
developed quantitative and statistical measures of
productivity in the seas
Eugenius Warming 1841–1924 Early founder of
Ecological Plant Geography[5]
Ellen Swallow Richards 1842–1911 Pioneer and
educator who linked urban ecology to human health[20]
Stephen Forbes 1844–1930 Early founder of entomology
and ecological concepts in 1887 [21][8][22]
Vito Volterra 1860–1940 Independently pioneered
mathematical populations models around the same
time as Alfred J. Lotka.[23][24]
Vladimir Vernadsky 1869–1939 Founded the biosphere
concept
Henry C. Cowles 1869–1939 Pioneering studies and
conceptual development in studies of ecological
succession[25]
Timeline of ecologists cont..
Friedrich Ratzel 1844–1904 German geographer who first
coined the term biogeography in 1891.
Frederic Clements 1874–1945 Authored the first
influential American ecology book in 1905[31]
Victor Ernest Shelford 1877–1968 Founded physiological
ecology, pioneered food-web and biome concepts,
founded The Nature Conservancy[32][33]
Alfred J. Lotka 1880–1949 First to pioneer mathematical
populations models explaining trophic (predator-prey)
interactions using logistic equation[34]
Henry Gleason 1882–1975 Early ecology pioneer,
quantitative theorist, author, and founder of the
individualistic concept of ecology[31][35]
Timeline of ecologists
Jan Christian Smuts 1870–1950 Coined the term holism in a 1926
book Holism and Evolution.[26]
Arthur G. Tansley 1871–1955 First to coin the term ecosystem in
1936 and notable researcher[18][27][28]
Charles Christopher Adams 1873–1955 Animal ecologist,
biogeographer, author of first American book on animal ecology in
1913, founded ecological energetics[29][30
Charles S. Elton 1900–1991 'Father' of animal ecology, pioneered
food-web & niche concepts and authored influential Animal
Ecology text[32][36]
G. Evelyn Hutchinson 1903–1991 Limnologist and conceptually
advanced the niche concept[37][38][39]
Eugene P. Odum 1913–2002 Co-founder of ecosystem ecology and
ecological thermodynamic concepts[28][32][40][41]
Howard T. Odum 1924–2002 Co-founder of ecosystem ecology and
ecological thermodynamic concepts[28][32][40][41][42][43]
Robert MacArthur 1930–1972 Co-founder on Theory of Island
Biogeography and innovator of ecological
History of Ecology
Ecology (from Greek: οἶκος, "house"; -λογία, "study of"[A])
is the scientific study of the relationships that living
organisms have with each other and with their natural
environment. Topics of interest to ecologists include the
composition, distribution, amount (biomass), number, and
changing states of organisms within and among
ecosystems. Ecosystems are composed of dynamically
interacting parts including organisms, the communities
they make up, and the non-living components of their
environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary
production, pedogenesis, nutrient cycling, and various
niche construction activities, regulate the flux of energy
and matter through an environment. These processes are
sustained by the biodiversity within them. Biodiversity
refers to the varieties of species in ecosystems, the genetic
variations they contain, and the processes.
History of eco……
Ecology is an interdisciplinary field that includes biology
and Earth science. The word "ecology" ("Ökologie") was
coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel
(1834–1919). Ancient Greek philosophers such as
Hippocrates and Aristotle laid the foundations of ecology
in their studies on natural history. Modern ecology
transformed into a more rigorous science in the late 19th
century. Evolutionary concepts on adaptation and natural
selection became cornerstones of modern ecological
theory. Ecology is not synonymous with environment,
environmentalism, natural history, or environmental
science. It is closely related to evolutionary biology,
genetics, and ethology. An understanding of how
biodiversity affects ecological function is an important
focus area in ecological studies.
Ecologists seek to explain:
•Life processes and adaptations
•Distribution and abundance of organisms
•The movement of materials and energy
through living communities
•The successional development of ecosystems
•The abundance and distribution of
biodiversity in the context of the environment
Ecology is a human science as well. There are many practical
applications of ecology
Ecology is a human science as well. There are many
practical applications of ecology in conservation biology,
wetland management, natural resource management
(agroecology, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, fisheries),
city planning (urban ecology), community health,
economics, basic and applied science, and human social
interaction (human ecology). Ecosystems maintain
biophysical feedback mechanisms that modulate
metabolic rates and evolutionary dynamics between living
(biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components of the planet.
Ecosystems sustain life-supporting functions and produce
natural capital through the regulation of continental
climates, global biogeochemical cycles, water filtration,
soils, food, fibres, medicines, erosion control, and many
other natural features of scientific, historical, economic,
or intrinsic value.
