Lectures in the course of «Ecology»
Lecture 1. Introduction
Term «Ecology» and its derivates is widely and actively used nowadays. For the whole humanity ecology has become not only a science but also a mean of thought|mindset|, behavior, reality of actions|act|, to some degree even world outlook. Without|senza| exaggerating, it is possible to say that ecology became one of the aspects of humanism, combining spirituality, understanding the unity of man with nature, high culture, mentality.
According to the classification accepted now any change|variating| in the environment|Wednesday| is included into the jurisdiction|conusance| of ecology. Reasons|cause| for such changes|variating| can be both natural|real-life| processes|Carbro| and anthropogenic influence. Ecology, constantly extending|underream| the amount|quantity| of the examined|consider| environment factors|Wednesday|, studies|learn| their influencing individuals, populations|, associations and man. From here the direct connection of ecology flows out with economic activity of man, especially with such scale productions, as energy|power|, fuel industry and resource extracting| complexes, chemical|chinagraph| industry, transport, agriculture and others.
For taking the most effective decisions it is necessary to know and understand the structure of the Earth|ground-to-air| and biosphere, mechanisms of co-operation in the system a «the society - the environment – the technological sphere», to know about legal and technological constituents of ecological problems.
The main goal of the course «Basis|backing| of ecology» is forming for the students the necessary base of knowledge on theoretical and practical issues of modern ecology, to consider the basic|main| sources|spring| of influencing|act| the environment, to formulate primary|top-priority| requirements for its preservation and to lay the foundation of ecological culture.
Solving ecological problems or at least diminishing|reduce| the anthropogenic influence on the environment requires the investment|enclosure| of considerable facilities, and|but| the result can be expected|wait| over the years, and|but| sometimes decades. Therefore forming a certain|definite| level|Y-level| of ecological knowledge and world outlook with economists is an urgent task|tsk|, because facilities (both at the level of enterprises and at the level of the state) are distributed by economists. That is why it is very important|influentially| to get|receive| the sufficient|suffite| level|Y-level| of knowledge about the interconnection of ecology and economy, principles of the nature management and ecological safety|crashworthiness|.
Theme|object-matter| 1. Object and tasks|tsk| of ecology
History of ecology development
The whole organic world of the Earth (wild-life) and its environment (lifeless nature), which form the biosphere, are its basic, incredibly difficult and interactive structural constituents. All displays of life: structure and functions of living creatures, their origin, development and distribution, connections with each other and with lifeless nature, and the associations formed by them are studied by biology.
Lifeless nature and its components (relief, climate, waters, dry land, ocean and ice cover) are investigated by physical geography.
The composition, structure, history of development and motion of the earth's crust are studied by geology.
Ecology appeared at the joint of biology, geography and geology. Ecology is the science about the biosphere, which is the sphere of distribution of life, the scopes of which are determined by the presence of suitable for organisms abiotic conditions: temperature, composition of gases, elements of mineral feeding and others.
The roots of ecology go to the ancient time. The need in the knowledge, determining the relation of the|referring| living to|by| its|its| organic|organo| and inorganic environment|Wednesday|, arose up long ago.
Even as early as in antiquity, there were laws, which, from our point of view, can be fully attributed to the laws protecting|defend| the natural environment|Wednesday|. Thus, 4 thousand years|Hecht| ago|backwards| in the code of the Babylonian tsar Khammurapi there was prohibition|BANs| of hunt and ploughing| some territories. Similar|like| prohibitions were made by Chinese and Mongolian emperors. Kiev princes|duke| forbade|ban| hunt in some natural boundaries around|about| Kiev|Kyiv|. However, the actual|real| reason|cause| for such laws was not the desire|guarding| of natural environment protection|Wednesday|, but the preservation of the unscared game for the hunt of gentlefolk. The classic example of such approach is the decree of the king Ferdinand and the archbishop|archprelate| of Zaltsburg about prohibition|BANs| for peasants to hunt a bird which was then named|call| the «bald|atrichous| raven» (one of types of ibis). The foundation of it was not at all the aspiration to save|reserve| the kind,|appearance| which was dying out|underlay|. Simply|just| nestling of this bird were very delicious|tasty|. As a result, this bird disappeared practically everywhere, although its natural habitat included|switch| all of South Europe and North Africa. Only a small colony in Morocco and a few|a little| breeding sites| in Portugal were preserved.
Like|similar to| all other areas|domain| of knowledge, ecology developed continuously|contiguously|, but unevenly. In works by Hippocrates, Aristotle|Aristoteles| and other ancient Greek scientists there is information of obviously ecological character|nature|. Nevertheless|however|, Greeks did not know the word|wd| «ecology». Later many great figures|agent| of the so-called|so called| «biological|life-form| revival» (the18th – 19th centuries|) brought in a certain|definite| contribution to the development of ecology. For example|eg|, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was the first|first-run| to study|learn| food chains|chn| and dynamics of populations quantity|numerosity|| which are|appear| one of major sections|division| of modern ecology.
It is possible to single out three basic|main| stages in the history of ecology development.
The first stage is the origin and formation of ecology as a science (before the sixties of the 19th century). At this stage, the information accumulated about intercommunication of living organisms with the environment of their dwelling, the first scientific generalizations were made.
In the 17th– 18th centuries| ecological information made a considerable part in many biological|life-form| descriptions (A|but|. Reaumur, 1734; A|but|. Tramble, 1744 and others). The elements of ecological approach were contained|maintain| in investigations|work-up| of Russian scientists I.I. Lepekhin, A.F. Middendorf, F.M. Krasheninnikov, French|julienne| scientist G. Buffon, Swedish naturalist K|by|. Linne, German scientist G. Yeger and others.
