History of ecology 1607622 223979860 2008-07-06T20:17:27Z Chris the speller 525927 sp, em dashes {{histOfScience}} '''[[Ecology]]''' is generally spoken of as a new science, having only become prominent in the second half of the 20th Century. More precisely, there is agreement that ecology emerged as a distinct discipline at the turn of the 20th Century, and that it gained public prominence in the 1960s, due to widespread concern for the state of the environment<ref>McIntosh, R. (1985) ''The Background of Ecology. Concept and Theory''. New York: Cambridge University Press</ref>. Nonetheless, ecological thinking at some level has been around for a long time, and the principles of ecology have developed gradually, closely intertwined with the development of other biological disciplines. Thus, one of the first ecologists may have been [[Aristotle]] or perhaps his student, [[Theophrastus]], both of whom had interest in many species of animals. Theophrastus described interrelationships between animals and between animals and their environment as early as the 4th century BC (Ramalay, 1940). == 18th and 19th century ~ Ecological murmurs == ===The botanical geography and Alexander von Humboldt=== Throughout the [[18th century|18th]] and the beginning of the [[19th century]], the great maritime powers such as Britain, Spain, and Portugal launched many world exploratory expeditions to develop [[maritime commerce]] with other countries, and to discover new natural resources, as well as to catalog them. At the beginning of the [[18th century]], about twenty thousand plant species were known, versus forty thousand at the beginning of the [[19th century]], and almost 400,000 today. These expeditions were joined by many scientists, including [[botany|botanists]], such as the German explorer [[Alexander von Humboldt]]. Humboldt is often considered a father of ecology. He was the first to take on the study of the relationship between organisms and their [[natural environment|environment]]. He exposed the existing relationships between observed plant species and [[climate]], and described vegetation zones using [[latitude]] and [[altitude]], a discipline now known as [[geobotany]]. In [[1804]], for example, he reported an impressive number of species, particularly plants, for which he sought to explain their geographic distribution with respect to [[geological]] data. One of Humboldt's famous works was "Idea for a Plant Geography" ([[1805]]). Other important botanists of the time included [[Aimé Bonpland]]. === The notion of biocoenosis: Wallace and Möbius=== [[Alfred Russel Wallace]], contemporary and competitor to Darwin, was first to propose a "geography" of animal species. Several authors recognized at the time that species were not independent of each other, and grouped them into plant species, animal species, and later into communities of living beings or [[biocoenosis]]. The first use of this term is usually attributed to [[Karl Möbius]] in [[1877]], but already in [[1825]], the French naturalist [[Adolphe Dureau de la Malle]] used the term ''societé'' about an assemblage of plant individuals of different species. ===Warming and the foundation of ecology as discipline=== While [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]] focussed exclusively on competition as a selective force, [[Eugenius Warming|Eugen Warming]] devised a new discipline that took abiotic factors, that is drought, fire, salt, cold etc., as seriously as biotic factors in the assembly of biotic communities. Biogeography before Warming was largely of descriptive nature - faunistic or floristic. Warming’s aim was, through the study of organism (plant) morphology and anatomy, i.e. adaptation, to explain why a species occurred under a certain set of environmental conditions. Moreover, the goal of the new discipline was to explain why species occupying similar habitats, experiencing similar hazards, would solve problems in similar ways, despite often being of widely different phylogenetic descent. Based on his personal observations in [[Brazil]]ian [[cerrado]], in [[Denmark]], Norwegian [[Finnmark]] and [[Greenland]], [[Eugenius Warming|Warming]] gave the first university course in ecological plant geography. Based on his lectures, he wrote the book [[Eugenius Warming#'Plantesamfund' or 'Oecology of Plants'|‘Plantesamfund’]], which was immediate translated to [[German language|German]], [[Polish language|Polish]] and [[Russian language|Russian]], later to [[English language|English]] as [[Eugenius Warming#'Plantesamfund' or 'Oecology of Plants'|‘Oecology of Plants’]]. Through its German edition, the book had immense effect on British and North American scientist like [[Arthur Tansley]], [[Henry Chandler Cowles]] and [[Frederic Clements]].<ref>Coleman, W. (1986) Evolution into ecology? The strategy of Warming’s ecological plant geography. Journal of the History of Biology, 19(2), 181-196.