生物专业英语chapter 8 Ecology.pptVIP

8.1 What is Ecology? 8.2 Ecosystems 8.3 Biodiversity – Additional Reading Chapter 8 Ecology Ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings. Ecosystems are defined by a web, community, or network of individuals that arrange into a self-organized and complex system and several levels of bigger systems constituting systems of smaller systems within them. Ecosystems create biophysical feedback between living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components of an environment that generates and regulates the biogeochemical cycles of the planet. Ecosystems provide goods and services that sustain human societies and general well-being. Ecosystems are sustained by biodiversity within them. Biodiversity is the full-scale of life and its processes, including genes, species and ecosystems forming lineages that integrate into a complex and regenerative spatial arrangement of types, forms, and interactions. 8.1 What is Ecology? Professional Words and Phrases biophysical [bai?ufizik?l] adj. 生物物理的 feedback [fi:db?k] n. 反馈 biogeochemical cycle 生物地化循环 biodiversity [bai?udaiv?:s?ti] n. 生物多样性 Ecology is a sub-discipline of biology, the study of life. The word ecology was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919). Ancient philosophers of Greece, including Hippocrates and Aristotle, were among the earliest to record notes and observations on the natural history of plants and animals. Modern ecology later branched out of the natural history that flourished as a science in the late 19th century. Charles Darwins evolutionary treatise including the concept of adaptation, as it was introduced in 1859, is a pivotal cornerstone in modern ecological theory. 8.1 What is Ecology? (Continued) Ecology is not synonymous with environment, environmentalism, natural history or environmental science. It is closely related to physiology, evolutionary biology, genetics and ethology. An understanding of how biodiversity affects