2009
12 July
Biology
Ecology and Nutrient Cycle of the Ecosystem
Post THREE


Hi guys! I'm in school now, feel lazy to go home. Haha. Okay, this post's gonna be short, cause theres nothing much to write about. So, do bear with it. ;D

• Post One
  
  
  
  • The Ecosystem, what is it?
    
  • More about Ecosystem
    
  
  
  
  
• Post Two
  
  
  
  • More about Ecosystem (continued)
    
  • Different Types of Ecosystem
    
  • Charaterisitcs
    
  
  


• Post Three
  
  
  
  • Ecology, what is it?
    
  • More about Ecology
    
  
  
• Post Four
  
  
  
  • Biogeochemistry, what is it?
    
  • More about Biogeochemistry.
    
  
  
• Post Five
  
  
  
  • The Transfer of Energy
    
  • The Food Web, what is it?
    
  • More about the Food Web
    
  • The Nutrient Cycle, what is it?
    
  • More about the Nutrient Cycle
    
  
  
• Post Six
  
  
  
  • Conclusion
    
  
  
• Post Seven
  
  
  
  • Fun and Interesting Facts
    
  
  

WHAT IS ECOLOGY?

Ecology, as we all know, is the scientific study of how one organism interact with another, or how organisms of one kind interact with another kind, or how organisms interact with the nature around them, in this case, the physical and chemical enviroment. Many people have a wrong concept that Ecologist mainly study of pollution problems in the Earth, like water pollution (oil leaks) or air pollution, etc, however, although it does include that, but it is a very small part.

Ecology mainly involves the study of the natural world, Earth, in this case, in many different viewpoints. For example, let's talk about population distribution. Why does Singapore, as compared to New Zealand, so densely populated? Maybe it is because of the level of technology? Or is it the natural habitat? That is what ecologist study.

MORE ABOUT ECOLOGY

Before I start, I would like you all to watch a video.



This video is about habitat degradation. What is habitat degradation? Well, it is actually the lost of habitat. You may ask, we can lose fossil fuels, we can lose animals, but how do we lose habitat? Habitat is defined as the place we live in, the world around us, the enviroment, hence, when we change the natural habitat for our own use, we are actually losing habitat. An common example would be replacing near-natural vegetation to permenant croplands.

As habitat degradation occur, many things can happen to Earth. One big thing would be global warming, as humans cut down forests to build factories, there would be less and less trees in the Earth, and as we all know, less trees would mean that there would be more carbon dioxide (not enough trees to produce oxygen), and hence, causing the greenhouse effect, which also, in this case, costs forests fire, and the chain continue.

Also, the cutting of trees can also cause soil erosion, and if the trees that are cut are near a river, the water temperature will rise as there is not enough shading, causing harm to aquatic wildlife.

However, many people are confused with habitat degradation, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation. Habitat degradation is the loss of natural habitat. Habitat loss is the outright destruction of the natural habitat, example like channelizing a section of a stream. Lastly, habitat fragmentation is the destruction of the habitat piece, by piece.

And with that, I will end my post here.

;D

References

Link One
Link Two

Glossary

Degradation
The reduction of a certain material.

Vegetation
All the plants in a certain area.

Croplands
A place suitable for growing crops.

Channelizing
To narrow a grove made in the ground.

Fragmentation
Piece by piece.
Loonaeklips blogged on 1:17 AM
© A Loonaeklips Post ;D