Environment Management

Concepts of Ecology

Ecology Definitions
The word Ecology comes from the Greek oikos meaning house or place to live. Taken literally, Ecology refers to the study of organisms in their natural habitat. DEFINITIONS: Living Organism: Any form of life, includes all flora and fauna. Ecology deals with how individuals are affected by (and how they affect) the environment. Habitat: Major habitats are Land (terrestrial, incl. subterranean), Water (both freshwater and marine), and Air (Biosphere, incl. trees and plants) where birds, insects, mammals, reptiles and amphibians (incl. Micro-organisms) live. Community: Populations of different plants and animals living and interacting with one another in an area. The composition and structure of communities and natural resources affected by them is not constant. They are continuously changing due to interactions and disturbances caused by climactic and geological events, as well as by human activities.
Dr. B. K. Mukherjee 2

Definitions (contd.)
Ecosystem: is the fundamental concept of ecology, which emphasizes relationships and inter-dependence of communities making up the ecosystem. Remarkable aspect is self-maintenance, self-regulation and natural state of equilibrium present within the ecosystem. Human activities tend to disrupt the natural functioning and mechanisms and sometimes create an imbalance. Our country is blessed with a variety of ecosystems like The Mountains of the Himalayas, Nilgiris, etc.; Cold deserts (Ladakh) and Hot deserts (Thar, Rajasthan); The Indo-Gangetic plain very fertile and highly productive; Areas with very low rainfall (Sivakasi, Kalahandi), and very high rainfall (Mawsynram, Meghalaya); Estuarine deltas (Sunderbans) and Wetlands (Chilika, Orissa), etc. Each of these ecosystems supports a large variety of life-forms. Therefore, the dynamics of each of these ecosystems need to be properly understood.
Dr. B. K. Mukherjee 3

Sunderbans [Sanctuary Asia, Oct.2004]

THE EARTH S LARGEST ESTUARINE MANGROVE DELTA The Sunderbans, spread over 10,000 sq km in India and Bangladesh, is a vast and remote land mass, criss-crossed with hundreds of rivers, creeks and tidal channels. This dynamic ecosystem now holds the largest single tiger population in the world, as well as a host of other mammals, avians, reptiles, marine fauna and invertebrates. The dense mangrove forests of the Sunderbans sustain an incredible diversity of terrestrial and marine life, and are a direct means of livelihood for lakhs of people. The unique feature of mangroves is that they thrive in salt/brackish water, and breathe through pneumatophores (aerial roots) which protrude through the mud. Mangroves act as biological filters and are of immense importance to coastal flora and fauna.
Dr. B. K. Mukherjee 4

Definitions (contd.)
Food Chain: Transfer of Food energy from its source in plants through a series of organisms where eating and being eaten is repeated a number of times. Each member feeds on the one below and, in the process, the pollutants also get transferred upwards and get more concentrated. Man
Tiger Deer Grass Solar energy Pollutants Big Fish Small Fish Plankton Solar energy

Biological clock: Natural rhythms or cycles that are in the nature of physiological mechanisms for measuring time in an organism in some fashion. Circadian clock (Franz Halberg, Latin circa around , and dies day ) is an internal clock which operates through internal or external signals and determines sleeping and feeding patterns of all animals, eg. in certain mammals, the reproduction cycle is regulated by the duration of light, eg. hibernation by bears; migration by birds and animals; jet-lag in humans (controlled by the chemical, melotonin, secreted by the Pineal gland in the brain).
Dr. B. K. Mukherjee 5

Biological Clock Flamingos

Migratory birds/animals sometimes cross half the globe to reach their annual breeding grounds, guided by only their instinct and their biological clock (eg, Siberian cranes, Whales, etc). More than 20,000 Flamingos migrate every year to feed in the Sewri and Uran mudflats near Mumbai, from their breeding grounds in the Rann of Kutch. However, of late there seem to be a big drop in their numbers, either due to urban and industrial pollution or active work on the Sewri-Nhava Transharbour link, which is a cause for major concern.
Dr. B. K. Mukherjee 6

Limiting factor - Vultures

Science & the Environment, 18/02/04
Vultures, Dying faster than the Dodo: Asian vulture populations collapse due to unregulated use of Veterinary medicine. by Edward Teague et@shoppp.com The common vulture is said to be the most abundant raptor in the world, with a global population exceeding 10 million in the early 1990's. Vultures have an important ecological role in the Asian environment, where they have been relied upon for millennia to clean up and remove dead livestock and even human corpses, says Peregrine Fund biologist, Munir Virani. The first signs of a massive population crash of the species in India was first noticed and reported from the Keoladeo National Park near the North Indian town of Bharatpur where nesting pairs declined from 353 in 1987/88 to 20 in 1998/99 with none recorded in 1999/00 and 2000/01 and only one bird seen in 1999/2000. In 1989, Dr Vibu Prakash of the Bombay Natural History Society had observed sick birds, listless and evidently unwell, inexplicably dying. He found, after autopsy, evidence of kidney degeneration which he attributed to some unknown viral infection. However, this hypothesis could not be scientifically substantiated. Further research on a global level led to the conclusion that residues of the commonly used veterinary product diclofenac in dead livestock, eaten by vultures are directly responsible for the population collapse, with important economic, cultural and human health consequences.
Dr. B. K. Mukherjee 7

Definitions (contd.)
Limiting factor: Single factor that limits the growth, abundance and distribution of the population of a particular organism in an ecosystem. Any factor in short-supply or over-supply can become a limiting factor, eg. Temperature, light, water, etc. Carrying capacity: Maximum population of a particular species that a given habitat can support over a given period of time. Overloading due to excessive population leads to environment getting exhausted. CASE STUDY: Panthers of Sanjay Gandhi National Park [TOI, 7.3.2002] Bittu Sahgal, Editor of Sanctuary magazine, said: Most panther cubs die before adulthood because their mothers cannot find enough food. This is nature s way of regulating numbers of predators. In SGNP, people living on the periphery and in settlements inside generate huge quantities of edible garbage, which results in a large number of dogs, who are easy prey or panthers. This results in more cubs surviving to adulthood .. The panther attacks are thus directly related to the human encroachments into the animals habitat, as also the stray dog population. Unfortunately, the panther soon discovers that man is the easiest prey.
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