Until recently ecology was a term used by only a few of our more sophisticated citizens. By the beginning of the 20th century it found only a modest scientific application in biology: it denoted the interrelations between living organisms, plants and animals, and their environment.

Today, the lexicon of ecology contains about 12,000 or 14,000 terms and definitions.Environment, ecosystem, bioecology, monitoring are among them.

Our environment can be defined as our surroundings; it is made up of all physical, social and cultural aspects of our world that reflects our growth our being and our way of living. The organized body of knowledge which deals with interrelations between living organisms and their environment is relatively new science, which we call ecology.

The term is derived from two Greek words meaning “oikos” ( house, dwelling) and “logos”(science). It has been in use only since the 19 century. Today the term has been extended to denote a complex of sciences dealing above all with the interrelations between man and nature. Man uses natural resources as the material for his creative work, and nature itself as his workshop.

Ecosystem is a contraction of ecological system. An ecosystem is dynamic in that its various parts are always in a state of flux. Since each member of the ecosystem belongs to the environment of every other part of that system, any change in one alters the environment for all the others. And as those components reach to the alteration, they in turn continue to transform the environment for the others.

Ecosystems are open systems with movement of energy and material across their boundaries.

Bioecology studies the interrelations between living organisms and their environment. Traditionally, it is subdivided into the ecology of micro-organisms, plant ecology and animal ecology.

There is a group of ecological descriptions including the ecology of the atmosphere, the ecology of hydrosphere, the ecology of soils and lithosphere and, finally, the ecology of outer space.

Landscape ecology studies the interrelations between various land ecosystems. The biosphere as the global ecosystem which exists and develops in time and space is studied by global ecology.

The global human intervention in the biosphere brought about the need for constant monitoring, i.e. for identification of the condition of the human environment and the prediction of possible changes therein relative to man’s economic activity.

Man and Nature

Since ancient times Nature has served Man, being the resources of his life. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with environment and it seemed to them that natural riches were unlimited. But with the development of civilizations man’s interference in nature began to increase. The ecological harmony is disturbed.

Large cities with thousands of smoky industrial enterprises appear all over the world today.The by-products of their activity pollute the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we grow grain and vegetables. Every year world industry pollutes the atmosphere with about 1.000million tons of dust and other harmful substances. Many cities suffer from smog. Vast forests are cut and burnt in fire. Their disappearance upsets the oxygen balance. As a result some rare species of animals, birds, fish and plants disappear forever, a number of rivers and lakes dry up.

The pollution of air and the world’s ocean, destruction of the ozone layer is the result of man’s careless interaction with nature, a sign of ecological crises.

The destruction of nature gradually led to the loss of the most essential element of existence, a healthy biological habitat. Environmental pollution increases the cases of diseases, raises the cost of medical services, reduces the life-span of a human being. By now the pollution and poisoning of the soil, water and air have reached a critical level.

Some progress has been already made in this direction. As many as 159 countries – members of the UNO – have set up environmental protection agencies. Numerous conferences have been held by these agencies to discuss questions of ecologically poor regions including the Aral Sea, the South Urals, Kuzbass, Donbass, Semipalatinsk and Chernobyl. The international environmental research centre has been set up on Lake Baikal. The international organization Greenpeace is also doing much to preserve the environment.

Now industrially developed states cannot ignore the problem of environmental protection. It has become a part of political programs in many countries. Many laws and decisions on this problem have been adopted, many measures have been taken to protect our forests, rivers, lakes and seas.

The importance of this task is pointed out by ecologists, the scientists who work to control this problem.

We should consider the state of environment to be as important as the issues of national unity and economy. New legislations have been introduced in developed countries to strengthen the requirements for adequate environmental assessment of projects that that may have a direct impact on the environment. Modern ecology has an ethical dimension. The principles of moral behavior embodied in legal norms and coupled with ecological problems constitute the subject of interrelation between ecology and law. There is necessity to support programs aimed at the preservation of the environment not only on the national level, but global as well.

As we move towards the next Millennium, the challenge to humankind, to understand, respect and manage the world and its resources, becomes ever more urgent. Sustainable development focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to tackle their own problems. It is also concerned with social justice and global responsibilities. In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection should constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.

