Ecology history

Botanical Geography

During the 18th and early 19th century, the great maritime powers, such as Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal, sent world intelligence expeditions to develop maritime trade with other countries, and also began to discover new natural resources and catalog them. At the beginning of the 18th century, about twenty thousand plant species were known, compared with forty thousand at the beginning of the 19th century, and almost 400,000 today.

These expeditions brought together many scientists, including botanists , such as the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt . Humboldt is often considered the father of ecology. He was the first to undertake the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment. He identified existing relationships between the observed plant species and climate, and described the vegetation zones depending on latitude and height above sea level. Currently, geobotany answers these questions.

In 1804 , for example, he described a significant number of species, especially plants, for which he tried to explain their geographical distribution in connection with geological data. One of the famous works of Humboldt "Idea for the geography of plants" (1805).

Biocenosis: Wallace and Möbius

Alfred Russell Wallace , a contemporary and rival of Darwin , first proposed the "geography" of animal species. At that time, some authors recognized that the species are not independent of each other, but it is necessary to group them by species of plants, animals, and then by kingdoms or into biocenosis . For the first time this term, according to most researchers, was used by Karl Möbius in 1877.

Darwin and Ecology Science

Although Darwin viewed rivalry exclusively as natural selection, Warming, Johannes Eugenius created a new discipline that considered abiotic factors, namely drought, fire, cold, etc., along with biotic factors in combination with biotic communities. Biogeography before Warming was mainly described in two directions - faunistic and floristic. The purpose of Warming was to study the organism (plant), morphology and anatomy , to explain why the species occurred in accordance with a specific set of environmental conditions. In addition, the purpose of this new discipline was to explain why species occupying similar habitats, experiencing similar conditions, solved problems in a similar way, despite their different phylogenetic origins. Based on his personal observations in Brazilian Serrado , Denmark , Norwegian Finnmark and Greenland , Warming gave the first university course in plant ecological geography. Based on this lecture, he wrote the book Plantesamfund , which was immediately translated into German, Polish and Russian, and then into English as Ecological Plant Geography. Thanks to its German edition, the book had a tremendous impact on British and North American scholars such as Arthur Tensley , Henry Chandler Coles, and Frederick Clements ^[2] .

It often happens that the roots of scientific ecology can be traced back to Darwin ^[3] At first glance, this statement may seem convincing, since the origin of species is full of comments and proposed mechanisms that clearly fit into the boundaries of modern ecology, and that the term ecology was proposed in 1866 a supporter of Darwinism, Ernst Heckel . Nevertheless, Darwin never used the word “ecology” in his written works, even in his most “ecological” Notes, such as the preface to the English edition of Herman Muller, Fertilization of Flowers (1883), or his own treatise on earthworms and thinking about the formation of forest soils (the formation of plant forms based on the actions of "worms" , 1881). In addition, the founders of ecology as a scientific discipline, such as Warming, Johannes Eugenius , Andreas Schiemper , Gaston Bonnieu , Frantsua Forel , S. A. Forbes and Karl Mobius , made almost no references to Darwin's ideas in their works ^[4] . This happened not only because of ignorance and the fact that Darwin’s work was not widespread, but also because the ecology from the very beginning concerned the relationship between morphology and physiology of the organism. It concerned mainly the abiotic environment, and, consequently, selection under the influence of the environment. On the other hand, Darwin's concept of natural selection focuses exclusively on the struggle for survival ^[5] . Despite the fact that most portray Darwin as a non-aggressive recluse, he remained a man obsessed with the idea of ​​competition, struggle and conquest — with all forms of human contact as a confrontation ^{[6] [7]} .

Biosphere: Edward Suss, Henry Chandler Coles, Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky

At the end of the 19th century, on the pages of the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, the Russian zoologist V. M. Shimkevich described the situation with the development of ecology as a science as follows:

“ Until now, E. has not reached the degree of development that would give her the right to a certain degree of independence, since so far she has not left the description period and has not developed either certain methods or a known sum of generalizations. If generalizations were made, in the vast majority of cases they were built on the basis of anthropomorphism. Only recently there have been attempts at scientific generalization, which have grown on the basis of the latest views on instinct in general ... E. waiting for experimental studies and generalization ” ^[8] .

By the XIX century, the development of ecology occurred due to new discoveries in the field of chemistry of Lavoisier and Saussure , primarily the nitrogen cycle . After observing life in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere in each part of the cycle, Austrian geologist Edward Süss suggested the term biosphere in 1875 . Suess proposed the name of the biosphere as a condition conducive to life, as, for example, on Earth - flora , fauna , minerals , and so on.

In the 1920s, Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky , a Russian geologist, formulated his theory of the biosphere in the book Biosphere ^[9] , and also described the basic principles of biogeochemical cycles . He first considered the biosphere as the totality of all ecosystems.

The first environmental damage was recorded in the XVIII century. - expansion of colonies as a result of deforestation ^{[ clarify ]} . Since the XIX century, with the industrial revolution , more and more pressing problems arise due to the influence of human activity on the environment. The term ecologist has been used since the end of the 19th century.

Mathematical Modeling

In the years 1925–1926, Vito Volterra created a number of mathematical models for the growth of populations, interbiotic relations. Later his work was supplemented by the developments of A. Lotka (1934) and G. F. Gauze (1936).

