Portal:Ecology

Ecology is a branch of biology, and is the study of abundance, biomass, and distribution of organisms in the context of the environment. It encompasses life processes, interactions, and adaptations; movement of materials and energy through living communities; successional development of ecosystems; cooperation, competition, and predation within and between species; and patterns of biodiversity and its effect on ecosystem processes.

Ecology has practical applications in

The word ecology (German: Ökologie) was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel. The science of ecology as we know it today began with a group of American botanists in the 1890s. Evolutionary concepts relating to adaptation and natural selection are cornerstones of modern ecological theory.

Ecosystems are dynamically interacting systems of organisms, the communities they make up, and the non-living (

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ecologists therefore study the interactions between intertidal organisms and their environment, as well as between different species of intertidal organisms within a particular intertidal community. The most important environmental and species interactions may vary based on the type of intertidal community being studied, the broadest of classifications being based on substrates—rocky shore

and soft bottom communities.

Organisms living in this zone have a highly variable and often hostile environment, and have evolved various

biotic interactions e.g.competition with other species sets their lower limits. (Full article...

)

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Restoration ecology Ecological art Ecological resilience Ecology of the North Cascades Ecology of the Rocky Mountains Altitudinal zonation Ecology of the San Francisco Estuary Environmental issues with coral reefs Acclimatisation society Island restoration Intraspecific competition Interspecific competition Taylor's law World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions Blue carbon Ciénega Metabolic theory of ecology Ecosystem-based management The Green Planet (TV series)

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Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. The tropical rainforests of South America contain the largest diversity of species on Earth.

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General images

The following are images from various ecology-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Image 1Table visualising size-symmetric competition, using fish as consumers and crabs as resources. (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 2Sequence of a decomposing pig carcass over time (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 3Twenty-five years after the devastating eruption at Mount St. Helens, United States, pioneer species have moved in. (from Habitat)
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  Image 4A simple trophic cascade diagram. On the right shows when wolves are absent, showing an increase in elks and reduction in vegetation growth. The left one shows when wolves are present and controlling the elk population. (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 5Spiny forest at Ifaty, Madagascar, featuring various Adansonia (baobab) species, Alluaudia procera (Madagascar ocotillo) and other vegetation (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 6This coral reef in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area provides habitat for numerous marine species. (from Habitat)
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  Image 7Ibex in an alpine habitat (from Habitat)
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  Image 8The High Peaks Wilderness Area in the 6,000,000-acre (2,400,000 ha) Adirondack Park is an example of a diverse ecosystem. (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 9Few creatures make the ice shelves of Antarctica their habitat, but water beneath the ice can provide habitat for multiple species. Animals such as penguins have adapted to live in very cold conditions. (from Habitat)
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  Image 10Flora of Baja California desert, Cataviña region, Mexico (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 11An Antarctic rock split apart to show

  endolithic lifeforms showing as a green layer a few millimeters thick (from Habitat

  )
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  Image 12Wetland habitat types in Borneo (from Habitat)
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  Image 13A bear with a salmon. Interspecific interactions such as predation are a key aspect of community ecology. (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 14Dense mass of white crabs at a hydrothermal vent, with stalked barnacles on right (from Habitat)
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  Image 15a) A trophic pyramid showing the different trophic levels in a community. b) A food web of the same community (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 16The leaves of an Alnus nepalensis tree provide a microhabitat for species like the leaf beetle Aulacophora indica. (from Habitat)
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  Image 17A generalised graph of a predator-prey population density cycle (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 18A red-chested cuckoo chick being feed by a significantly smaller Cape robin-chat adult (from Community (ecology))
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  Image 19Rainforest ecosystems are rich in biodiversity. This is the Gambia River in Senegal's Niokolo-Koba National Park. (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 20Rich rainforest habitat in Dominica (from Habitat)
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  Image 21

  A

  freshwater lake in Gran Canaria, an island of the Canary Islands. Clear boundaries make lakes convenient to study using an ecosystem approach.

  (from Ecosystem

  )
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  Image 22Loch Lomond in Scotland forms a relatively isolated ecosystem. The fish community of this lake has remained stable over a long period until a number of introductions in the 1970s restructured its food web. (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 23Global oceanic and terrestrial phototroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As an estimate of autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential and not an actual estimate of it. (from Ecosystem)
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  Image 24Desert scene in Egypt (from Habitat)
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  Image 25Biological nitrogen cycling (from Ecosystem)

Related WikiProjects

WikiProject Ecology

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• WikiProject Environment
  
• WikiProject Ecoregions
  
• WikiProject Extinction
  
• WikiProject Biology
  
• WikiProject Protected areas
• WikiProject Forestry
  
• WikiProject Soil
  
• WikiProject Agriculture
  
• WikiProject Science

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articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

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Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part of nature, human activity or humans as a whole are often described as at times at odds, or outright separate and even superior to nature.

