Ecology! What is it and why should it matter to me?

Have you ever wondered if our planet Earth could hold all the billions of people and creatures (even plants) that live on it? Can Earth continue to support all life on itself? Especially when most species reproduce, creating more and more people, animals, creatures and yes even plants? If it can, for how long? Forever? Well answering these questions and other similar and equally important questions is the job of Ecologists. Ecology is a part of STEM that studies ecosystems and all the various populations within a system, including human beings. Entire ecosystems include all things within it, living and non-living. For now, I’d like us to focus on a living portion of the ecosystem, populations. As a human being, we all belong to the global population of people. A population is the individuals (most of the time within a particular species) contained within a specific environment or surrounding also known as an ecosystem. This includes but is certainly not limited to, human beings living within a specific planet, country, state or even in your neighborhood. It also includes rabbits or cockroaches in a specific Forrest or habitat, frogs or flies living in or on a certain pond or even pine trees or mosses on a specific mountain. Ecologists study all those things many others. Ecologists have many options and choices within the Ecology field of science. One of the ways ecologists determine the answer to how long will Earth be able to sustain exactly how many people is by determining population density in relation to sustainable resources available.

To measure the sustainability of a population within a specific environment or ecosystem first the ecologist and other scientists must determine or figure out the size of the population they’re studying. Populations size also known as density is measured by the following these steps: First the ecologist, scientists, students, or whomever is doing the study must agree on and determine a measurable fixed time frame. For example, a 10-year period from the year 2010 – 2020. Next, add the number of the individuals born during that time to number of individuals that died during that same time. Next, add together the number of individuals that entered the community during that time with the number of individuals that left the community throughout the same timeline. Combining or adding these two totals or sums of the two smaller equations equals how dense the population is aka a populations density. The government does this in the United States every 10 in a census. Officials in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories go house to house counting people and asking questions such as if anyone has died or moved away. Major factors that limit any population’s size are split into two categories, density-dependent and density-independent.

Density-dependent factors change with the number of individuals within a population that equals the populations size while density-independent factors are not influenced by the size of the population. Examples of density-dependent factors are competition for resources such as food, water, and living space. As the size of the population increases, food, water, and space all decrease causing the rate at which that population will grow to slow down. Density-dependent factors can be negative, limiting growth within a population or can be positive, contributing to the successful growth of a population. Density-dependent factors help to balance populations in their ecosystem keeping the size continuous to ensure there are enough resources for survival. If a population is too small, reproduction and birth rates will increase. However, as the population increases it will continue to increase until resources begin to thin out again and then the increasing stops and the population numbers stabilize.

Competition for resources can either contribute to a population’s decline or increase in density. For example, when there are more than enough resources available and no one is competing for food or space to live, more individuals might migrate into that population whereas when resources become scarce, individuals might kill each other over food and water, or some can even die from starvation or unhealthy living conditions. Which will lead to a decrease in the population’s density. It’s very similar to the checks and balance system of our government but with ecosystems including humans, animals, plants, and other populations in nature. Density-independent factors are mostly negative and contribute to limiting the growth of a population. Examples of these are floods, droughts, earthquakes, forest fires, and even pollution. They also include any natural or chemical phenomena such as acidity levels in the oceans changing and the effects of burning fossil fuels.

In the human population as opposed to other populations found in nature and other
ecosystems, our density is what will or will not sustain our lives on earth, and we largely contribute to the earth’s sustainability of us. Our density-dependent factors and our density-independent factors are much more closely related than in other populations. The temperature of the globe one might argue is an independent factor however, by burning excessive fossil fuels, not recycling, and adding pollution to the oceans constantly, we have a huge impact on those otherwise independent factors. As well as our dependent factors such as available natural resources, we also play a major roll in. We can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, refine our drinking water and find more sound farming and food cultivating practices. Again, showing that humans have more control over the environment than other species, but we also destroy our own environment unlike any other species on earth.

You might be wondering, what is the point? Are we all doomed to run out of resources and be stuck on a planet that can no longer sustain human beings? No. Of course not. But it is a major reason why Ecology and STEM are such an important topics and future career options for everyone. The world and every living thing in it need you to do your part, not just recycling and cleaning up thrash from the beaches and waterways which are great to do, good habits to form and activities all of us should continue but also for as you to consider as you start to become an adult. YOU are the future, the scientific minds that will come together, collaborate with one another, think of new ideas and create innovative solutions to achieve the long-term sustainability of our mother-planet Earth for everyone.