Superorganismic systems and the search for an ecology object

In the 19th century, botanical geography and zoogeography together form the basis of biogeography . This is the science that inhabits the species, trying to explain the reasons for the presence of these species in a given place. In the 20s, there are active debates about what should be the object of ecology. Most agree to the idea that the object should be a supra-organism system. Several such structures were proposed: the “microcosm” of A. Tineman and S. A. Forbes, the “natural complex” of E. Marcus, the “Holocene” of C. Friederiks, the “superorganism” of F. Clements.
In 1935, Arthur Tansley , a British ecologist , coined the term ecosystem — interactive systems established between a biocenosis (a group of living beings) and their biotopes , the environment in which they live. Thus, Ecology has become the science of ecosystems. The concept of Tansley ecosystems was adopted by an energetic and influential biologist, teacher Eugene Odum. Together with his brother, Howard Odum, Eugene Odum wrote a textbook: his various editions (since 1953) brought up more than one generation of biologists and ecologists in North America.

Trofodynamics

The sources of the trophodynamic direction are: R. Lindeman , V. V. Stanchinsky , G. G. Vinberg.

Succession

At the turn of the 20th century, Henry Chandler Coles was one of the founders of the new study of “dynamic ecology”, the basis of his research on succession in Indiana's dunes, sand dunes in the southern part of Lake Michigan . Here Coles found evidence of succession during the growing season of the soil associated with age. Coles knew a lot and the roots of this concept and the original names ^[10] . Thus, he is attributed to him the first use of the word by the French naturalist Adolph Dure de la Mallet , who spoke about the development of vegetation after deforestation, and the first comprehensive study of the succession processes of the Finnish botanist Ragnar Hult ( 1885 ).

Human Ecology

Human ecology began in the 1920s based on a study of changes in succession in the city of Chicago . It became a separate area of ​​research conducted in the 1970s. This was the first recognition that people who colonized everything on the continents of the Earth are one of the main environmental factors . A person greatly changes the environment on the basis of rebuilding his habitat (in particular, urban planning ), intensively exploits such activities as logging and fishing , as well as side effects from agriculture , mining and industry . In addition to ecology and biology, human ecology is involved in many other natural and social sciences, such as anthropology and demography , economics , architecture and urban planning , medicine and psychology , and much more. The development of human ecology has led to the increasing role of ecology as a science in the development and management of cities.

In recent years, human ecology has been researching organizations. Hannan and Freeman (Population of Ecology of Organizations (1977), American Journal of Sociology) argue that organizations do not only adapt to the environment. In any particular environment (in equilibrium) there is only one form of organization ( isomorphism ). Organizational ecology was the theory of accounting for differences in organizations and their change in structure over time.

James Lovelock and the Gaia hypothesis

According to the theory of Gaia , proposed by Jaimes Lovelock in his work Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth , in the modern view, the Earth should be viewed as a single world of living macro-organisms. In particular, he argued that the totality of living organisms developed the ability to control the global environment - by influencing the basic physical parameters in order to preserve favorable conditions for life.

This vision is central to our time, in particular, the growing awareness after World War II that human activities, such as nuclear power , industrialization , pollution, and over-exploitation of natural resources, are being fed by exponential population growth, creating the threat of catastrophe on a planet-wide scale. .

Conservation and environmental movements

Since the XIX century, environmentalists and other environmental organizations have been using ecology and other sciences (for example, climatology ) to maintain their propaganda positions. Opinions of ecologists are often controversial for political or economic reasons. As a result, some environmental research papers directly influence policy and policy discussions.

Ecology and global politics

Ecology has become a central part of the world of politics; back in 1971, UNESCO launched a research program called “Man and the Biosphere”, with the aim of expanding knowledge about the relationship between man and nature. A few years later she defined the concept of a biosphere reserve.

In 1972, the United Nations held the first international conference on the human environment in Stockholm , prepared by René Dabos and other experts. This conference was held under the motto “Think globally, act locally”. The next major activities in the field of ecology are the development of the concept of the biosphere and the emergence of the term “ biological diversity ”, which is broader than in the 1980s . These conditions were developed during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 , when the concept of the biosphere was recognized by the main international organizations, and the risks associated with the reduction of biodiversity were recognized.

Then, in 1997 , the dangers of the biosphere were recognized from an international point of view at the conference leading to the Kyoto Protocol . In particular, in this conference, the growing danger of the greenhouse effect was highlighted - associated with an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which leads to global climate change . In Kyoto , most nations of the world recognized the importance of studying ecology on a global scale, and also take into account the human impact on the Earth’s environment.

First experience with environmental auditing of industrial enterprises in Russia

Documents about the first experience of environmental audit relating to 1890 "The flaws of our legislation regarding harmful plants" were found by Russian scientists M. N. Musin (inaccessible link) and E. E. Esinoy . The article with comments was published in the official body of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - Parliamentary Newspaper # 030 (2372) 05 June 2009 “And then tradesman Glukhov closed his chemical plant”. By the end of the 19th century, terms such as "plants harmful to health", "toxic waste liquid", "contamination of a locality by scattering poisonous dust", "anti-sanitary maintenance of a plant" refer to it. The environmental inspection of that time consisted of a medical inspector, a full-time pharmacist and a caretaker. Were taken samples of land, water from the river and silt from the bottom. Provincial Zemstvo assemblies approved the “Rules on the procedure for opening and maintaining plants”.

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