Ecology
The photosynthesis conducted by land plants and algae is the ultimate source of energy and organic material in nearly all ecosystems. Photosynthesis radically changed the composition of the early Earth's atmosphere, which as a result is now 21% oxygen. Animals and most other organisms are aerobic, relying on oxygen; those that do not are confined to relatively rare anaerobic environments. Plants are the primary producers in most terrestrial ecosystems and form the basis of the food web in those ecosystems. Many animals rely on plants for shelter as well as oxygen and food.
Land plants are key components of the water cycle and several other biogeochemical cycles. Some plants have coevolved with nitrogen fixing bacteria, making plants an important part of the nitrogen cycle. Plant roots play an essential role in soil development and prevention of soil erosion.
Read more about this topic: Plant
Other articles related to "ecology":
... A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought ... two dozen books on politics, philosophy, history, and urban affairs as well as ecology ...
... Due to the harsh winters, the park has few reptiles and amphibians with only one species of toad, three species of frog, one salamander species and two species of snakes that have been identified ... At least 280 species of birds can be found in Banff including bald and golden eagles, red-tailed hawk, osprey, and merlin, all of which are predatory species ...
... His groundbreaking essay "Ecology and Revolutionary Thought" introduced ecology as a concept in radical politics ... he helped popularize the concept of ecology to the counterculture ... position and to the creation of the Social Ecology Studies program in 1974 and the Institute for Social Ecology soon thereafter, of which he became the director ...
... The ecology of global carbon budgets gives one example of the linkage between biodiversity and biogeochemistry ... these global carbon budgets during the Earth's history, regulated to a large extent by the ecology of the land ...
... See also History of ecology In the early 20th century, naturalists were faced with increasing pressure to add rigor and preferably experimentation to their methods, as the newly prominent laboratory-base ... Ecology had emerged as a combination of biogeography with the biogeochemical cycle concept pioneered by chemists field biologists developed quantitative methods such as the ... Cowles and Frederic Clements, was important in early plant ecology ...
Famous quotes containing the word ecology:
“... the fundamental principles of ecology govern our lives wherever we live, and ... we must wake up to this fact or be lost.”
—Karin Sheldon (b. c. 1945)