The Scientific Study of Ecology - Essay Example

Ecology: A Critical Review 2007 Ecology: A Critical Review Ecology is the scientific study of interactions of organisms with one another, and it is one of the most valuable and significant scientific studies in the world. The aim of this paper is to discuss three ecology-related topics in particular, those being: when a population approaches its carrying capacity, what the possibilities are for its continued growth and survival in its environment; the process is that would allow a population to be established and to thrive in an ecological community; and the process that is involved in the forming of a new species.

By addressing and discussing these three specific issues, not only will we be able to gain valuable information on these particular matters but on the subject of ecology as a whole. This is what will be dissertated in the following. In ecology terms, the carrying capacity of a population refers to the supportable population of an organism, and this is taking into consideration the vital factors such as food, habitat, water, and so on. There is strict mathematics involved with the carrying capacity issue, and depending on the particular situation, the impact of famine, for instance, could be quite moderate or extreme.

In terms of what the possibilities are for the continued growth of a population once it has approached its carrying capacity, this really depends on the particular population being discussed, but it is very important either way here to understand that “Algorithms for estimating the carrying capacity of areas provide wildlife managers with important information for understanding and managing populations…The energy-based carrying capacity of an area varies with the energy required by a wildlife population and the energy available in foods on the area.” (29). In response to the issue of what process would be necessary in order to allow a population to be established and thrive in an ecological community, basically there are several different factors that need to be taken into consideration here.

In all reality, the most classical explanation is that all species are able to coexist, as long as they are “sufficiently different in their ‘niches’, the particular habitats or conditions in which they thrive or in the resources they exploit, and have corresponding weaknesses in other areas, so that no one species is able to out-compete the others.” (67). This is incredibly important, and basically means that any population is able to be established and thrive in an ecological community, as long as that the only process necessary here is to constantly ensure that there is no other species or population around that is able to overwhelm them.

Finally, in regards to the matter of what the process is that is involved in the forming of a new species, this is the most complex issue in discussion of all here. The evolution process is one which is certainly slow and gradual, not to mention incredibly complicated. The term evolution has long been associated with the ‘origin of species’, and according to Darwin in particular: “Species evolve through the development and further modifications of adaptations under the guidance of natural selection; For the most part, evolutionary change was a slow, steady and gradual affair; and species are temporary stages in the continuous evolution of life.

” (Eldredge, 2007). It is also critical to recognize that the environment plays a major role in the developing of any new species, in particular by triggering dramatic changes that cause extinction and speciation, and species stabilizing for millions of years followed by an abrupt disappearance when their ecosystem is disrupted. Overall, it is quite easy to see how specific a process is necessary in the developing of a new population, and time is one of the most variable but essential factors here.

References Audesirk, T., Audesirk, G., & Byers, B. E. (2006). Life on Earth. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings. Eldredge, N. (2007). Species, Speciation and the Environment. August 20, 2007, from http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/eldredge.html