Biology Ecology Project

Organisms are open systems that interact continuously with their environment. The study of the interaction between organisms and the environment; the connectedness between living systems and non-living systems on the Earth is called ecology. The term “ecology” which was coined by Ernst Haeckel comes from the Greek root words oikos logos literally meaning “the study of household”. Haeckel was referring to the interactions within the house of nature and we have used the word ecology (translated from the German Oekologie or Ökologie) to describe complex systems of life both extant and extinct. These interactions determine both the distribution of organism and their abundance, leading to three questions ecologists often ask about organisms : Where do they live? Why do they live where they do? And how many are there?
Because of it’s great scope, ecology is an enormously complex and exciting area of biology, as well as one of critical importance. Ecology reveals the richness of the biosphere—the entire portion of Earth inhabited by life—and can provide the basic understanding that will help us conserve and sustain that richness, now threatened more than ever by human activity. The richness is particularly apparent in tropical forests, such as the Panamanian forests, home to the Hercules scarab beetle (Dynastes Hercules).

Picture shows the Dynastes hercules

Humans have always had an interest in the distribution and abundance of other organisms. As hunters and gatherers, prehistoric people had to learn where game and edible plants could be found in abundance. With the development of agriculture and the domestication of animals, people learned more about how the environment affects the growth , survival and reproduction of plants and animals. Later, naturalists from Aristotle to Darwin and beyond observed and described organisms in their natural habitats and systematically recorded their observations. Because extraordinary insight can still be gained through