Ecology and Biomes

Ecology is the branch of biology that studies the interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment.

Ecology operates across five hierarchical levels, each showing increasing complexity and emergent properties not present at the lower level.

A complex of several plant and animal communities in a region, shaped by and adapted to similar climatic conditions (Clements and Shelford, 1939).

• Ecology, derived from Greek words meaning 'the study of the house', is a branch of biology focused on the interactions among organisms and their environment.
• While Henry David Thoreau likely used the term first in 1858, German biologist Ernst Haeckel formally defined its scientific meaning in 1886.
• The subject is primarily concerned with five levels of biological organisation: organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and the biosphere.
• Each organisational level builds in complexity, progressing from individual life forms up to the biosphere, which encompasses all ecosystems on Earth.
• Clements and Shelford introduced the concept of a "biome" in 1939, defining it as a large complex of various plant and animal communities sharing a common climate.