SUMMARY OF THE BOOK ECOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS BY FEDERICO

ARANA.

Ecology for beginners

Federico Arana

Ecology was born when biologists began to notice how important was the
phenomenon of interaction between physical factors, elements, inorganic
compounds and a large number of living organisms; therefore we can say that
ecology is a branch of biology that deals with the study of the reciprocal
relationships between organisms and the environment.

"we understand by ecology the body of knowledge concerning the economy of

nature, the investigation of all the relations of the animal with both its inorganic
and organic environment, including above all its friendly and hostile relationship
with those animals and plants with which it is directly or indirectly linked".
(Ernest Haeckel)

Part of the interest that arose in the study of ecology was due to the science
that in capitalist countries is used to obtain economic, military or political power.
This has caused a constant deterioration of the environment, as well as
irrational contamination of water, air and land. It can be said that ecology is
emerging as a discipline that will play a decisive role in the future of humanity.

An important concept for ecology is the environment, which many authors have
considered as "the stage of life", it is known that the environment is an entity
that is in constant change; Lamarck concluded that since the environment is in
constant transformation, organisms need to change and make an effort to
achieve it, and that this is one of the mechanisms of the evolution of living
beings. For his part, Charles Darwin warned that organisms are subject to a
process of variation that leads to the natural selection of the individuals best
equipped to survive and reproduce in the new conditions.

We now know that the environment surrounding an organism is inevitably made

up of other organisms that, depending on the case, establish different
relationships:

- The aid modality.

- Relationships established between predator and prey.
- Competitive relationships.

Continuing with the important definitions of ecology, we should not omit to

mention the ecosystem, which is usually defined as a complex web formed by
the sum total of physical elements and living beings that act reciprocally.

The elements of the ecosystem are: a) the organisms of the ecosystem, which
constitute what is called biocenosis; b) the physical environment in which these
organisms live, known as biotype.

In turn, the organisms of the ecosystem or biocenosis can be divided into three
large groups:

- Producers: which are plants and to a lesser extent chemosynthetic

bacteria.
- Consumers: are animals that feed directly on plants, we say that the
consumer is of the primary type. But if the animal in question is
carnivorous then it turns out that the consumer is secondary.
- Decomposers: these are responsible for completing the cycles of matter
and energy in the ecosystem. There are two main types of decomposers,
saprozoans and saprophytes.
Producers, consumers and Decomposers have one or more roles to play in the
biotic community. This role they play is called ecological niche, which is defined
as "the role played by a species that has specific food sources and that, in turn,
is used as food by other species and acts in a peculiar way on the environment
and the organisms that coexist with it.

Each species performs different ecological niches; now when we mention

"species", we define it as a group of organisms with common morphological,
physiological, behavioral and biochemical characteristics; that are interbreeding
and capable of having fertile offspring.

The ecosystem can have limits and extensions: there are artificial ecosystems
whose limits are very precise, but natural ecosystems are never so well
delimited, a reality is that any ecosystem receives multiple influences from other
ecosystems. In addition, the extent of the ecosystem is highly variable.

Just as the ecosystem is variable, so is the diversity of species. It is estimated

that our planet is home to between two and four and a half million different
species of organisms.

A highly diversified ecosystem is one that harbors few individuals of many

different species, while diversification can be almost nil when there are many
individuals belonging to a few species.

In ecology we also find a phenomenon called succession, which is the

progressive changes in the plant or animal population that take place over a
relatively long period of time. Primary succession is the entire process between
initial colonization and culmination; secondary succession, on the other hand,
occurs when the ecosystem has been destroyed.

Currently, ecosystems have been damaged by man's hand, due to their

exploitation. Man has become the most influential factor in the structure of the
ecosystem, and his influence ranges from a simple decrease in the number of
individuals of certain populations to the temporary destruction of the original
ecosystem. To reduce this damage, the secret lies in studying ecological
problems conscientiously and then planning and carrying out a controlled
exploitation that seeks not to obtain excessive profits in a short period of time,
but rather sustained and lasting yields. It should be noted that the world
abounds with examples of rational exploitation that are even stimulating and
beneficial to the ecosystem.

Energy and matter.

As we already know, matter is something that occupies a place in space and

energy is that which can do work; however, the energy used by living beings
comes from the radiant energy of the sun, with some minimal exceptions. The
capture of the sun's radiant energy depends on a series of organisms called
autotrophs, which are endowed with the enviable capacity to carry out
photosynthesis, which consists of forming ATP molecules and synthesizing
organic compounds from light energy, water, carbon dioxide, mineral salts and
certain nitrogenous substances. Organisms capable of photosynthesis are also
called primary producers.

