These are any environmental factors to which the body responds with adaptive reactions.

Environment is one of the main ecological concepts, which means a complex of environmental conditions that affect the life of organisms. In a broad sense, the environment is understood as the totality of material bodies, phenomena and energy that affect the body. It is also possible to have a more specific, spatial understanding of the environment as the immediate surroundings of an organism - its habitat. The habitat is everything that an organism lives among; it is a part of nature that surrounds living organisms and has a direct or indirect influence on them. Those. elements of the environment that are not indifferent to a given organism or species and in one way or another influence it are factors in relation to it.

The components of the environment are diverse and changeable, therefore living organisms constantly adapt and regulate their life activities in accordance with the occurring variations in the parameters of the external environment. Such adaptations of organisms are called adaptation and allow them to survive and reproduce.

All environmental factors are divided into

• Abiotic factors are factors of inanimate nature that directly or indirectly affect the body - light, temperature, humidity, chemical composition of the air, water and soil environment, etc. (i.e., properties of the environment, the occurrence and impact of which does not directly depend on the activity of living organisms) .
• Biotic factors are all forms of influence on the body from surrounding living beings (microorganisms, the influence of animals on plants and vice versa).
• Anthropogenic factors are various forms of activity of human society that lead to changes in nature as the habitat of other species or directly affect their lives.

Environmental factors affect living organisms

• as irritants causing adaptive changes in physiological and biochemical functions;
• as limitations that make it impossible to exist in given conditions;
• as modifiers that cause structural and functional changes in organisms, and as signals indicating changes in other environmental factors.

In this case, it is possible to establish the general nature of the impact of environmental factors on a living organism.

Any organism has a specific set of adaptations to environmental factors and exists safely only within certain limits of their variability. The most favorable level of the factor for life is called optimal.

At small values ​​or with excessive exposure to the factor, the vital activity of organisms drops sharply (noticeably inhibited). The range of action of an environmental factor (the area of ​​tolerance) is limited by the minimum and maximum points corresponding to the extreme values ​​of this factor at which the existence of the organism is possible.

The upper level of the factor, beyond which the vital activity of organisms becomes impossible, is called the maximum, and the lower level is called the minimum (Fig.). Naturally, each organism is characterized by its own maximums, optimums and minimums of environmental factors. For example, a housefly can withstand temperature fluctuations from 7 to 50 ° C, but the human roundworm lives only at human body temperature.

The optimum, minimum and maximum points make up three cardinal points that determine the body’s ability to react to a given factor. The extreme points of the curve, expressing the state of oppression with a deficiency or excess of a factor, are called pessimum areas; they correspond to the pessimal values ​​of the factor. Near the critical points there are sublethal values ​​of the factor, and outside the tolerance zone there are lethal zones of the factor.

Environmental conditions under which any factor or their combination goes beyond the comfort zone and has a depressing effect are often called extreme, borderline (extreme, difficult) in ecology. They characterize not only environmental situations (temperature, salinity), but also habitats where conditions are close to the limits of existence for plants and animals.

Any living organism is simultaneously affected by a complex of factors, but only one of them is limiting. A factor that sets the framework for the existence of an organism, species or community is called limiting (limiting). For example, the distribution of many animals and plants to the north is limited by a lack of heat, while in the south the limiting factor for the same species may be a lack of moisture or necessary food. However, the limits of the body's endurance in relation to the limiting factor depend on the level of other factors.

The life of some organisms requires conditions limited by narrow limits, that is, the optimum range is not constant for the species. The optimum effect of the factor is different in different species. The span of the curve, i.e., the distance between the threshold points, shows the area of ​​influence of the environmental factor on the body (Fig. 104). In conditions close to the threshold action of the factor, organisms feel depressed; they may exist, but do not reach full development. The plants usually do not bear fruit. In animals, on the contrary, puberty accelerates.

The magnitude of the range of action of the factor and especially the optimum zone makes it possible to judge the endurance of organisms in relation to a given element of the environment and indicates their ecological amplitude. In this regard, organisms that can live in fairly diverse environmental conditions are called zvrybionts (from the Greek “euros” - wide). For example, a brown bear lives in cold and warm climates, in dry and humid areas, and eats a variety of plant and animal foods.

