The theory of Ecology is the study of relationships between organisms and the environment within an ecosystem. Ecology is everything to the human population. It covers a broad field including speciation and population dynamics. It is the study of biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) that depend and interact with each in the environment. Meaning it focuses on plants, animals, bacteria, rivers, mountains and even humans. With both abiotic and biotic factors in the same area ecologist call that an ecosystem. A small pond acts as an ecosystem as it hold both abiotic and biotic factors whilst a glass of drinking water would be a abiotic factor and could not be classed as an ecosystem just by itself because you need both abiotic factors and biotic factors for something to be classed as an ecosystem. There’s special types of people that study ecosystems and there known as ecologists. A population is another type of grouping ecologists came up with, it means specific types of animal or plant group. While a community is multiple population groups. Within ecosystems there is multiple species, and all have certain niches (jobs). It could be bee’s and there maintenance on flowers to produce honey or dung beetles and their job to feed each other. All of this is impacted by humans every day and a measure to calculate the damage is called an ecological footprint. A countries ecological footprint is the sum of all the land/places that’s required to deliver and produce food plus, all waste and timber and fibre used. What this means is that a global ecological footprint can be calculated and it has been with humanity needed at least 1.5 planets to sustain and resource us humans. What they have now worked out is that it takes the earth at least... ... middle of paper ... ...nce (Adventure Lab, 2012). But not only did I have an excessively high ecological footprint it was also higher than most of my peers. Discovering this is important for understanding the impact on the environment I have. The bio capacity of the planet depends on global population, therefor at the moment the bio capacity is 1.9 hectares per person (Expanding Eco Footprint). Though at the moment on a global spectrum we all use up to 2.2 hectares meaning that the earth bio capacity alone cannot sustain us. This is becoming noticeable as ice caps are melting, forests are dying and ecosystems are failing. Bio capacity alone is the capacity of ecosystems and for them to be able to produce and sustain useful biological materials and its ability to absorb waste material generated globally by humans, incorporating help from new technology. (Natures Regenerative Capacity)
Ecology is defined as a “system theory used to describe and analyze people and other living systems and their
Sustainable living to reduce your personal footprint (n.d.). In WWF Global. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from
All of these are consequences of one question deep at the heart of the quest for sustainable human existence; the question of the maximum capacity supportable by the planet Earth. As is true of a good deal of the puzzles plaguing our time, little consensus is to be found surrounding this topic.
There is no such thing as just changing something from one part and not having its effects distribute throughout the entire ecosystem. As an ecosystem continues changing and evolving, so will the organisms living around or in it. We must adapt to the environment or we will become extinct, unable to adapt into the rapidly changing environment we live in. Althout human impact on an environment may benefit us, it can also be harmful to nature. By taking care of what we do to the environment, we can prevent future negative changes in the environment and preserve earth’s natural state.
There is no hesitation when it comes to whether humans impact the global environment. However, it is questioned in whether human’s ecological footprint is either negatively or positively impacting. In clear perspective, humans share from both sides and their ecological footprint is noted towards whether it will benefit or harm the environment around them. Topics such as overpopulation, pollution, biomagnification, and deforestation are all human impacted and can harm the environment, but some include benefits into helping the world around us with solutions to their problems.
In conclusion, the impact I personally have on the planet has surprised me. My personal ecological footprint is much larger than I expected. However, there are measures I can take to drop my current consumption rate, such as altering my recycling choices, making better purchasing decisions, and adopting the reduce, reuse, and recycle concept throughout my household. By altering my habits and consumption rate, I can affect my local community tremendously in a positive way for the planet Earth.
...ms Shrink Our Ecological Footprint." Redefining Progress: For People, Nature, and The Economy 1 (2003). https://blackboard.syr.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_3_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_285766_1%26url%3D (accessed March 26, 2014).
