The subject and tasks of modern ecology. The place of ecology in the system of knowledge.

Ecology (from the Greek eco-dwelling, dwelling, house, property and logo-concept, doctrine, science) is the science of the interactions of living organisms and their communities with each other and with the environment.

The objects of ecology are predominantly systems above the level of organisms, that is, the study of the organization and functioning of supraorganismal systems: populations, biocenoses (communities), biogeocenoses (ecosystems) and the biosphere as a whole. In other words, the main object of study in ecology is ecosystems, that is, unified natural complexes formed by living organisms and the environment.

The tasks of ecology vary depending on the studied level of organization of living matter. Population ecology studies the patterns of population dynamics and structure, as well as the processes of interactions (competition, predation) between populations of different species. The tasks of community ecology (biocenology) include the study of the patterns of organization of various communities, or biocenoses, their structure and functioning (circulation of substances and energy transformation in food chains).

The main theoretical and practical task of ecology is to reveal the general patterns of life organization and, on this basis, to develop principles for the rational use of natural resources in the face of ever-increasing human influence on the biosphere.

The interaction of human society and nature has become one of the most important problems of our time, since the situation that develops in the relationship between man and nature often becomes critical: fresh water and minerals are depleted, the condition of soils, water and air basins is deteriorating, desertification of vast territories is taking place, the struggle is becoming more complicated. with diseases and pests of agricultural crops.

To solve these global problems and, above all, the problem of intensification and rational use, conservation and reproduction of the resources of the biosphere, ecology unites the efforts of botanists, zoologists and microbiologists in a scientific search, gives evolutionary doctrine, genetics, biochemistry and biophysics their true universality.

If we depict the hierarchical scheme of sciences, then at the 1st level there will be philosophy, which is divided into the philosophy of nature, society and thinking. Environmental sciences are among all divisions of scientific knowledge. Among the natural sciences - biology, geoecology, among the humanities - socioecology, among the sciences of thinking - neospherology, among the technical sciences - engineering ecology. Modern ecology, in connection with the increasing impact of human society on the environment, is a complex interdisciplinary science that studies the complex problems of interaction with the natural environment.

The history of the formation of modern ecology.

From the first steps of his development, man is inextricably linked with nature. It has always been closely dependent on the flora and fauna, on their resources, and was forced to take into account the peculiarities of the distribution and lifestyle of animals, fish, birds, etc.

but in the most ancient written sources known to us, not only various names of animals and plants are mentioned, but some information about their way of life is reported. Apparently, the authors of these manuscripts paid attention to representatives of wildlife not only out of curiosity, but also under the impression of their importance in people's lives: hunting for wild animals and birds, fishing, protecting crops from harmful animals, etc.

Ancient Greek scientists had a great influence on the worldview of scientists of the modern era. So, for example, Aristotle in his "History of Animals" distinguished between water and land animals, swimming, flying, crawling. His attention was drawn to such issues as the confinement of organisms to habitats, solitary or flocking life, differences in nutrition, etc. The issues of the structure and life of organisms were considered in the works of such ancient thinkers and philosophers as Theophrastus, Pliny the Elder with his famous "Natural History ".

The amazing discoveries that travel to distant countries and the great geographical discoveries of the Renaissance brought with them served as an impetus for the development of biology. Scientists and travelers not only described the external and internal structure of plants, but also reported on the dependence of plants on growing or cultivation conditions. The famous English chemist Robert Boyle was the first to carry out an ecological experiment; he published the results of a comparative study of the effect of low atmospheric pressure on various animals.

A great contribution to the formation of ecological knowledge was made by such outstanding scientists as the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus and the French nature explorer Georges Buffon, in whose works the leading role of climatic factors was emphasized.

Important observations that influenced the development of ecology were made by scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the course of expeditionary research conducted from the second half of the 18th century. (Krasheninnikov, Lepekhin, Pallas)

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the French author of the first evolutionary doctrine, had a great influence on the development of ecological science, who believed that the most important cause of adaptive changes in organisms, the evolution of plants and animals, is the influence of external environmental conditions. Also of great importance in the development of ecology are Roulier, who believed that the most important reason for the adaptation of animals and plants is the influence of environmental conditions.

A huge role was played by the works of Darwin - the foundation of the doctrine of the evolution of the organic world.

