Ecologie

Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and their environment. The term, coined by Ernst Haeckel in the 19th century, emphasizes how energy and matter move through living systems and how organisms adapt to and modify their surroundings. Ecological inquiry spans multiple levels: individuals, populations, communities, ecosystems, landscapes, and the biosphere. In French, the term écologie is used for the same field.

Key concepts include interactions within biological communities—predation, competition, parasitism, and mutualism—as well as abiotic factors such as climate, soil, water, and nutrients. Ecosystems are open, dynamic systems in which solar energy is captured by producers, flows through food webs, and dissipates as heat. Matter cycles through organisms and environments via biogeochemical processes.

Ecologists use field observations, experiments, and models to understand patterns and processes. Methods range from short-term surveys to long-term monitoring, manipulative experiments, and computational simulations. Subfields include population, community, ecosystem, and landscape ecology, with tools such as GIS, remote sensing, and mathematical models.

Human activities influence ecosystems through habitat loss, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, and invasive species. Ecology informs conservation, restoration, sustainable resource management, and environmental policy by clarifying costs, benefits, resilience, and recovery potential. The study of ecosystem services highlights benefits such as food, clean water, climate regulation, pollination, and cultural value.

Ecology is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field that integrates biology, geology, chemistry, and social sciences. Its findings support biodiversity protection, sustainable development, and adaptation to changing environments. As a science, ecology seeks general principles while recognizing context dependence across scales and regions.