In relation to private environmental factors, a term beginning with the same prefix is ​​used. For example, animals that can live in a wide range of temperatures are called eurythermal, while organisms that can live only in narrow temperature ranges are called stenothermic. By the same principle, an organism can be euryhydrid or stenohydrid, depending on its response to fluctuations in humidity; euryhaline or stenohaline - depending on the ability to tolerate different salinity values, etc.

There are also the concepts of ecological valence, which represents the ability of an organism to inhabit a variety of environments, and ecological amplitude, which reflects the width of the range of a factor or the width of the optimum zone.

The quantitative patterns of the reaction of organisms to the action of an environmental factor differ in accordance with their living conditions. Stenobionticity or eurybionticity does not characterize the specificity of a species in relation to any environmental factor. For example, some animals are confined to a narrow range of temperatures (i.e., stenothermic) and at the same time can exist in a wide range of environmental salinity (euryhaline).

Environmental factors influence a living organism simultaneously and jointly, and the action of one of them depends to a certain extent on the quantitative expression of other factors - light, humidity, temperature, surrounding organisms, etc. This pattern is called the interaction of factors. Sometimes the deficiency of one factor is partially compensated by the increased activity of another; partial substitutability of the effects of environmental factors appears. At the same time, none of the factors necessary for the body can be completely replaced by another. Phototrophic plants cannot grow without light under the most optimal temperature or nutrition conditions. Therefore, if the value of at least one of the necessary factors goes beyond the tolerance range (below the minimum or above the maximum), then the existence of the organism becomes impossible.

Environmental factors that have a pessimal value in specific conditions, i.e., those that are furthest from the optimum, especially complicate the possibility of the species existing in these conditions, despite the optimal combination of other conditions. This dependence is called the law of limiting factors. Such factors deviating from the optimum acquire paramount importance in the life of a species or individual individuals, determining their geographic range.

Identification of limiting factors is very important in agricultural practice to establish ecological valency, especially in the most vulnerable (critical) periods of the ontogenesis of animals and plants.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Environmental factors - these are certain conditions and elements of the environment that have a specific effect on a living organism. The body reacts to environmental factors with adaptive reactions. Environmental factors determine the living conditions of organisms.

Classification of environmental factors (by origin)

• 1. Abiotic factors are a set of inanimate factors that affect the life and distribution of living organisms. Among them are:
• 1.1. Physical factors- such factors, the source of which is a physical condition or phenomenon (for example, temperature, pressure, humidity, air movement, etc.).
• 1.2. Chemical factors- factors that are determined by the chemical composition of the environment (salinity of water, oxygen content in the air, etc.).
• 1.3. Edaphic factors(soil) - a set of chemical, physical, mechanical properties of soils and rocks that affect both the organisms for which they are a habitat and the root system of plants (humidity, soil structure, content of nutrients, etc.).
• 2. Biotic factors - a set of influences of the life activity of some organisms on the life activity of others, as well as on the inanimate component of the environment.
• 2.1. Intraspecific interactions characterize the relationships between organisms at the population level. They are based on intraspecific competition.
• 2.2. Interspecies interactions characterize the relationships between different species, which can be favorable, unfavorable and neutral. Accordingly, we denote the nature of the impact +, - or 0. Then the following types of combinations of interspecific relationships are possible:
• 00 neutralism- both types are independent and have no effect on each other; Rarely found in nature (squirrel and elk, butterfly and mosquito);

+0 commensalism- one species benefits, while the other has no benefit, no harm either; (large mammals (dogs, deer) serve as carriers of fruits and seeds of plants (burdock), receiving neither harm nor benefit);

-0 amensalism- one species experiences inhibition of growth and reproduction from another; (light-loving herbs growing under the spruce suffer from shading, but the tree itself does not care about this);

++ symbiosis- mutually beneficial relationships:

• ? mutualism- species cannot exist without each other; figs and the bees that pollinate them; lichen;
• ? protocooperation- coexistence is beneficial to both species, but is not a prerequisite for survival; pollination of various meadow plants by bees;
• - - competition- each type has an adverse effect on the other; (plants compete with each other for light and moisture, i.e. when they use the same resources, especially if they are insufficient);

Predation - a predatory species feeds on its prey;

There is another classification of environmental factors. Most factors change qualitatively and quantitatively over time. For example, climatic factors (temperature, illumination, etc.) change throughout the day, season, and year. Factors whose changes are repeated regularly over time are called periodic . These include not only climatic, but also some hydrographic ones - ebbs and flows, some ocean currents. Factors that arise unexpectedly (volcanic eruption, predator attack, etc.) are called non-periodic .