The term "ecology" was coined by Ernst Haeckel in 1866. As an independent science, "ecology was formed by the beginning of the 20th century. A great contribution was made by Timiryazev, Dokuchaev, Sukachev. Vernadsky creates the doctrine of the biosphere. In the second half of the 20th century There is a kind of "greening" of modern science. This is due to the awareness of the huge role of environmental knowledge. In the study of diverse processes, experimental methods are of great help; the influence of various conditions on organisms and their reactions are studied.

Currently, a number of scientific branches and disciplines are distinguished in ecology: population ecology, geographical ecology, chemical ecology, industrial ecology, plant, animal, and human ecology.

Thus, modern ecology is a universal, rapidly developing, complex science of great practical importance for all the inhabitants of our planet. Ecology is the science of the future, and perhaps the very existence of man will depend on the progress of this science.

The main directions in modern ecology.

Modern ecology includes the following areas. Modern ecology includes:

– general (classical) ecology, which studies the interactions of biological systems with the environment;

– geoecology, which studies ecosystems of high levels, up to and including the biospheric; the interests of geoecology are focused on the analysis of the structure and functioning of landscapes (natural complexes of geographical rank)

- global ecology, which studies the general laws of the functioning of the biosphere as a global ecological system;

- social ecology, which considers the relationship in the system "society - nature";

– applied ecology, which studies the mechanisms of human impact on the biosphere, ways to prevent negative impacts and its consequences, develops principles for the rational use of natural resources. It is based on the laws, rules and principles of ecology and nature management.

One of the directions of modern ecology is economic ecology associated with the use of natural resources.

Classical ecology studies biological systems, i.e., studies the organic world at the levels of individuals, populations, species, and communities. In this regard, there are:

- autecology (ecology of individuals) - sets the limits of the existence of an individual (organism) in the environment, studies the reactions of organisms to the effects of environmental factors

- demoecology (ecology of populations) - studies natural groups of individuals of the same species - populations, the conditions for their formation, intrapopulation relationships, population dynamics;

- eidecology (species ecology) - studies a species as a certain level of organization of wildlife.

- synecology (community ecology) - studies the associations of populations of different species of plants, animals and microorganisms, their interaction with the environment

Ecology, like any science, uses a variety of research methods. There are a lot of these methods in ecology, since ecology is an interdisciplinary science that is based, in addition to biological foundations, on the foundations of geographical, technical, economic and social sciences, mathematical, medical, meteorological, etc. In this regard, in ecology both general methods, which have found their application in many sciences, and specific ones, which are usually used only in ecology, are used.

All environmental methods can be divided into three main groups:

Methods by which information is collected on the state of environmental objects: plants, animals, microorganisms, ecosystems, biosphere,

Processing of received information, folding, compression and generalization,

Methods for interpreting the received factual materials.

The following research methods are used in ecology: chemical, physical, biological, environmental indication methods, meteorological, environmental monitoring method, monitoring can be local, regional or global.

Monitoring is often carried out on the basis of nature reserves, in reference areas of landscapes. It makes it possible to observe the functional (productivity, flow of matter and energy) and structural (species diversity, number of species, etc.) changes that occur in certain ecosystems. Important for monitoring are automatic and remote devices that help to obtain information from areas where it is difficult or impossible to conduct direct observations, for example, the sarcophagus area of ​​the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The method of mathematical modeling is of great importance for ecological research.

It makes it possible to model the interconnections of organisms in ecosystems (food, competitive, etc.), the dependence of changes in the number of populations and their productivity on the action of individual environmental factors). Mathematical models can predict scenarios for the development of events, highlight individual connections, and combine them. Modeling makes it possible to determine the number of game animals that can be removed from natural populations so as not to undermine their density, to predict outbreaks of pests, the consequences of anthropogenic impact on individual ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole.

Since ecology has formed into a fundamentally new discipline, it is not surprising that there are several classifications of the main components of ecology. Some authors pay more attention to general philosophical and cultural aspects, others to social ones, and still others to ecological and economic ones.

At the same time, ecology has remained an exact biological science in the sense that it studies living objects and their totality, but it has also become a humanitarian science, because it defines a person in nature, forms his worldview and helps to optimize the development of social and production processes.

All areas of ecology are combined into 2 sections:

Theoretical (fundamental, general) ecology explores the general patterns of relationships between organisms and the environment and contains the following areas: human ecology, animal ecology, plant ecology, paleoecology, evolutionary ecology, etc.