</ref> ===Darwinism and the science ecology=== It is often held that the roots of scientific ecology may be traced back to Darwin.<ref name=”Stauffer1957”>Stauffer, R.C. (1957) ''Haeckel, Darwin and Ecology''. Quarterly Review of Biology 32: 138-144</ref> This contention may look convincing at first glance inasmuch as ''On the Origin of Species'' is full of observations and proposed mechanisms that clearly fit within the boundaries of modern ecology (e.g. the cat-to-clover chain – an ecological cascade) and because the term ecology was coined in 1866 by a strong proponent of Darwinism, [[Ernst Haeckel]]. However, Darwin never used the word in his writings after this year, not even in his most “ecological” writings such as the foreword to the English edition of [[Hermann Müller]]’s ''The Fertilization of Flowers'' (1883) or in his own treatise of earthworms and mull formation in forest soils ([http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=2355 The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms], 1881). Moreover, the pioneers founding ecology as a scientific discipline, such as [[Eugen Warming]], [[Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper|A. F. W. Schimper]], [[Gaston Bonnier]], [[François-Alphonse Forel|F.A. Forel]], [[Stephen Alfred Forbes|S.A. Forbes]] and [[Karl Möbius]], made almost no reference to Darwin’s ideas in their works.<ref name=”Acot1997”>Acot, P. (1997) ''The Lamarckian Cradle of Scientific Ecology''. Acta Biotheoretica 45: 185-193</ref> This was clearly not out of ignorance or because the works of Darwin were not widespread, but because ecology from the beginning was concerned with the relationship between organism morphology and physiology on one side and environment on the other, mainly abiotic environment, hence environmental selection. Darwin’s concept of natural selection on the other hand focussed solely on competition.<ref>[http://doi.dx.org/10.1666/0094-8373 Paterson, Hugh (2005) The Competitive Darwin. Paleobiology 31 (2): 56-76]</ref> Despite most portrayals of Darwin conveying him as a non-aggressive recluse who let others fight his battles, Darwin remained all his life a man nearly obsessed with the ideas of competition, struggle and conquest – with all forms of human contact as confrontation.<ref>[http://books.google.se/books?id=2Ng-5B5H2wcC&dq=worster+nature%27s+economy&psp=1 Worster, D. (1994) Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521468345]</ref><ref>[http://doi.dx.org/10.2307/1938247 Kormondy, E.J. (1978) Ecology/economy of nature – synonyms? Ecology 59(6) 1292-1294]</ref> == Early 20th century ~ Expansion of ecological thought == === The biosphere - Eduard Suess, Henry Chandler Cowles, and Vladimir Vernadsky === By the [[19th century]], ecology blossomed due to new discoveries in [[chemistry]] by [[Lavoisier]] and [[Horace-Bénédict de Saussure|de Saussure]], notably the [[nitrogen cycle]]. After observing the fact that life developed only within strict limits of each compartment that makes up the [[earth's atmosphere|atmosphere]], [[hydrosphere]], and [[lithosphere]], the Austrian geologist [[Eduard Suess]] proposed the term [[biosphere]] in [[1875]]. Suess proposed the name biosphere for the conditions promoting life, such as those found on [[Earth]], which includes [[flora (plants)|flora]], [[fauna (animals)|fauna]], [[mineral]]s, [[Biogeochemical cycle|matter cycles]], et cetera. In the [[1920s]] [[Vladimir I. Vernadsky]], a Russian geologist who had defected to France, detailed the idea of the biosphere in his work "The biosphere" ([[1926]]), and described the fundamental principles of the [[biogeochemical cycle]]s. He thus redefined the biosphere as the sum of all [[ecosystem]]s. First ecological damages were reported in the [[18th century]], as the multiplication of colonies caused [[deforestation]]. Since the [[19th century]], with the [[industrial revolution]], more and more pressing concerns have grown about the impact of human activity on [[the environment]]. The term [[ecologist]] has been in use since the end of the [[19th century]]. ===The ecosystem: Arthur Tansley=== Over the [[19th century]], botanical geography and zoogeography combined to form the basis of [[biogeography]]. This science, which deals with habitats of species, seeks to explain the reasons for the presence of certain species in a given location. It was in [[1935]] that [[Arthur Tansley]], the British [[ecologist]], coined the term [[ecosystem]], the interactive system established between the [[biocoenosis]] (the group of living creatures), and their [[biotope]], the environment in which they live. Ecology thus became the science of ecosystems. Tansley's concept of the ecosystem was adopted by the energetic and influential biology educator [[Eugene Odum]]. Along with his brother, [[Howard Odum]], Eugene P. Odum wrote a textbook which (starting in 1953) educated more than one generation of biologists and ecologists in North America. === Ecological Succession - Henry Chandler Cowles=== {{main|Ecological succession|}} At the turn of the [[20th century]], [[Henry Chandler Cowles]] was one of the founders of the emerging study of "dynamic ecology", through his study of [[ecological succession]] at the [[Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore|Indiana Dunes]], sand dunes at the southern end of [[Lake Michigan]]. Here Cowles found evidence of [[ecological succession]] in the [[vegetation]] and the [[soil]] with relation to age. [[Henry Chandler Cowles|Cowles]] was very much aware of the roots of the concept and of his (primordial) predecessors.