Surely each of us has noticed how plants of the same species develop well in the forest, but do not feel well in open spaces. Or, for example, some mammal species have large populations while others are more limited under seemingly identical conditions. All life on Earth is one way or another subject to its own laws and rules. Ecology studies them. One of the fundamental statements is Liebig's law of minimum

Limiting what is it?

The German chemist and founder of agricultural chemistry, Professor Justus von Liebig, made many discoveries. One of the most famous and recognized is the discovery of the fundamental limiting factor. It was formulated in 1840 and later expanded and generalized by Shelford. The law states that for any living organism, the most significant factor is the one that deviates the most from its optimal value. In other words, the existence of an animal or plant depends on the degree of severity (minimum or maximum) of a particular condition. Individuals encounter a wide variety of limiting factors throughout their lives.

"Liebig Barrel"

The factor limiting the life activity of organisms can be different. The formulated law is still actively used in agriculture. J. Liebig established that plant productivity depends primarily on the mineral substance (nutrient), which is most poorly expressed in the soil. For example, if nitrogen in the soil is only 10% of the required norm, and phosphorus is 20%, then the factor limiting normal development is the lack of the first element. Therefore, nitrogen-containing fertilizers should be initially applied to the soil. The meaning of the law was stated as clearly and clearly as possible in the so-called “Liebig barrel” (pictured above). Its essence is that when the vessel is filled, water begins to overflow where the shortest board is, and the length of the rest no longer matters much.

Water

This factor is the most stringent and significant compared to the others. Water is the basis of life, as it plays an important role in the life of an individual cell and the entire organism as a whole. Maintaining its quantity at the proper level is one of the main physiological functions of any plant or animal. Water as a factor limiting life activity is due to the uneven distribution of moisture over the Earth's surface throughout the year. In the process of evolution, many organisms have adapted to the economical use of moisture, surviving the dry period in a state of hibernation or dormancy. This factor is most strongly expressed in deserts and semi-deserts, where flora and fauna are very sparse and unique.

Light

Light arriving in the form of solar radiation powers all life processes on the planet. Organisms care about its wavelength, duration of exposure, and radiation intensity. Depending on these indicators, the body adapts to environmental conditions. As a factor limiting existence, it is especially pronounced at great sea depths. For example, plants are no longer found at a depth of 200 m. Together with lighting, at least two more limiting factors “work” here: pressure and oxygen concentration. This can be contrasted with the tropical rainforests of South America, as the most favorable territory for life.

Ambient temperature

It's no secret that all physiological processes occurring in the body depend on external and internal temperature. Moreover, most species are adapted to a rather narrow range (15-30 °C). The dependence is especially pronounced in organisms that are not able to independently maintain a constant body temperature, for example, reptiles. In the process of evolution, many adaptations have been formed that allow one to overcome this limited factor. So, in hot weather, in order to avoid overheating, it intensifies in plants through stomata, in animals - through the skin and respiratory system, as well as behavioral characteristics (hiding in the shade, burrows, etc.).

Pollutants

The significance cannot be underestimated. The last few centuries for humans have been marked by rapid technical progress and the rapid development of industry. This has led to harmful emissions into water bodies, soil and the atmosphere increasing several times. It is possible to understand which factor limits this or that species only after research. This state of affairs explains the fact that the species diversity of individual regions or areas has changed beyond recognition. Organisms change and adapt, some replace others.

All these are the main factors limiting life. In addition to them, there are many others, which are simply impossible to list. Each species and even individual is individual, therefore the limiting factors will be very diverse. For example, the percentage of oxygen dissolved in water is important for trout; for plants, the quantitative and qualitative composition of pollinating insects, etc.

All living organisms have certain limits of endurance due to one or another limiting factor. Some are quite wide, others are narrow. Depending on this indicator, eurybionts and stenobionts are distinguished. The former are able to tolerate a large amplitude of fluctuations of various limiting factors. For example, living everywhere from the steppes to the forest-tundra, wolves, etc. Stenobionts, on the contrary, are able to withstand very narrow fluctuations, and these include almost all rain forest plants.

Definition

Ecology is the science of the relationships of organisms with each other and with the surrounding inanimate nature.