As previously established, the ecological foot print is a measure in hectares of how much land is required to support someone’s means of life. You can calculate the ecological foot print in two ways, one as a whole for a country, or as an individual. There are two common calculation methods for the ecological foot print analysis: the component based calculation and the compound calculation. Component based calculation builds up the total ecological foot print through an item by item approach, but the compound based calculation starts from the overall consumption balance. It takes into account the carrying capacity for an ecosystem, and how many people can use up the land in that ecosystem to survive at a decent level. Another source provides the actual mathematical equation for the ecological foot print analysis: “EF= P/YN*YF*EQF, where P is the amount of a product harvested or waste emitted, YN is the national average yield for P, YF is the yield factor, and EQF is the equivalence factor”, (Zakari, R., Zolfagharian, S., Nourbakhsh, M., Zin, R. M., & Gheisari, M. (2012)). The carrying capacity of the human race is the maximum rate of resource consumption and waste production. To determine the total ecological footprint as a whole, we add up all the mutually exclusive zones of land use: pasture land, agricultural
Various plant and animal species depend on each other for what each offers and these diverse species ensures natural sustainability for all life forms. A healthy and solid biodiversity can recover itself from a variety of disasters. It is estimated that the current species extinction rate is between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than it would naturally be. Therefore, there is an urgent need, not only to manage and conserve the biotic wealth, but also restore the degraded ecosystems. c) Captivity breeding species can again be reintroduced into the wild.
Every day the world around us is changing ever so slightly in many different ways. Humans can affect the environment through our day to day lifestyle without even noticing the change. An ecological footprint is a measurement of how much a person uses the environment around them to live their life. This given measurement can help one to see their impact on the earth. It is an important tool to understand what actually a human does to change the habitat near them. My ecological footprint results gave me a perspective of how my daily life can impact the world I live in, as well as, how I as an individual can change my actions to make less waste on earth. It is also useful for each person to know their own ecological footprint since no one live
“Thus sustainable development can only be pursued if population size and growth are in harmony with the changing productive potential of the ecosystem (p.
The branch of science that deals with how living things, including humans, are related to their surroundings is called ecology . The Earth supports some 5 million species of plants, animals, and microorganisms. These interact and influence their surroundings, forming a vast network of interrelated environmental systems called ecosystems. The arctic tundra is an ecosystem and so is a Brazilian rain forest. The islands of Hawaii are a relatively isolated ecosystem. If left undisturbed, natural environmental systems tend to achieve balance or stability among the various species of plants and animals. Complex ecosystems are able to compensate for changes caused by weather or intrusions from migrating animals and are therefore usually said to be more stable than simple ecosystems. A field of corn has only one dominant species, the corn plant, and is a very simple ecosystem. It is easily destroyed by drought, insects, disease, or overuse. A forest may remain relatively unchanged by weather that would destroy a nearby field of corn, because the forest is characterized by greater diversity of plants and animals. Its complexity gives it stability.
There are lots of environmental issues going on globally. The earth faces problems such as pollution, global warming, waste disposal, and loss of biodiversity. These are just a small amount of issues out of the so many. These environmental problems pose an abundant amount of risk to the health of humans and animals. There needs to be a solution to all these problems and that is by informing others, so that way everyone can make the environment a better place.
Social ecology is the conceptual principles for knowing the outcomes and relations of the many diverse individual and environmental factors. Social ecology is defined as the study of people within an environment, which have influence on one another. It’s believed to be the earth’s societies reflection upon itself, exploring, discovering, and considering its future (Gutkind, 1974). Factors of social ecology may include the infirmities of age, an increase of population, natural disasters, technology and the growth of society. Within social ecology it is important to notice which people are unable to see the environmental crisis. This movement is placing all the responsibility for destroying the earth on humans as they are overpopulating the planet. There is no possible way of convincing all humans to change their way of life (Bookchin, 1995). However, rather have humans distinguish and eliminate previous forms of control and destruction (Bookchin, 1995). The main standard of social ecology is the fact that problems occur from inherent social issues (Dogan, Rokkan, 1974). These problems cannot be understood without acknowledging the social issues. The development, of certain technologies, social characteristics, cities and science all has caused a vast majority of problems to the earth, which leads back to humans.
The degradation of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity is increasing at an alarming rate every year. Humans are certainly not the only reason for this, but they are the main contributors. The well-being of ecosystems affects our everyday lives - consumption and consumerism depend on natural resources. Everything humans use is derived from them, in seemingly indirect and direct ways. Yet despite the fact that humans are destroying the environment, many continue to and neglect to take important measures to protect it.