During the advent of modern

vitalist vision of nature, closer to the pre-Socratic one, got reborn at the same time, especially after Charles Darwin. (Full article...

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List of recognized articles

Botany Climate Sustainability Automimicry Apex predator Batesian mimicry Aposematism Aggressive mimicry Countershading Albany Pine Bush Ambush predator Camouflage Flagship species Disruptive coloration Habitat Host (biology) Invasive species Keystone species Mimicry Motion camouflage Müllerian mimicry Natural selection Underwater camouflage Predation Parasitoid Parasitism Geography and ecology of the Everglades Leopold Report List of invasive species in the Everglades

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autotrophy

. Born in the capital of present-day Ukraine, his legacy is also celebrated by this nation.

His research on

fixes carbon dioxide (CO₂) to make organic compounds. (Full article...

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Ernst Haeckel Charles Darwin Eugenius Warming Aziz Ab'Sáber Leonty Ramensky Aldo Leopold Eugene Odum Rachel Carson Howard T. Odum William Skinner Cooper Pierre Dansereau Edward Smith Deevey Jr. John Burroughs Helena Norberg-Hodge Martin Gerzabek Exequiel Ezcurra Lian Pin Koh Ann Fowler Rhoads Ramon Margalef Charles Sutherland Elton Frances James (ecologist) John Stanley Beard Liz Chicaje Aparajita Datta C. S. Holling Marie-Josée Fortin Hanna Kokko Karl Möbius Elsie Quarterman Ian Stirling (biologist) Paul Sears Joan Roughgarden Christen C. Raunkiær Ed Ricketts Carl Linnaeus Lincoln Brower

Did you know (auto-generated)

• ... that the British political theorist Chris Armstrong has called for a "blue new deal" to secure ecological resilience for the ocean and a just blue economy?
• ... that PlantSims, human–plant hybrids in The Sims 2: Seasons, have been studied as examples of ecofeminism and deep ecology?
• ... that gynecologist Mary Lake Polan wrote a medical mystery novel to "demystify" the procedures behind in vitro fertilisation?
• ... that Enriqueta Medellín, a Mexican surgeon, has an ecological center and environmental prize named after her in the state of Aguascalientes?
• ... that one of the founders of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, Andrius Domaševičius, had his own private gynecology practice, treating poor women free of charge?
• ... that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's "cli-fi" thrash metal album addresses a mix of current ecological threats and attempts to find another planet to live on?

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“	A Healthy Ecology is the Basis for a Healthy Economy.	”
	—Claudine Schneider, U.S. Representative in The Green Lifestyle Handbook

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Ecology news

From the Wikinews Environment portal

• April 23: European Union to reduce carbon emissions by 55% of 1990 levels by 2030
• November 27: Wikinews interviews Craig Farquharson, Liberal Democrat candidate for 2020 Groom by-election
• November 27: Wikinews interviews Sandra Jephcott, Sustainable Australia candidate for 2020 Groom by-election
• December 14: Greta Thunberg named 2019 Time Person of the Year
• November 23: Researchers break down deaths due to power plant pollution in the United States
• November 21: Slippery business: Materials scientists invent new coating for self-cleaning, water-efficient toilets
• October 19: Northern Arapaho Tribe welcomes buffalo herd in Wyoming, United States
• October 12: Scientists describe how 'upside-down rivers' of warm water break Antarctica's ice shelf
• October 5: Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, say scientists
• September 8: Scientists report skyrocketing phytoplankton population in aftermath of Kīlauea eruption

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Additional News Highlights

• November 5, 2009: "New ocean forming in African desert."

More ecology news on Wikinews

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The

open-access peer-reviewed medical journal covering ecology. It publishes reviews and letters in all areas of clinical, laboratory, and experimental hematology including stem cells and blood disorders. (Full article...

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Related portals

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... Ocotillo plants, in White Tank Mountains Regional Park)

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Web resources

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Ecology
• The Encyclopedia of Earth – Ecology
• The Nature Education Knowledge Project – Ecology
• National Geographic – Ecology

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