The term “ecology” was introduced into scientific use in 1866 by the German zoologist and evolutionist, follower of Charles Darwin, E. Haeckel.

Environmental objectives:

The study of the spatial distribution and adaptive capabilities of living organisms, their role in the cycle of substances (ecology of individuals, or autecology).

Study of population dynamics and structure (population ecology).

Study of the composition and spatial structure of communities, the circulation of substances and energy in biosystems (community ecology, or ecosystem ecology).

Study of the interaction of individual taxonomic groups of organisms with the environment (plant ecology, animal ecology, microbial ecology, etc.).

Study of various ecosystems: aquatic (hydrobiology), forest (forestry).

Reconstruction and study of the evolution of ancient communities (paleoecology).

Ecology is closely related to other sciences: physiology, genetics, physics, geography and biogeography, geology and evolutionary theory.

Environmental calculations use methods of mathematical and computer modeling, and the method of statistical data analysis.

environmental factors

Environmental factors- environmental components that affect a living organism.

The existence of a particular species depends on a combination of many different factors. Moreover, for each type the significance of individual factors, as well as their combinations, are very specific.

Types of environmental factors:

Abiotic factors- factors of inanimate nature that directly or indirectly affect the body.
Examples: relief, temperature and humidity, light, current and wind.

Biotic factors- factors of living nature that affect the body.
Examples: microorganisms, animals and plants.

Anthropogenic factors- factors associated with human activities.
Examples: road construction, land plowing, industry and transport.

Abiotic factors

climatic: annual sum of temperatures, average annual temperature, humidity, air pressure;

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ECOLOGICAL GROUPS OF PLANTS

In relation to water metabolism

hydratophytes - plants that constantly live in water;

hydrophytes - plants partially submerged in water;

helophytes - marsh plants;

hygrophytes - terrestrial plants that live in excessively moist places;

mesophytes - plants that prefer moderate moisture;

xerophytes - plants adapted to constant lack of moisture (including succulents--plants that accumulate water in the tissues of their bodies (for example, Crassulaceae and cacti);

sclerophytes are drought-resistant plants with tough, leathery leaves and stems.

edaphic (soil): soil mechanical composition, soil air permeability, soil acidity, soil chemical composition;

ECOLOGICAL GROUPS OF PLANTS

In relation to soil fertility The following ecological groups of plants are distinguished:

oligotrophs - plants of poor, infertile soils (Scots pine);

mesotrophs - plants with a moderate need for nutrients (most forest plants of temperate latitudes);

eutrophic plants - plants that require large amounts of nutrients in the soil (oak, hazel, gooseberry).

ECOLOGICAL GROUPS OF PLANTS

All plants in relation to the light can be divided into three groups: heliophytes, sciophytes, facultative heliophytes.

Heliophytes are light-loving plants (steppe and meadow grasses, tundra plants, early spring plants, most open ground cultivated plants, many weeds).

Sciophytes are shade-loving plants (forest herbs).

Facultative heliophytes are shade-tolerant plants that can develop in both very high and low amounts of light (common spruce, Norway maple, hornbeam, hazel, hawthorn, strawberry, field geranium, many indoor plants).

The combination of various abiotic factors determines the distribution of species of organisms across different regions of the globe. A certain biological species is not found everywhere, but in areas where the conditions necessary for its existence exist.

phytogenic - influence of plants;

mycogenic - the influence of fungi;

zoogenic - the influence of animals;

microbiogenic - the influence of microorganisms.

ANTHROPOGENIC FACTORS

Although humans influence living nature through changes in abiotic factors and biotic relationships of species, human activity on the planet is of particular importance.

physical: use of nuclear energy, travel on trains and airplanes, the effects of noise and vibration;

chemical: the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, pollution of the Earth's shells with industrial and transport waste;

biological: food; organisms for which humans can be a habitat or source of food;

social - related to human relationships and life in society: interaction with domestic animals, synanthropic species (flies, rats, etc.), the use of circus and farm animals.

The main methods of anthropogenic influence are: importation of plants and animals, reduction of habitats and destruction of species, direct impact on vegetation cover, plowing of land, cutting and burning of forests, grazing of domestic animals, mowing, drainage, irrigation and watering, air pollution, creation of garbage dumps and wastelands, creation of cultural phytocenoses. To this should be added various forms of crop and livestock farming activities, measures for plant protection, protection of rare and exotic species, animal hunting, their acclimatization, etc.

