Unit 11 Branches of Ecology. Part 1

Introduction

Read the text title and hypothesize what the text is about. Write down your hypothesis.

What do you know concerning this issue? List your ideas in the table left column “I know”. I know that... I have learnt that...

If you know answers to these questions write them down in the space given after each question.

1	Who was a founder of ecology?
2	How do you understand the subject of ecology?
3	What factors determine environment of an organism?
4	Is ecology a multidisciplinary science?
5	What branches of science does ecology comprise?
6	Are “ecology” and “environmentalism” synonyms?
7	When was the term “ecology” coined?

4 Circle in the list the words and expressions you know. Write down their translation in the ble and calculate the percentage of your lexical competence.

1	common parlance		9	queen bee
2	protein		10	pollination
3	cell		11	multiple
4	community		12	interdisciplinary
5	pedology		13	biotic
6	holistic		14	abiotic
7	behavior		15	interaction
8	species		16	elaborate

Module: professional communication

Consider the ways an ecologist might approach studying the life of honeybees:

-The behavioral relationship between individuals of a species is behavioral ecology — for example, the study of the queen bee, and how she relates to the worker bees and the drones.

-The organized activity of a species is community ecology; for example, the activity of bees assures the pollination of flowering plants. Bee hives additionally produce honey, which is consumed by still other species, such as bears.

-The relationship between the environment and a species is environmental ecology — for example, the consequences of environmental change on bee activity Bees may die out due to environmental changes.

The environment simultaneously affects and is a consequence of this activity and is thus intertwined with the survival of the species.

Disciplines of ecology

Ecology is a broad discipline comprising many sub-disciplines. A

common, broad classification, moving from lowest to highest complexity, where complexity is defined as the number of entities and processes in the system under study, is:

• Ecophysiology examines how the physiological functions of organisms influence the way they interact with the environment, both biotic and abiotic.

• Behavioral ecology examines adaptations of the individual to its environment.

• Population ecology studies the dynamics of populations of a single species.

• Community ecology focuses on the interactions between species within an ecological community.

• Ecosystem, ecology studies the flows of energy and matter through the biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems.

• Systems ecology is an interdisciplinary field focusing on the study, development, and organization of ecological systems from a holistic perspective.