The establishment of satellite geoecological monitoring is of a great importance for investigations, control and management of the environment in zones of ecological disasters. General and regional monitoring programs can provide the complex estimation of modern landscapes, land use of desertification processes. It should be based on data obtained from aerial and space surveys, geographic information systems (GIS), maps and other sources. There is no doubt that maps have been valuable tools throughout the recent history of environmental studies. The remote sensing provides a valuable information for weather services, ocean and atmosphere studies, as well as for geological monitoring, control and management of the environment.

Exercises

I Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. How can the word “environment” be defined?

2. Define the term “ecology” and “ecosystem”

3. Is nature the source of people’s life?

4. For thousands of years people lived in harmony with nature, didn’t they?

5. What is 20^th century famous for?

6. Is there a contradiction between human being and nature?

7. How has the progress influenced the environment?

8. Has man’s interferences in nature increased with the development of civilization?

9. What are the consequences of ecological disasters?

10. Are environmental problems very acute in densely populated areas?

11. Is air pollution in towns and cities the worst?

12. Do many cities suffer from smog?

13. Can highly developed countries ignore the problems of environmental protection?

14. Should urgent measures be taken to protect environment?

15. Is the space technology widely used for weather services, ocean and atmosphere studies?

II Переведите с русского языка на английский:

1. Наука, изучающая отношения между живыми организмами и средой их обитания, и есть экология.

2. Взаимодействие человека и природы неотделимо от самой истории человечества.

3. Человечество стоит перед острыми экологическими проблемами.

4. Загрязнение воды и воздуха является результатом небрежного отношения человека к природе.

5. Проблемы защиты окружающей среды приобретают все большую значимость.

6. Для достижения устойчивого развития защита окружающей среды должна составлять неотъемлемую часть процесса развития и не может рассматриваться в отрыве от нее.

7. Кислотные дожди воздействуют как на животных, так и на растительные организмы.

8. Если мы хотим оставить будущим поколениям чистую землю, мы должны принимать самые срочные меры по охране окружающей среды.

9. Международное сообщество предпринимает конкретные меры по охране природы и окружающей среды.

III Прочтите, выпишите в рабочую тетрадь и запомните следующие словосочетания:

1. The rate of pollution – уровень загрязнения

2. to be abundant – изобиловать

3. environmental protection – защита окружающей среды

4. ecological monitoring – экологический мониторинг

5. environmental situation – состояние окруж. Среды

6. sustainable development – устойчивое развитие

7. to be considered – быть рассмотренным

8. to take into account –принимать во внимание

9. to call for – требовать, предусматривать

10. as compared with – по сравнению с, в противоположность

IV Переведите текст с использованием словаря

Our ancestors considered the Earth’s resources to be boundless and endless. We have no right to blame our ancestors for their ecological ignorance: they fought to live.

Even in the 19^th century when the word “ecology” was born people continued to use nature as customers, considering Man to be “lord and king” of nature and not the child.

In the 20^th century with the rapid growth of science and technology human achievements in conquering nature became so great that man’s economic activities began to produce an increasingly negative effect on the biosphere.

People’s striving to reach an immediate objective, their consumer attitude to nature in disregard of natural laws break natural balance. According to the International Union for the Protection of Nature 76 species of animals and some hundred species of plants have disappeared from the planet in the course of the last 60 years. 132 mammals and 26 bird species face extinction not so much due to hunting as due to the pollution of the biosphere.

The destruction of nature gradually led to the loss of the most essential element of existence, a healthy biological habitat. Environmental pollution increases the cases of diseases, raises the cost of medical services, reduces the life-span of a man. By now the pollution and poisoning of the soil, water and air have reached a critical level.

Enviromental pollution has become a significant obstacle to economic growth. The discharge of dust and gas into the atmosphere returns to the Earth in the form of acid rain and affects crop, the quality of forests, the amount of fish. To this we can add the rise of chemicals, radioactivity, noise and other types of pollution.

Economic, social, technological and biological processes have become so interdependent that modern production must be seen as a complex economic system. It is wrong to see economy and ecology as diametrically opposed: such an approach inevitably leads to one extreme or the other.