The influence of the anthropogenic factor has been constantly increasing since the appearance of man on Earth.

ECOLOGICAL OPTIMUM OF THE SPECIES

It is possible to establish the general nature of the impact of environmental factors on a living organism. Any organism has a specific set of adaptations to environmental factors and exists safely only within certain limits of their variability.

Ecological optimum- the value of one or more environmental factors that are most favorable for the existence of a given species or community.

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Optimum zone- this is the range of action of the factor that is most favorable for the life of a given species.

Deviations from the optimum are determined zonesoppression (zonespessimum). The greater the deviation from the optimum, the more pronounced the inhibitory effect of this factor on organisms.

Critical points- minimum and maximum tolerated values ​​of the factor beyond which the organism dies.

Area of ​​tolerance- the range of values ​​of the environmental factor at which the existence of an organism is possible.

Each organism is characterized by its own maximums, optimums and minimums of environmental factors. For example, a housefly can withstand temperature fluctuations from 7 to 50 °C, but the human roundworm lives only at human body temperature.

ECOLOGICAL NICHE

Ecological niche- a set of environmental factors (abiotic and biotic) that are necessary for the existence of a certain species.

An ecological niche characterizes the way of life of an organism, its living conditions and nutrition. In contrast to a niche, the concept of habitat denotes the territory where an organism lives, i.e. its “address”. For example, herbivorous inhabitants of the steppes - cows and kangaroos - occupy the same ecological niche, but have different habitats. On the contrary, the inhabitants of the forest - squirrel and elk, also classified as herbivores - occupy different ecological niches.

The ecological niche always determines the distribution of an organism and its role in the community.

In one community, two species cannot occupy the same ecological niche.

LIMITING FACTOR

Limiting factor- any factor that limits the development or existence of an organism, species or community.

For example, if the soil lacks a certain microelement, this causes a decrease in plant productivity. Due to the lack of food, the insects that fed on these plants die. The latter affects the survival of entomophagous predators: other insects, birds and amphibians.

Limiting factors determine the distribution area of ​​each species. For example, the spread of many animal species to the north is hampered by a lack of heat and light, and to the south by a lack of moisture.

Shelford's Law of Tolerance

The limiting factor limiting the development of an organism can be either a minimum or maximum environmental impact.

The law of tolerance can be formulated more simply: it is bad to both underfeed and overfeed a plant or animal.

A corollary follows from this law: any excess of matter or energy is a polluting component. For example, in arid areas, excess water is harmful and water may be considered a pollutant.

So, for each species there are limits to the values ​​of vital factors of the abiotic environment that limit the zone of its tolerance (stability). A living organism can exist within a certain range of factor values. The wider this interval, the higher the body’s resistance. The law of tolerance is one of the fundamental ones in modern ecology.

REGULARITIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ACTION

LAW OF OPTIMUM

Law of Optimum

Any environmental factor has certain limits of positive influence on living organisms.

Factors have a positive effect on organisms only within certain limits. Their insufficient or excessive effect has a negative effect on organisms.

The law of optimum is universal. It determines the boundaries of the conditions in which the existence of species is possible, as well as the measure of variability of these conditions.

Stenobionts- highly specialized species that can live only in relatively constant conditions. For example, deep-sea fish, echinoderms, and crustaceans cannot tolerate temperature fluctuations even within 2–3 °C. Plants in humid habitats (marsh marigold, impatiens, etc.) instantly wither if the air around them is not saturated with water vapor.

Eurybionts- species with a large range of endurance (ecologically flexible species). For example, cosmopolitan species.

If it is necessary to emphasize the relationship to any factor, use the combinations “steno-” and “eury-” in relation to its name, for example, stenothermic species - cannot tolerate temperature fluctuations, euryhaline - capable of living with wide fluctuations in water salinity, etc.

LIEBICH'S LAW OF MINIMUM

Liebig's law of the minimum, or the law of the limiting factor

The most significant factor for the body is the one that deviates most from its optimal value.

It is on this minimally (or maximally) represented environmental factor at a given moment that the survival of the organism depends. At other times, other factors may be limiting. During their lives, individuals of species encounter a variety of limitations to their life activities. Thus, the factor limiting the spread of deer is the depth of the snow cover; moths - winter temperature; and for grayling - the concentration of oxygen dissolved in water.