Hierarchical ecology
To structure the study of ecology into a
conceptually manageable framework, the
biological world is organized into a nested
hierarchy, ranging in scale from genes, to cells,
to tissues, to organs, to organisms, to species,
and up to the level of the biosphere.[5] This
framework forms a panarchy[6] and exhibits nonlinear behaviours; this means that "effect and
cause are disproportionate, so that small
changes in critical variables, such as the
numbers of nitrogen fixers, can lead to
disproportionate, perhaps irreversible, changes
in the system properties.
Panarchy”
Adaptive cycle; crossscale
interaction;
panarchy; population;
resilience;
...
“Panarchy” refers here
to the framework for
conceptualizing
the
type of ...
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety of life and its
processes. It includes the variety of
living organisms, the genetic differences
among them, the communities and
ecosystems in which they occur, and the
ecological and evolutionary processes
that keep them functioning, yet ever
changing and adapting.
Noss & Carpenter (1994)[8]:5
2 Role of muslim scientists in Ecology
The western world was passing through dark
ages in the mediaeval time. It was the time
of muslim scientists era. They did their
research in every field of knowledge. They
also made a great contribution in the study
of plants and their habitat. Regular
experimental gardens existed in Cordova (
Spain ), Cairo (Egypt) and Baghdad (Iraq).
These gardens were used for the study of
plants. Following muslims worked on
Ecology.
Conti..
A
B
C
D
E
Abu Muhammad Abdullah Ibn Ahmad Al Baite (1197 -1241 AD)
He was famous Botanist and great plant geographer. He travelled
as herbalist in Spain, Greece, Italy, Asia Minor and North Africa.
He described in detail, habit and habitat of 1700 plants.
Abdul Latif: He gave valuable botanical observations in his famous
description of Egypt.
Abdul Abbas al Nabat: He made Botanical expolration in Spain and
all along the Africa Coast to Arabia.
Alberuni(941 AD):He stayed in Indo -pak subcontinent for fifty
years. He studied the habit and habitat of plants growing in this
region. He was the first man to describe the Indus plain was the
sea in the past. Later it was filled with alluvial soil.
Ibn- wahshiya: His book Nabatean gives detail of olive tree,
springs and wells. It also gives the qualities of water and how to
improve them. This book has also information about various
plants and their possible varieties, changes in the atmospheric
conditions; like vapour and wind, the causes of deforestation, the
nature and improvement of soils, the cultivation of crops, fruit
trees and flowering plants.
3-Role of western ecologists in Ecology
There is expanding human popullatiin .
It need food and pollution free
atmosphere. The understanding of
environment is necessary for increasing
food production and controlling
pollution. A large number of ecologists
are working on various aspects on
environmental science in different parts
of the world. Some of the important
ecologists are:
Roe of Western… cont…
A
Linnaeus(1753 AD): He was great systematic botanist. He
described the plants and their distribution in relation to the
nature of their habitat.
B
Von Humboldt (1810 AD): He was a german ecologist .He
made an important contribution in ecology in the beginning
of the nineteenth
century. He travelled widely in the world. He corelated the
plantdistribution on the earth
with that of the climate.
Schow (1829 AD): He was a student of Von Humboldt . He
discussed the effectiveness of
light, temperature, and moisture species distribution.
C
Role of Western… cont…
D
E
F
Charles Darwin(1864): He was naturalist. He
travelled in ship Beagle. He studied the
habit, habitat and different adaptations in
plants and animals in different regions.
Merrian (1894): He was an American Biologist.
He showed that North American Flora and fauna
are determined by environmental factors
especially temperature.
Eugene Oudm (1971):He was one of the most
famous modern ecologists. He worked on
different ecosystem. He discussed the role of
different environmental factors in the
development of different communities in
ecosystems.
History of ecology in Pakistan
Ecological studies in Pakistan was started in recent times. Some research has been
conducted on the peoblem of Forest ecology in Pakistan forest institute, Peshawer.
Some studies of ecological nature has also been carried out n he punjab University.
Autoecology and Synecological studies were made in Karachi University. The
governmant of Pakistan has established the following institutes to improve the
ecological stidies and environmental standard:
A
B
C
D
E
The government of Pakistan has established a federal ministry of
environment and urban affairs in order to improve the human
habitat in the country.
The government has established environmental protection Agency to the
check of Industrial pollution.
Wild life department is working to protect the wild life in the country
In Karachi, a master plan environmental control department has been
established , under the Karachi development Authority. It is developing
ways and means of providing a healthy environment to the citizens of
Karachi.
National Science Foundation is also playing an important role in
improving the ecological knowledge.
Unfortunately, study of ecology remained confirmed to government
controlled institutes. WE cannot get even a single Pakistan
ecologist of
international fame, Standard of working in Ecology is also much poor in the country.
Interaction of
individual to
their
surroundings
Biocenosis
Biocenosis
Interaction of
organisms I
ecosystem /
environment