|
"Eco" : means home, habitat or environment.
"logy" means what is believed to be true about science.
Ecology is the
scientific study
of the complex
inter-relationships
between
living organisms and their environments.
Some people think humans are not included in this definition but Humans are not separate from all other living organisms and the environment.
We do not live in a bubble that keeps us apart from the rest of life on our planet. Humans are very much a part of the interactions that take place in the web of life. In fact, we have a very profound effect on species and the global environment, so we need to include ourselves (the human species) as we study about the environment of the world we live in.
The Ecological Society of America defines ecology more specifically as:
"Ecology is the scientific discipline that is concerned with the relationships between organisms and their past, present, and future environments. These relationships include physiological responses of individuals, structure and dynamics of populations, interactions among species, organization of biological communities, and processing of energy and matter in ecosystems."
|
