Category: Ecology

Free sample essay on Man and Environment. Our environment is really unique because it sustains life and growth. On other planets there is no environment and, therefore, no life.Environment means all that surrounds us. It is a very complex and comprehensive phenomenon. It consists of the climate, geography, geology and all the natural resources that nature has bestowed upon us. Life is there because of our peculiar biosphere and ecosystem. There is life on this planet because of a certain balance between these various elements. Without this balance, our planet would have been just another sterile and lifeless planet revolving round the sun.Our life depends on healthy and balanced environmental conditions. Our health, working habits, lifestyle, and behaviour, etc. are closely linked with all that surrounds us. The climate is…

1. Which part of Himalayas covered with dense forest?(A) Northern(B) Eastern ADVERTISEMENTS: (C) Western(D) Southern.2. How many types of plants species are found in India?(A) About 45,000 ADVERTISEMENTS: (B) About 40,000(C) About 47,000(D) About 20,000. Image Source: dronaias.com ADVERTISEMENTS: 3. Which one of the following state does not have the Tropical deciduous forests?(A) Jharkhand(B) Western Orissa(C) Chhattisgarh(D) Rajasthan. 4. Which one of the following trees is found in tropical rainforests?(A) Mahogany(B) Teak(C) Sal(D) Peepal.5. Plant community which has grown naturally without human aid and has been left undisturbed by humans for long time is termed as:(A) Tundra vegetation(B) Virgin vegetation(C) Taiga plants(D) None of the above.6. Ebony, Mahogany and Rosewood trees are grown in which of the following forests?(A) Coniferrous forests(B) Tropical rain forest(C) Tropical Thorn forests(D) Deciduous forests.7. Silver…

Smith (1966) emphasized the following general characteristics of most eco­systems:(1) The ecosystem is a major structural and functional unit of ecology. ADVERTISEMENTS: (2) The structure of an ecosystem is related to its species diversity; the more complex ecosystems have high species diversity.(3) The function of the ecosystem is related to energy flow and material cycling through and within the system. Image Source: texasponds.com(4) The relative amount of energy needed to maintain an ecosystem depends on its structure. The more complex the structure, the lesser the energy it needs to maintain itself.(5) Ecosystems mature by passing from less complex to more complex states. Early stages of such succession have an excess of potential energy and a relatively high energy flow per unit biomass. Later (mature) stages have less energy accumulation and…

Here is your essay on the Important Functions of an Ecosystem !When we consider the function of an ecosystem, we must describe the flow of energy and the cycling of nutrients. That are interested in things like how much sunlight is trapped by plants in a year, how much plant material is eaten by herbivores, and how many herbivores are eaten by carnivores.The flow of energy in an ecosystem will be discussed in detail in forthcoming chapter, but a brief idea about food chains and food webs can be given here. ADVERTISEMENTS: Organisms of an ecosystem are linked together in food chains. A sheep may eat some grass, and in turn it may be eaten by a person. A mouse may eat some grain, and in turn it may be…

Here is your essay on Animal Populations !The inherent tendency of all animal populations is to increase in number. But this increase in number is however, not infinite since the carrying capacity of the environment always imposes restriction upon it.Thus, after reaching the carrying capacity level, the population density tends to fluctuate above and below this level and such fluctuation in population between upper and lower limits tends to give some stability to the population. The nature of the processes that regulate the numbers of animals is a major problem of population ecology. image source: i.ytimg.com ADVERTISEMENTS: Many groups of animals are provided with unique and intrinsic self-regulatory mechanism such as failure of reproduction and self-inflicted mortality for controlling the size of the population. Populations grow when natality exceeds mortality,…

Here is your speech on Ecology for school and college students !Ecology is a vast and encyclopedic biological subject. To a beginner, at the outset, ecology may appear to be quite confusing and discouraging because it seems so diffuse and incoherent. image source: cgpauk.com ADVERTISEMENTS: After all, it must take into account the life habits of over two million different kinds of animals and plants and it considers all manner of influence and interactions among them. Fortunately, however, the innumerable facts of ecology can be distilled into following some relatively basic and simple principles:The ecology is the study of ecosystems or the totality of the reciprocal interactions between living organisms and their environment. The term organism refers to an individual unit constituted to carry on the activities of life.It is…

Here is your essay on Autecology and Synecology !As discuss earlier in both plant and animal ecology are artificially divided into two parts, syne­cology and autecology. A brief comparison of these two ecologi­cal subdivisions will explain the basic significance of each of them. Autecology is concerned with the study of the interrelations of individual organisms with the environment.Synecology is concer­ned with the study of groups of organisms—the community, hence, it is also called community ecology. Both have developed indepen­dently, although the knowledge of both of them is necessary for the understanding of the individual, population, or ecosystem. Autecology is experimental and inductive. Synecology is philoso­phical and deductive. image source: upload.wikimedia.org ADVERTISEMENTS: Autecology because it is concerned with the relationship of an organism to one or more variables such as light,…

Essay on the Growth of Niche Concept and Types of Niches !Although Steere (1894) appreciated the niches in his explanation of the way bird species within a genus were segregated on different islands in the Philippines, the term and concept were really first developed by American ornithologist Joseph Grinnell (1917, 1924, 1928). image source: inman.com ADVERTISEMENTS: In his study of California thrashers and other birds he suggested that the niche be regarded as the ultimate dis­tributional or spatial unit occupied by just one species, or sub­species, to which that species is held by structural and instinc­tive limitations, such as climatic factors, kind and amount of food, suitable nesting sites and cover.Thus, he considered the niche as a subdivision of habitat (Udvardy, 1957) or microhabitat (Odum, 1971), or habitat (Smith, 1977).…

Here is your Speech on Ecology !Conventionally, ecology has been defined variously by different classical and modern ecologists with different viewpoints. Quite oddly, no universally accepted definition of ecology has been for­mulated by any ecologist so far, and for the better understanding of scope, limitations, purpose, and mode of study of different ecological phenomena, one has to go through following chronologically arranged definitions of ecology:Ernst Haeckel (1866) defined ecology “as the body of knowledge concerning the economy of nature—the investigation of the total rela­tions of animal to its inorganic and organic environment. image source: upload.wikimedia.org ADVERTISEMENTS: An American plant ecologist, Frederick Clements (1916) considered eco­logy to be “the science of community.” British ecologist Charles Elton (1927) defined ecology as “the scientific natural history concerned with the sociology and economics of…

Here is your essay on Literature concerning Ecology !The beginnings of ecological knowledge for modern man lay in the development of biology and medicine as scientific disciplines the fourth century Greek, Hippocrates (460-377? B.C.), often called ‘he “Father of Medicine”, emphasised certain ecological factors in the genesis of health and disease. image source: cgpauk.com ADVERTISEMENTS: His work, “On Airs, Waters and Places” was environmental in emphasis—'”whoever wishes to investi­gate medicine properly, should proceed thus: in the first place to consi­der the seasons of year, and what affects each of them produces……. Then the winds, the hot and cold … the qualities of waters, for as they differ from one another in taste and weight…………”Another Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), some­times referred to as the “Father of Biology”, classified animals according…