Man has always had the need to understand the surrounding environment; especially throughout the period prior to the industrial revolution. When the majority of the population lived in the rural world, to understand the interactions of organisms between them and with their environment could make a big difference in people’s lives.
We all know superstitions and sayings that try to explain the weather, life cycles and a long etcetera. However, if we want to know the existing relationships in the natural world we must attend to science, and in particular to ecology. In ecology, we offer you the opportunity to learn more about the History of Ecology.
What is ecology
The concept of “ecology” etymologically derives from the Greek oikos (house) and Logos (Science, study). So the definition of ecology would be literally, The study of our houseunderstanding that nature is our home and we are part of it.
Was coined by the scholar Ernst Haeckel In 1869, who understood ecology as the study of the relationship of living beings with the environment around them. At the moment The term has been extended. Thus, the definition of ecology covers not only the relationships that living beings establish with their environment, but also the relationships that forge between them.
For more information we advise you to read these other ecology articles about ecology: what is, its branches and what each one studies and the differences between ecology and environment.
Background and History of Ecology
We start talking about the historical background of ecology and the most relevant precursors. The history of ecology begins with the first civilizations and the first philosophers. The philosophers Hippocrates and Aristotle The foundations of modern biology laid, being hypocrates more focused on medical and Aristotle issues in natural history.
Aristotle took care of Describe and classify an enormous amount of living organismsamong which both animals and plants are included, also try to explain other phenomena such as fertilization, the development of embryos, the soul (or what gives life to living beings) or the origin of life. The knowledge corpus issued by Aristotle was not only tremendously broad, but laid the foundations for the systematic study of living beings and nature. You may be interested in taking a look at this other article on the branches of biology and what they study.
Once we already know the definition of ecology and its background, we talk about the origin of ecology through contributions made important authors to the corpus of ecological knowledge. This historical development of ecology is not so much from the point of view of philosophy, but through a more systematic study.
Buffon, 1756
It is about father of natural historical thought. Buffon considers the populations of human beings and other living beings, such as animals or plants, as subject to the same phenomena. In fact, he was the creator of the principle of biogeography, (known as the Law of Buffon years later).
This law was based on explaining that some species were able to develop improvements, or not, depending on the habitat in which they lived.
Alexander von Humboldt, 1800-1804
He is considered the father of what would be the Modern ecology. He was a very versatile scholar, who in addition to studying the natural world occupied his efforts in geology and geography. During these years he toured a large part of Latin America, collecting a lot of information about his flora, fauna, geology, in addition to discovering the Humboldt penguin. Von Humboldt was the one who defined the relationships between living beings and the habitats in which they lived.
Malthus, 1803
Although Malthus did not try to initially explain the natural world, their theories had a deep impact on the knowledge of populations. Malthus proposed that the resources of a certain space grow arithmetic, while the population of any living being has potential capacity to grow exponentially. Thus, there is necessarily an imbalance between resources and populations. This concept also helped form the theory of evolution by Darwin’s natural selection.
Forbes, 1844
Forbes that an English botanist and naturalist who described the distribution of animals in European coastal waters, warning that certain patterns in distribution They were due to Middle characteristics.
Darwin, 1859
The Theory of evolution by natural selection He had a deep impact in understanding the dynamics of populations, which became understood as changing entities and not as static agents. What Darwin did was highlight the fact that living organisms adapted to the environment in which they lived through a natural selection.
If you want to know more about what natural selection and examples are, do not hesitate to take a look at this article that we recommend.
Other important characters in the history of ecology
As we have explained the background of ecology, to finish talking about its historical development we will mention other important characters that have been part of this branch of biology. We find ourselves:
- Anton Van Leeuwenhoek: He had an important role in biology, since when he had access to his first microscope when he was young he began the first investigations that would do so in the father of microbiology.
- René Antoine Ferchault of Réaumur: He focused on physics and botany. He was interested in living beings, but especially in insects.
- Lois Reveveur: It was a cleric but also a scientist who participated in botany, meteorology and astronomy.
- Georges Louis Leclerc: had an important participation within the study of volcanic activity and geology.
After reading all these characters in the history of ecology, you may be wondering what environmentalists are and what they do. Therefore, we recommend that you take a look at the post we suggest.
Types of ecology
Currently ecology deals with multiple issues related to the natural world and its studies are published in first -order scientific journals, even covering Nature and Science. Next, we describe some of the most common types of ecology according to the theme they are dealing with and that are part of the new disciplines.
- Microbial ecology: focused on relationships between microscopic organisms.
- Urban ecology and rural ecology: focused on studying the relationships established in these two types of populations.
- Botanical ecology: focused on the study of plant and fungal relationships with each other and with their environment.
- Paleoecology: It seeks to explain the ecosystems of times prior to ours, which is a difficult task.
- Human ecology: It is based on studying relationships between humans and their environments. We can talk about natural, social or constructed environments.
- Landscape ecology: Study the landscapes, whether created by the human or natural being.
- Demographic ecology: Although it is also known as populations ecology, it is based on studying organisms that form the same family or species.
Ecology deals with many other important issues and is related to many other sciences: from populations genetics to the study of the flows of matter and energy, as well as, to mention another example, from the classification of ecosystems to the studies of the services that they can provide. Ecology is a multidisciplinary science which covers many matters related to nature.
If you want to learn much more about ecology, we recommend you not to miss this other article about what environmentalism and its difference with ecology are.
If you want to read more articles similar to History of Ecologywe recommend that you enter our category of other ecology.
