Discovering ecology

Unfortunately many of us tend to ignore our natural surroundings and the plants and animals that live in them, failing to realize how important nature is to man. We rarely consider, for example, what happens in the soil beneath our feet. The soil, in fact, teems with life, containing millions of tiny creatures that break down plant and animal remains into food for living plants. Similarly, although we may pause to admire a lovely landscape, how often do we stop to wonder why plants have green leaves and grow best where there is plenty of sunlight, why the rain falls or where it comes from and why the plants and animals of rivers, oceans, forests and fields are so different from each other? Ecologists ask themselves questions like these and try to find the answers to them. Discovering how nature works is the basis of ecology, and ecologists study nature by looking at how all the living and nonliving things on earth relate to each other. Plants and animals, for example, are linked by their feeding habits. Plants are eaten by certain kinds of animals-and some animals will eat only particular plants, Plant eaters are eaten by meat-eating animals that are frequently, in turn, preyed upon by others. Applied ecology teaches how we, too, are part of the world around us and how we can improve our planet rather than destroy it. The world of ecology covers many aspects of nature and is not only a fascinating subject to learn about but is also of vital importance for man's future on earth.