This law is taken into account in agricultural practice. The German chemist Justus von Liebig found that the productivity of cultivated plants primarily depends on the nutrient (mineral element) present in the soil most weakly. For example, if phosphorus in the soil is only 20% of the required norm, and calcium is 50% of the norm, then the limiting factor will be a lack of phosphorus; It is necessary first of all to add phosphorus-containing fertilizers to the soil.

The figurative representation of this law is named after the scientist - the so-called “Liebig barrel” (see figure). The essence of the model is that when the barrel is filled, water begins to flow over the smallest board in the barrel and the length of the remaining boards no longer matters.

INTERACTION OF ECOLOGICAL FACTORS

A change in the intensity of one environmental factor can narrow the limit of the body's endurance to another factor or, conversely, increase it.

In the natural environment, the effects of factors on the body can be summed up, mutually enhanced or compensated.

Summation of factors. Example: high radioactivity of the environment and the simultaneous content of nitrate nitrogen in drinking water and food increase the threat to human health several times more than each of these factors separately.

Mutual reinforcement (the phenomenon of synergy). The consequence of this is a decrease in the vitality of the body. High humidity significantly reduces the body's resistance to high temperatures. A decrease in nitrogen content in the soil leads to a decrease in the drought resistance of cereals.

Compensation. Example: ducks left to spend the winter in temperate latitudes compensate for the lack of warmth with abundant food; the poverty of the soil in the humid equatorial forest is compensated by the rapid and efficient cycle of substances; in places where there is a lot of strontium, mollusks can replace calcium in their shells with strontium. Optimal temperature increases tolerance to lack of moisture and food.

At the same time, none of the factors necessary for the body can be completely replaced by another. For example, a lack of moisture slows down the process of photosynthesis even with optimal illumination and $CO_2$ concentration in the atmosphere; the lack of heat cannot be replaced with an abundance of light, and the mineral elements necessary for plant nutrition cannot be replaced with water. Therefore, if the value of at least one of the necessary factors goes beyond the tolerance range, then the existence of the organism becomes impossible (see Liebig's law).

The intensity of exposure to environmental factors is directly dependent on the duration of this exposure. Long-term exposure to high or low temperatures is detrimental to many plants, while plants tolerate short-term changes normally.

Thus, environmental factors act on organisms jointly and simultaneously. The presence and prosperity of organisms in a given habitat depend on a whole range of conditions.

communities) among themselves and with their environment. This term was first proposed by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1869. It emerged as an independent science at the beginning of the 20th century along with physiology, genetics and others. The field of application of ecology is organisms, populations and communities. Ecology views them as a living component of a system called an ecosystem. In ecology, the concepts of population—community and ecosystem—have clear definitions.

A population (from an ecological point of view) is a group of individuals of the same species occupying a certain territory and, usually, to one degree or another, isolated from other similar groups.

A community is any group of organisms of different species living in the same area and interacting with each other through trophic (food) or spatial connections.

An ecosystem is a community of organisms with their environment that interact with each other and form an ecological unit.

All ecosystems of the Earth are united into the ecosphere. It is clear that it is absolutely impossible to cover the entire biosphere of the Earth with research. Therefore, the point of application of ecology is the ecosystem. However, an ecosystem, as can be seen from the definitions, consists of populations, individual organisms and all factors of inanimate nature. Based on this, several different approaches to studying ecosystems are possible.

Ecosystem approach.In the ecosystem approach, the ecologist studies the flow of energy in the ecosystem. The greatest interest in this case is the relationship of organisms with each other and with the environment. This approach makes it possible to explain the complex structure of relationships in an ecosystem and provide recommendations for rational environmental management.

Studying communities. With this approach, the species composition of communities and the factors limiting the distribution of specific species are studied in detail. In this case, clearly distinguishable biotic units (meadow, forest, swamp, etc.) are examined.
an approach. The point of application of this approach, as the name suggests, is the population.
Habitat study. In this case, a relatively homogeneous area of ​​the environment where a given organism lives is studied. It is usually not used separately as an independent area of ​​research, but it provides the necessary material for understanding the ecosystem as a whole.
It should be noted that all of the above approaches should ideally be used in combination, but at the moment this is practically impossible due to the significant scale of the objects under study and the limited number of field researchers.

Ecology as a science uses a variety of research methods to obtain objective information about the functioning of natural systems.

Methods of environmental research:

• observation
• experiment
• population counting
• modeling method