Practical (applied) ecology studies the socio-economic factors of human influence on the environment (national eco-policy, environmental management, environmental education, etc.).

Taking into account the mutual subordination of the objects of study, theoretical ecology can be divided into five large divisions (M.F. Reimers, 1994):

1. Autecology (the ecology of organisms) studies the relationship of representatives of a species with their environment. This section of ecology is mainly concerned with determining the limits of the stability of a species and its relationship to various environmental factors - temperature, lighting, humidity, fertility, etc. Autecology also studies the influence of the environment on the morphology, physiology and behavior of organisms.

2. Demecology (population ecology) studies the biological, sex, age structure of populations, describes fluctuations in the number of different species and establishes their causes. This section is also called population dynamics, or population ecology.

3. Synecology (community ecology) analyzes the relationship between individuals belonging to different species of a given group of organisms, as well as between them and the environment (community species composition, abundance, spatial distribution, development of groups, metabolism and energy between various components).

Tasks and main directions in ecology. Basic concepts and terms.

The term "ecology" was introduced by the German naturalist E. Haeckel in 1866 and literally translated from Greek means the science of the house or housekeeping (oykal - house, dwelling; logos - teaching).

Consequently, ecology deals, first of all, with the clarification and study of the relationship of organisms with the environment. Relationships mean both the influence of the environment on organisms and the influence of organisms on the environment.

In recent decades, the term "ecology" has changed significantly. It has become more human-oriented, due to its exceptional influence on the environment and the resulting health and survival problems for mankind.

The ideas of ecology began to penetrate into all branches of knowledge, the humanization of the natural and technical sciences is associated with it, it is actively being introduced into the humanitarian fields of knowledge. Those. an ecological worldview is being formed, designed to permeate all sciences, technical processes and areas of human activity. For example, in relation to your field of activity, such concepts as ecological education, the ecology of culture, the ecology of consciousness, the ecology of human relationships, etc. have appeared and are being used. Environmental psychology is in the process of formation.

In more narrow In a sense, ecology is divided into three main areas:

1) biological- considering the relationship between individual organizations and environmental factors or living environments, as well as the ecological patterns of the existence of populations, the functioning of ecosystems of various orders and the functioning of the biosphere.

2) geographical- geoecology - studying the relationship between inanimate nature and the environment, as well as the relationship of nature with human society, due to its economic activity.

3) social ecology and human ecology- studying specific connections between society, nature, man and his living environment (environment).

object studies of ecology are not specific objects, phenomena, processes, but relationships.

Human ecology and social ecology.

According to N. F. Reimers (1992), almost simultaneously with class bioecology, human ecology arose under a different name. Over the years, it has been formed in two directions - the actual ecology of man as an organism and social ecology. Human ecology is older and broader in content than social ecology.

According to N. F. Reimers, the division of the disciplines "human ecology" and "social ecology" should be carried out according to the dualistic qualities of the person himself. When it comes to the individual, the organism - this is the "ecology of man" (as the autecology of the individual); when social series is considered, it is "social ecology".

Basic concepts, terms of ecology. Systematic ecology.

Modern ecological ideas are based on a broad conceptual base borrowed from biology, geography, economics, sociology, philosophy, and also emerged in the process of formation of ecology as a science.

The basic concept and basic taxonomic and functional unit in ecology is ecosystem(Tansley, 1935) is any community of living beings and their habitats, united into a single functional whole. The main properties of an ecosystem are the ability to carry out the cycle of substances, withstand external influences, and produce biological products.

Close to the concept of "ecosystem" is the concept "biocenosis"(Sukachev). It is usually applied only to terrestrial natural systems and it necessarily includes vegetation cover (for example, a plot of forest, steppe, meadows - compare - a rotting tree trunk, a puddle - ecosystems).

Each biocenosis consists of many species, but the species are included in it not as separate individuals, but as populations. population- this is a part of a species (a set of individuals of one species), occupying a relatively homogeneous space and capable of self-regulation and maintaining a certain number.

Systematic ecology.

Ecology as a science considers ecological systems, the links and elements of which are in close interconnection and interdependence, i.e. it is based on system concept. In accordance with it, the entire material and non-material world around us is a system consisting of a meaningless set of systems of a different order and links connecting them.

Generally, there are three types of systems:

1. closed, which do not exchange matter or energy with their neighbors.

2. closed, which exchange with neighboring energy, but not matter (spaceship).