During that period J.-B. Lamarck (1744 – 1829) and T. Malthus (1766 – 1834) were the first to warn humanity of possible|possibly| negative consequences of human influence on the nature.
The second stage is the formatting of ecology as an independent scientific direction (after the sixties of the 19th century). The beginning of the stage was marked by the output of works by Russian scientists K.F. Rulye (1814 – 1858), N.A. Severtsev (1827 – 1885), V.V. Dokuchaev (1846 – 1903), who were the first to ground a number of principles and laws of ecology, which have not lost their value to the present time. Therefore, not by chance American environmentalist Yu. Odum considers V.V. Dokuchaev the founder of ecology. The German scientist K. Mebius introduces the major concept about the biocoenosis as about the appropriate combination of organisms under certain terms of the environment.
An invaluable contribution to the development of the bases|backing| of ecology was made by Ch. Darvin (1809 – 1882), who disclosed|reveal| the basic|main| factors of the organic|organo| world evolution|peace|. The factor, that Ch. Darvin named|call| the «struggle for existence», from evolutional positions is possible to interpret as mutual relations of living creatures with the external, abiotic| environment|Wednesday| and between themselves, i.e. the biotic| environment|Wednesday|.
The German biologist evolutionist E. Haeckel (1834 – 1919) was the first to |first-run| understand that it is an independent|self-maintained| and a very important branch|branch| of biology, which he named|call||her| ecology (1866). In his capital work «The universal morphology of organisms» he wrote: ‘Under ecology we understand the sum|amount| of knowledge related to the economy of nature: the study of the whole aggregate of mutual relations of animal|zoon| forms from the environment, both organic|organo| and inorganic, and foremost|first and foremost| – their friendly|user-friendly| or hostile|adverse| relationships with those animals|zoon| or plants with which they straightly or indirectly contact. In a word, ecology is the study of all difficult|complex| mutual relations, which Darwin named|call| the conditions originating the struggle for existence».
Ecology was finally formed as an independent|self-maintained| science at the beginning of|in the beginning of| the 20th century. During this period scientists carry out a number |flakey|of important investigations|work-up|, and|but| one of the greatest|major| scientists of the 20th century V.I. Vernadsky creates the fundamental doctrine about the biosphere.
In the thirties and the forties of the 20th century, ecology achieved a higher stage|degree| as a result of the new|firsttime| approach to the study of natural systems. At first, A. Tansley (1935) advanced the concept|notion| about ecological systems|, and|but| a little|a little| later|afterwards| V.N. Sukachev (1940) grounded|substantiate| the notion (near to the concept|notion| about ecological systems) about biogeocenosis.
In the second|second-| half|hf| of the 20th century, ecology gets the special significance in the connection with progressing contamination of the natural environment and sharp|hairpin| strengthening of affecting nature.
The third stage (from the fifties of the 20th century to the present time) is characterized with converting ecology into the complex science, including sciences about the preservation of the natural environment. Ecology grows from strictly biological science into the «considerable cycle of knowledge, absorbing in itself the sections of geography, geology, chemistry, physics, sociology, theory of culture, economy» (Reymers, 1994).
Strictly|stern| speaking, the present generation practically everywhere on the Earth|ground-to-air| is actually|in fact| engaged in the plunder of natural resources, which belong to the next generations. Now the prevention and liquidation of consequences of global|worldwide| ecological crisis is the most essential task|tsk| of humanity. Solving this task|tsk| requires changing ecological tactic and strategy, ecological education and consciousness of all people, the entire economic model of mutual relations of the humanity and the natural environment|Wednesday|.
Caused|call| with economic and political errors|mistake| and with serious ecological and economic miscalculations, the modern state|fortune| of the natural environment|Wednesday| of Ukraine has been long ago|for a long time| estimated by specialists|evaluate| as critical, when its self-recovery| and natural purification is already impossible. There is active degradation and elimination|nuke| of natural resources, increase of contaminating the natural environment|Wednesday|.
Practically during the entire period of the formation and developing ecology as a scientific|science| discipline it|her| was attributed to biology. However, at this stage of the development ecology already solves such tasks|tsk| and uses|use| such methods, materials|fabric|, principles, which go out far outside biological|life-form| sciences. Most environmentalists consider that modern ecology was formed into a principally new|firsttime| integrated discipline which unites|combine| all natural, exact, humanitarian and social sciences. Such view is upheld by Í. Reymers, A|but|. Yablokov, A|but|. Yanshin, G. Yagodin, A|but|. Laptev, D. Medouz, T. Miller, K. Montgomery and many other well-known researchers in this country and abroad. The task|tsk| of ecology is the development|elaboration| of new|firsttime|, scientifically grounded|substantiate| methods, effluent from the idea of the preservation of the planet biosphere.
Thus|on this grow|, modern ecology is not limited only to the scopes|frame| of a biological|life-form| discipline, it|her| grows into| interdisciplinary science, studying|learn| the thorny problems of the co-operation of man and his|its| activity with the natural environment|Wednesday|. Actuality and many-sided nature of this problem, which was caused by intensifying the ecological situation of the planet, resulted in the «ecologization» of many natural|, engineering and humanitarian sciences.
Ecological problems of modern life, which appeared as a result of short-sighted, unreasonable, often careless and not enough grounded|substantiate| attitude of man toward nature, are possible with confidence to consider one of the most actual issues|, since they touch|concern| everybody and the future of civilization depends on their solving.
Thus|on this grow|, ecology is becoming one of the major sciences of the future and «possibly, the very existence of man on our planet will depend on its progress» (F. Dre, 1976).