Ecology: Biology of Interaction. 5.01. Environment and Ecological Environment
Chapter 5. Autecology and foundations of environmental science. Defining ecology as a science, we state that it studies interactions of organisms and supra-organismal systems with the environment. From this definition it is clear that the key property of ecological environment is not merely to surround, but to influence.
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4.18. (addendum) How parasites 'frame' their hosts
D. Shabanov, M. Kravchenko. Ecology: The Biology of Interaction Section 5. Autecology and Fundamentals of Environmental Science
5.02. Classification of environmental factors by origin
Section 5. Autecology and Fundamentals of Environmental Science 5.01. Environment and Ecological Environment Every ecologist must learn to see the world through the eyes of the creature they are studying. Michael Begon, John Harper, Colin Townsend When studying the mutual influence of an organism and its environment, it is customary to separate them. Often, the organism and the environment are considered independent of each other. To justify this simplification, let's consider a simple example. A frog sits on the riverbank (Fig. 5.1.1). It is an open system that continuously exchanges matter, energy, and information with its environment. Can we consider the frog separately from the environment? Only conditionally. The cessation of exchange of matter, energy, and information between the frog and the external environment would mean its rapid death. But even if we move the frog to some other conditions, it will still maintain a connection with the environment to which it is adapted. The animal in question is adapted to the lifestyle of a waterside jumper. The structure of its limbs, torso, head, and sensory organs reflects the properties of the bank and water. The molecules that make up its body are built from atoms obtained from this environment and reflect its elemental and isotopic composition. The frog's life processes are organized in such a way that it can obtain the necessary resources, survive, and reproduce precisely in this environment, and not in any other. Outside this environment, it would be a meaningless and unviable monster... Fig. 5.1.1. Lake frog on a lithograph from G. A. Boulanger's book (late 19th century). The caption reflects the understanding of frog taxonomy characteristic of that time. But can we consider the environment independently of the frog? Well... Sedges grow next to the frog. They are in the same place, but different factors affect them. Sunlight for the frog is a source of heat and light, necessary for finding prey and early detection of danger. For sedge, it is a source of energy for photosynthesis, and its spectral composition is very important for the plant. The soil for the frog is a support with which it exchanges heat and, partly, water. For the plant, the composition of the soil solution, which is a source of mineral nutrition for it, is extremely important. The same insect will be a predator for the sedge, capable of eating its tissues, and a potential prey for the frog. Even if the same environmental qualities are important for two different organisms, the environment will still be too hot for one and too cold for the other, dry for one and humid for another, and so on. Since the environment is what affects organisms, and different qualities of the environment affect different organisms, different organisms are in different environments! These, as well as many other considerations, give profound meaning to the principle of inseparability and mutual influence of the organism and the environment, put forward in the 19th century by the Russian physiologist Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov. Just as we cannot dismiss the influence of the environment on the organism, we must also consider the influence of the organism on the environment, because as a result of the exchange of matter and energy with the organism, the environment itself changes. The frog's respiration, nutrition, excretion, and heat exchange continuously alter the properties of the environment around it. However, understanding the inseparability of the organism and the environment, we will repeatedly break them down, following the reductionist (analytical) logic of studying complex systems. In autecology, it is customary to conditionally separate the object of study (organism) and the environment, considering a model called monocen (conditionally speaking, 'a mouse in a landscape'). Are the concepts 'surrounding environment' and 'ecological environment' identical? Defining ecology as a science, we said that it studies the interaction of organisms and supra-organismal systems with the surrounding environment. It is already clear from this definition that the main property of the ecological environment is not to surround, but to influence. To determine how the environment influences, one must establish whom or what it affects. In full accordance with the epigraph, the ecological environment can only be considered in relation to some organism or population. Thus, the ecological environment is the totality of objects and processes that affect the studied biosystem. Can the environment be considered outside the context of any specific organism? In principle, yes, and this is done, for example, by geographers or environmental scientists (although environmental scientists often call themselves 'ecologists'). But even in this approach, the consideration of properties characteristic of organisms is evident. For example, environmental temperature is much more important for organisms than neutrino fluxes (elementary particles emitted by the Sun that interact very weakly with matter). Naturally, when describing any habitat, we will pay much less attention to this factor than, for example, to the temperature regime! Our attention to certain environmental features rather than others is due to the fact that we interact with it as organisms. In this case, the surrounding environment is the totality of objects and processes that can affect certain biosystems located in a specific area of space. By 'removing' the organism 'through whose eyes' the researcher views the environment (see epigraph to this section) for descriptive purposes, one can proceed to a conditional dissection of the environment itself. For the study of the environment, it is divided into separate components – factors. Additional materials: Educational model: Ecological factors
4.18. (addendum) How parasites 'frame' their hosts
D. Shabanov, M. Kravchenko. Ecology: The Biology of Interaction Section 5. Autecology and Fundamentals of Environmental Science
5.02. Classification of environmental factors by origin