3. open, which exchange both matter and energy with their neighbors. Almost all natural (ecological) systems are of the open type.

The existence of systems is unthinkable without connections, which are divided into direct and reverse.

Straight they call such a connection in which one element (A) acts on another (B) without a response. For example, the actions of the Sun on earth processes. At reverse connection element B responds to the actions of element A. Feedback can be positive and negative.

At reverse connections element B responds to the actions of element A. They play a significant role in environmental processes. Feedback is both positive and negative.

Feedback leads to the strengthening of the process in one direction.

Human activity in nature leads to the disruption of these links, which leads to the destruction of ecosystems or their transition to another state.

Hierarchy of organization levels.

To understand the content and organization of modern ecology, one can proceed from the concept of levels of organization. In accordance with it, the levels of organization in this case of the organization of the living: community, population, organism, organ, cell and gene, form a hierarchically organized structure of life. Ecology studies mainly systems above the level of the organism, considering them in interaction with inanimate nature (abiotic environment). For example, a community and inanimate nature, while functioning, together form an ecological system or ecosystem. The largest ecosystem we know is the biosphere or ecosphere. It includes all living organisms of the Earth that are in interaction with the physical (non-living) environment of the Earth as a whole.

Emergence principle .

An important consequence of the hierarchical organization of systems is that as components (elements) are combined into larger functional units, these new units have new properties that are absent at the previous level. Such universal properties of systems, including ecosystems, are called emergent . Such qualitatively new emergent properties cannot be predicted based on the properties of the components (elements) that make up this level or unit (system). Emergence can also be expressed in terms of the concept of irreducible properties, the essence of which lies in the fact that the properties of the whole cannot be reduced to the sum of the properties of its parts. Consequently, to explain the phenomena occurring at a certain level, it is practically impossible to use data obtained at a previous level; it must be studied directly.

Underestimating emergence can lead to major miscalculations in human intervention in the life of ecosystems or the design and reconstruction of systems to fulfill certain goals. Agrocenosis - low ability to self-regulate and stability - let's compare a meadow, a forest, etc.

Energy processes in ecosystems.

Energy processes in ecosystems that are open and non-equilibrium obey the first and second laws of thermodynamics. When energy is dissipated, the degree of order in the system is disturbed. The measure of irreversible energy dissipation is entropy , i.e. a measure of the disorder of a system.

Living organisms and normally functioning ecosystems are characterized by a high degree of order and resist entropy, while maintaining a certain level of energy - let's compare a living and a dead organism. The opposite of entropy is called negentropy . The main property of normally functioning natural ecosystems is the ability extract negentropy from the environment(solar energy) and thereby maintain its high orderliness.

Ecology is a science that studies the environment, the patterns of life of living organisms, as well as the human impact on nature. This field of knowledge studies those systems that are higher than a single organism. In turn, it is subdivided into more private branches. What disciplines are included in ecology?

Bioecology

One of the oldest branches of ecology is bioecology. This science is based on the fundamental knowledge about the plant and animal world that man has managed to accumulate throughout his history. The subject of this direction in science is living beings. At the same time, a person is also studied within the framework of bioecology as a separate species. This direction in ecology uses a biological approach to evaluate various phenomena, the relationship between them and their consequences.

Main directions

The focus of the study of bioecology is the biosphere. The section of ecology that studies living beings, due to the diversity of data on nature, cannot consist of only one discipline. Therefore, it is divided into several subsections.

• Auetecology is a scientific direction, the subject of which is living organisms in certain habitat conditions. The main task of this direction is the study of the processes of adaptation to the environment, as well as those boundaries of physicochemical parameters that are compatible with the life of the organism.
• Eidecology - studies the ecology of species.
• Synecology is a branch of ecology that studies the populations of various species of animals, plants, and microorganisms. The discipline also explores the ways of their formation, development in dynamics, productivity, interaction with the outside world, and other features.
• Demecology - studies the natural groups of living organisms that belong to the same species. This is a branch of ecology that studies the structure of populations, as well as the basic conditions that are necessary for their formation. Also, the subject of its study are intrapopulation groups, features of the process of their formation, dynamics, and numbers.

Currently, bioecology is the doctrine that underlies nature management and environmental protection. Currently, environmental processes are carried out using modern biotechnological methods.