<ref>[[Henry C. Cowles|Cowles, Henry C.]] (1911) The causes of vegetational cycles. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1 (1): 3-20 [http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2560843]</ref> Thus, he attributes the first use of the word to the French naturalist [[Adolphe Dureau de la Malle]], who had described the vegetation development after forest clear-felling, and the first comprehensive study of successional processes to the [[Finland|Finnish]] botanist [[Ragnar Hult]] ([[1885]]). == Modern ecological theory and research == == Ecology's influence in the social sciences and humanities == ===Human ecology=== {{main|Human ecology|}} [[Human ecology]] began in the [[1920s]], through the study of changes in [[ecological succession|vegetation succession]] in the city of [[Chicago]]. It became a distinct field of study in the [[1970s]]. This marked the first recognition that humans, who had colonized all of the Earth's [[continent]]s, were a major [[ecological factor]]. Humans greatly modify the environment through the development of the habitat (in particular [[urban planning]]), by intensive exploitation activities such as [[logging]] and [[fishing]], and as side effects of [[agriculture]], [[mining]], and [[industry]]. Besides ecology and biology, this discipline involved many other natural and social sciences, such as [[anthropology]] and [[ethnology]], [[economics]], [[demography]], [[architecture]] and [[urban planning]], [[medicine]] and [[psychology]], and many more. The development of human ecology led to the increasing role of ecological science in the design and management of [[city|cities]]. In recent years human ecology has been a topic that has interested organizational researchers. Hannan and Freeman (''Population Ecology of Organizations (1977)'', American Journal of Sociology) argue that organizations do not only adapt to an environment. Instead it is also the environment that selects or rejects populations of [[organizations]]. In any given environment (in [[Homeostasis#Ecological homeostasis|equilibrium]]) there will only be one form of organization ([[isomorphism]]). [[Organizational ecology]] has been a prominent theory in accounting for diversities of organizations and their changing composition over time. ===James Lovelock and the Gaia hypothesis=== {{main|Gaia hypothesis|}} The [[Gaia theory (science)|Gaia theory]], proposed by [[James Lovelock]], in his work ''Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth'', advanced the view that the Earth should be regarded as a single living macro-organism. In particular, it argued that the ensemble of living organisms has jointly evolved an ability to control the global environment &mdash; by influencing major physical parameters as the composition of the atmosphere, the evaporation rate, the chemistry of soils and oceans &mdash; so as to maintain conditions favorable to life. This vision was largely a sign of the times, in particular the growing perception after the [[Second World War]] that human activities such as [[nuclear energy]], [[industrialization]], [[pollution]], and overexploitation of [[natural resource]]s, fueled by [[exponential population growth]], were threatening to create catastrophes on a planetary scale. Thus Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, while controversial among scientists, was embraced by many [[environmental movement]]s as an inspiring view: their ''Earth-mother'', [[Gaia philosophy|Gaia]], was "becoming sick from humans and their activities". ===Conservation and environmental movements=== Since the 19th century, [[environmentalism|environmentalists]] and other [[Conservation movement|conservationists]] have used ecology and other sciences (e.g., [[climatology]]) to support their [[environmental movement|advocacy positions]]. Environmentalist views are often controversial for political or economic reasons. As a result, some scientific work in ecology directly influences policy and political debate; these in turn often direct ecological research. ===Ecology and global policy=== Ecology became a central part of the World's politics as early as [[1971]], [[UNESCO]] launched a research program called ''[[Man and Biosphere]]'', with the objective of increasing knowledge about the mutual