When talking about the cycles of matter, we cannot omit to mention the concept
of biogenic elements: we can say that of the hundred or so chemical elements
that exist in nature, it seems that only 20% are essential for life, which is why
they have been given the name of biogenic elements.

Let's start with the best known cycle, the water cycle: the cycle consists of water
heating up and starting to evaporate, thus being able to be transported by the
wind and rise to the higher layers of the atmosphere. There it undergoes cooling
and condenses into small droplets that form clouds. The droplets then grow until
the moment arrives when the air loses its capacity to hold them and they
precipitate, depending on weather conditions, in the form of rain, hail or snow.

The oxygen cycle is carried out by photosynthesis, with plants dissociating the
water molecule to release oxygen, while the oxygen in the organic molecule
comes from carbon dioxide. In the reverse process, i.e. in respiration, oxygen
acts as a hydrogen acceptor, which results in the formation of water.

The carbon cycle: co2 from water or air is absorbed by producers for
photosynthesis, then incorporated by consumers and finally degraded by
decomposers. During the whole cycle co2 is returned to the atmosphere for the
simple reason that all participants breathe, but the most intense part of this
return is carried out by the decomposers.

Nitrogen Cycle: either by one process or another, nitrogen is absorbed by the

producers who require it for the production of proteins and nucleic acids, then
passes to the consumers, then to the decomposers, and finally returns to the
environment.

Ecological cycles can be defined as a succession of progressive changes

experienced by communities of organisms in constant interaction with the
environment. The cyclical nature of ecosystems derives from two easily
observable facts: a) the activity of the ecosystem is not constant, it has ups and
downs; b) the ups and downs of the ecosystem have a certain regularity.

We will now discuss populations and communities

A population is defined as a group of organisms of the same species that

occupy a more or less defined area, share a certain type of food and, if they
reproduce sexually, exchange genes. The population density is given by the
number of individuals that constitute it in relation to a unit of space.

When populations tend to regulate themselves, to remain more or less constant,

provided that the ecosystem in which they live is in equilibrium, it is called
homeostasis.

Several populations grouped together in a given area are called a community.

Therefore, populations are subject to one or more modalities of reciprocal
relationships, the most frequent being: predation, mutualism, slavery,
usurpation and parasitism.

There are also unidirectional relationships, which is when two species are
related in such a way that only one of them receives any benefit; this is a case
of commensalism. The indifferent or unaffected individual is called the host; the
beneficiary, called the commensal, may be totally or partially dependent on the
host.

The different organisms of any community are not distributed randomly, but
according to their affinities, in one or more determined spaces.

Aquatic ecosystems have played a very important role in the life of the planet.
Aquatic ecosystems cover 70% of the planet's surface, so the seas are gigantic
ecosystems that are unrivaled in size and will undoubtedly play a decisive role
in the future of humanity. We do not omit to point out that one of the most
remarkable graces of the sea is the influence it has on the climate.

The main characteristic of terrestrial ecosystems is the more or less distressing

scarcity of water. In general terms, the most important terrestrial ecosystems
are, in order of appearance as one moves from the poles to the equator: tundra,
evergreen forest, deciduous forest, grassland, desert and tropical rainforest.

We have discussed in detail what an ecosystem is, how they function, how they
are divided and the variety of ecosystems that exist. Currently these
ecosystems have been affected by the hand of man, who for a long time has
only cared about general capital, not caring about the damage they do to
ecosystems by trying to exploit natural resources as much as possible.

Another very worrying problem is the growth of the human population in excess.
The clearest example of this is in our city. It is impressive to see the number of
people that live in Mexico City, who have to use water, produce garbage, and
many people use vehicles to move around. This has caused an absolute lack of
control in the environment of this city.
From these examples derives the importance of our subject matter:
environmental law. Only with rules that regulate human activity with the
environment will it be possible to control this problem that affects all living
beings. Stronger sanctions should also be applied against personnel who
damage the environment, including prison sentences for those who carry out
acts that permanently damage the ecology.

On the other hand, societies should not wait for some authority to force them to
conserve and protect the environment, it is time that we all become aware that
the planet earth does not belong to us, on the contrary, we are part of the planet
earth, it is our home and we have to take care of it with actions that may be
minimal but that added together can make a big difference. We are at the limit
where we decide what future we want for our descendants and in general for
human life, we are the only ones who can decide whether to save our planet or
destroy it.