The relevance of science

Every person sooner or later thinks about how important a quality environment is for life and health. Now the environment is changing rapidly. And not the last role is played by human economic activity. Due to the destructive activity of factories and factories, fresh drinking water is deteriorating, reservoirs are becoming smaller, the landscape of the suburbs is changing. Pesticides pollute the soil.

Bioecology is a branch of ecology that studies methods by which the environment can be cleansed of pollution, the ecological balance is restored again, and total ecological catastrophe is prevented.

How is knowledge about nature applied?

One example of the successful use of the knowledge that bioecology has is the invention of a special toilet in Singapore, with the help of which water consumption is reduced by up to 90%. Waste in this toilet is converted into fertilizer and electrical energy. How does this system work? Liquid waste is treated, during which it decomposes into the elements phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. Solid waste awaits processing in a bioreactor. During digestion, methane gas is produced in this device. Since it does not have any smell, it is used for household needs. The result of using the knowledge of bioecology in this case is the complete restoration of natural resources.

General ecology

This branch of ecology studies organisms in the context of their interaction with the entire surrounding world. This is the connection between a living being and the environment in which he lives. This also applies to humans. Experts divide the whole living world into three categories: plants, animals and people. Therefore, general ecology also branches into three areas - plant ecology, animal ecology, and humane ecology. It should be noted that scientific knowledge is quite extensive. There are about a hundred sections of general ecology. These are areas of forestry, urban, medical, chemical disciplines and many others.

Applied direction

This is a branch of science that deals with the transformation of ecological systems based on the knowledge that a person has. This direction is a practical part of environmental activities. At the same time, the applied direction contains three more large blocks:

• applied research in the field of nature management;
• environmental design, as well as design, with the help of which it is possible to create environmentally friendly factories and enterprises;
• development of management systems in the field of nature management, which also includes issues of expertise, licensing and control of projects.

Geoecology

This is one of the main branches of ecology, the origin of which is associated with the name of the German geographer K. Troll. In the 30s of the last century, he introduced this concept. He considered geoecology one of the branches of general natural science, in which studies from the field of geography and ecology are combined with each other. In Russia, this term has become widespread since the 70s of the last century. Researchers distinguish several concepts of geoecology.

According to one of them, this discipline studies the geological environment and its ecological features. This approach assumes that the geological environment is associated with the biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Geoecology can also be defined as a science that studies the interaction of biological, geographical, and also industrial spheres. In this case, this section of the science of nature studies various aspects of nature management, the relationship between the environment and man. Different interpretations are distinguished depending on what kind of science (geology, geography, or ecology) the author of the definition takes as the main one.

There are three main directions in this field of natural science.

• Natural geoecology is the science of stable parameters of geospheres, zonal and regional natural complexes, which ensure the comfort of the environment for humans and its self-development.
• Anthropogenic geoecology. It studies the scale of all those changes that occur in nature as a result of human activity.
• Applied geoecology. It is a synthesis of knowledge about what strategy and tactics can be applied in order to preserve the evolutionary parameters of the environment, to prevent the onset of crisis situations.

Private areas of research in this area of ​​natural science are the ecology of land, fresh waters, the atmosphere, the Far North, highlands, deserts, geochemical ecology, and other areas. The main objectives of the discipline are to identify the patterns of the impact that a person has on nature, as well as direct this impact to improve the environment and improve it.

social ecology

This is a branch of ecology that studies the relationship between man and the environment - geographical, social, and also cultural. The main task of this scientific direction is the optimization of economic activity and the environment. Moreover, this interaction should be optimized on an ongoing basis.

Harmonious relationships between nature and man are possible only if nature management is rational. The scientific principles of the rational use of the resources of the surrounding world are called upon to develop other disciplines: medicine, geography, and economics. Social ecology is otherwise called human ecology. The forerunner of this science is the theologian Thomas Malthus, who called on mankind to limit population growth for the reason that natural resources are not unlimited.

According to the size of the objects of study (ecosystem studies) in general ecology, all researchers distinguish:

• autecology (individuals, an organism and their environment), a branch of science that studies the interaction of an individual organism or species with the environment (life cycles and behavior as a way of adapting to the environment).
• deecology, or population ecology (population and its environment), a branch of science that studies the interaction of populations of individuals of the same species within a population and with the environment.
• synecology (biocenosis, ecosystem and their environment), a branch of science that studies the functioning of communities and their interactions with biotic and abiotic factors.
• geographic (large geosystems, geographic processes involving living systems in their environment),
• global ecology, or megaecology (biosphere)

These divisions objectively reflect the organization of research at various levels of the biological spectrum. The last two branches are too young and do not yet have special names or they have not settled down (megaecology, panecology, biospherology).