relationship between humans and nature. A few years later it defined the concept of [[Biosphere Reserve]]. In [[1972]], the [[United Nations]] held the first international [[United Nations Conference on the Human Environment|Conference on the Human Environment]] in [[Stockholm]], prepared by [[Rene Dubos]] and other experts. This conference was the origin of the phrase "[[Think Globally, Act Locally]]". The next major events in ecology were the development of the concept of biosphere and the appearance of terms "biological diversity"—or now more commonly [[biodiversity]]—in the [[1980s]]. These terms were developed during the [[Earth Summit]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]] in [[1992]], where the concept of the biosphere was recognized by the major international organizations, and risks associated with reductions in biodiversity were publicly acknowledged. Then, in [[1997]], the dangers the biosphere was facing were recognized from an international point of view at the conference leading to the [[Kyoto Protocol]]. In particular, this conference highlighted the increasing dangers of the [[greenhouse effect]] -- related to the increasing concentration of [[greenhouse gas]]es in the atmosphere, leading to [[Climate change|global changes in climate]]. In [[Kyoto]], most of the world's nations recognized the importance of looking at ecology from a global point of view, on a worldwide scale, and to take into account the impact of humans on the Earth's environment. ==See also== *[[Humboldtian science]] ==Bibliography== === References=== {{Reflist}} *Humboldt, A. von. 1805. ''Essai sur la géographie des plantes, accompagné d’un tableau physique des régions équinoxiales, fondé sur les mésures exécutées, depuis le dixième degré de latitude boréale jusqu’au dixième degré de latitude australe, pendant les années 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, et 1903'' par A. De Humboldt et A. Bonpland. Paris: Chez Levrault, Schoelle et Cie. Sherborn Fund Facsimile No.1. *_______. 1805. ''Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland. Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent. 5e partie. “Essai sur la géographie des plantes”''. Paris. Facs intégral de l’édition Paris 1905-1834 par Amsterdam: Theatrum orbis terrarum Ltd., 1973. *_______. 1807. ''Essai sur la géographie des plantes''. Facs.ed. London 1959. His essay on “On Isothermal Lines” was published serially in English translation in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal from 1820 to 1822. * Ramalay, Francis. 1940. The growth of a science. Univ. Colorado Stud., 26: 3-14. ===Further reading=== *Egerton, Frank N. 1977. ''History of American Ecology''. New York: Arno Press. *Simberloff, Daniel 1980. ''A succession of paradigms in ecology: Essentialism to materialism and probabilism''. Synthese, 43 (1): 3-39. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00413854] *Egerton, Frank N. 1983. ''The history of ecology: achievements and opportunities; Part one''. Journal of the History of Biology, 16 (2): 259-310.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00124700] *Hagen, Joel B. 1992. ''An Entangled Bank: The Origins of Ecosystem Ecology''. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. *Kingsland, Sharon E. 1995. '' Modeling Nature: Episodes in the History of Population Ecology'', 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. *McIntosh, Robert P. 1985. ''The Background of Ecology: Concept and Theory''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Mitman, Gregg. 1992. ''The State of Nature: Ecology, Community, and American Social Thought, 1900-1950''. *Real, Leslie A. and James H. Brown, editors. 1991. ''Foundations of Ecology: Classic Papers with Commentary''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. *Tobey, Ronald C. 1981. ''Saving the Prairies: The Life Cycle of the Founding School of American Plant Ecology, 1895-1955''. Berkeley: University of California Press. *Weiner, Doug. 2000. ''Models of Nature: Ecology, Conservation, and Cultural Revolution in Soviet Russia''. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. *Worster, Donald. 1994. ''Nature's Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas'', 2nd ed. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. *Acot, Pascal. 1998. ''The European Origins of Scientific Ecology (1800-1901)''. Editions des Archives Contemporaines; Gordon and Breach Publishers, ISBN 9056991035. [http://books.google.com/books?id=3bnBenk4PNwC&dq google books] *Wilkinson, David M. 2002. ''Ecology before ecology: biogeography and ecology in Lyell's 'Principles' ''. Journal of Biogeography, 29 (9): 1109-1115. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2002.00754.x] {{History of biology}} [[Category:Ecology]] [[Category:History of biology|Ecology]] [[br:Istor an ekologiezh]] [[da:Økologiens historie]] [[el:Ιστορία της οικολογίας]] [[fr:Histoire de l'écologie]]