I. Eugene Odum and V.A. Radkevich distinguishes 3 main blocks in ecology: bioecology, ecosystems and terrestrial spheres, man and nature.

1. Bioecology is the earliest direction, its provisions are fundamental for other directions. The basis of bioecology is the ecology of systematic, or taxonomic, divisions of the organic world:

• ecology of microorganisms
• mushroom ecology
• plant ecology
• animal ecology

The last three, in turn, are divided into smaller ones.

1. Ecosystems and terrestrial spheres is the most extensive area, it examines the relationship between living matter and non-living (abiotic) factors, the relationship between organisms and communities in the main biomes (a set of communities (ecosystems) of natural areas) of land and the World Ocean. This block includes:

• forest ecology
• steppe ecology
• desert ecology
• tundra ecology
• soil ecology
• atmospheric ecology
• hydrosphere ecology
• ecology of the lithosphere
• space ecology
• mountain ecology
• island ecology
• ocean ecology, etc.

1. Man and nature - this includes sciences that study the relationship and interaction of man with the environment, and applied human ecology in order to connect developments in the above two sections with practical problems:

• engineering ecology
• chemical ecology
• fishing ecology
• agricultural ecology
• city ​​ecology
• ecology and medicine
• ecology and culture
• ecology and law
• ecology and politics

II. The classification of Anatoly Sergeevich Stepanovskikh (2001) is close to the previous classification, but it is more detailed and consists of the following areas or sections.

1. In relation to subjects of study:

• ecology of microorganisms
• mushroom ecology
• plant ecology
• animal ecology
• human ecology

1. In relation to environmental conditions:

• soil ecology, soil science
• atmospheric ecology
• hydrosphere ecology
• ecology of the lithosphere
• space ecology

1. In relation to the type of vegetation cover:

• forest ecology
• steppe ecology
• desert ecology,
• ecology of the tundra, etc.

1. In relation to the landscape (geographical) position:

• mountain ecology,
• island ecology,
• ocean ecology, etc.

1. In relation to the time factor:

• paleoecology,
• archeoecology,
• historical ecology, etc.

1. Every year, the problems of the relationship between nature and Man become more and more relevant, which led to the formation of such a modern direction as the ecology of the noosphere, or social ecology. Its problems go beyond the scope of ecology as a biological science and, along with the ecosystem approach, include economic, social, and political aspects. They are represented by numerous "ecologies":

• radiation Ecology,
• chemical Ecology,
• fishing ecology
• engineering ecology
• city ​​ecology
• agricultural ecology
• ecology and medicine
• ecology and culture
• ecology and law
• ecology and politics
• environmental education, etc.

(Moskalyuk T.A. Introduction to ecology. http://www.botsad.ru)

III. I.A. Shilov identifies 5 directions

1. Landscape ecology is one of the earliest directions. He studies the adaptation of organisms to different geographical environments, the formation of biocenoses of various landscapes, and their influence on the environment. It has an exceptionally high applied value, because. physical and geographical conditions determine the set of species and the basic laws of the formation and life of communities.
2. Functional, or physiological ecology - explores the mechanisms by which adaptation (adaptation) of biological systems of different levels to changing environmental conditions is carried out. Most of the adaptive mechanisms are of a physiological nature and the study is important for solving many problems, for example, in the introduction of plants, in medicine, to control the number of wild animals, etc.
3. Quantitative ecology studies the productivity and structure of different ecosystems, their dynamics. Its data are the basis for mathematical modeling of biogeocenotic processes, or theoretical ecology. It is necessary for the development of environmental measures, the construction of environmental forecasts, the prevention of epidemics, etc.
4. Evolutionary ecology reveals the ecological patterns of the evolutionary process, the ways and forms of the formation of species adaptations, allows reconstructing the ecosystems of the Earth's past (paleoecology) and the role of man in their transformation (archeoecology).
5. Social ecology studies the processes taking place at the level of the noosphere. With the emergence of new problems, new special sciences arose (sociology, radiation ecology, environmental education, engineering ecology, space ecology, etc.). A special position is occupied by human ecology, which studies the current position of modern humanity in global ecosystems.