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Synecology –

It deals with the ecological study of various communities of animals or plants in an ecosystem. It is also called as community ecology.
The addition, the ecology also has following branches-

• Animal ecology – It deals with the study of animals in relation with their environment.
• Plant ecology – It deals with the study of interaction between plant species and their physical environment.
• Habitat ecology – It deals with the study of ecology of different habitats of biosphere (Earth). It is of four types –

1. Fresh water ecology or Limnology.
2. Marine ecology or Oceanology.
3. Terrestrail ecology
4. Estuarine ecology – The partly closed coastal body of water with one or more rivers flowing into it and with a free connection to the open sea is called Estuary.

• Ecogeography or Biogeography – It deals with the study of distribution of organisms in various geographical regions. It’s aim to interprate present and past distribution of the organisms.
• Production ecology – It deals with the gross and net production of different ecosystems and their management to obtain maximum yield.
• Radiation Ecology – Study of effects of radiations on the environment and inhabiting living organisms.
• Human Ecology – It deals wit the study of salient features of human beings.
• Space ecology – It deals with the stud of effects of the space environment on the organisms.
• Palaeontology – It deals with the study of ecology of those organisms which are now extinct.
• Chemical ecology – It deals with the adaptations of animals to particular chemical substances.
• Pedoecology- It deals with the study of soil composition and their effect on the organisms.
• Energy ecology – The study of flow of energy in an ecosystem.
• Pollution ecology – Study of pollution and its effect ion the organisms.

The organisation of biocommunities in a given area is called Biome.

Taylor defined ecology as “study of structure and function of nature”.

Ecology – Study of interaction between living beings and their environment.

Ecosystem – The continuously occurring various activities between the community and the surrounding abiotic factors constitute an ecosystem.

Study of interaction between living beings and their environment.

Organism is the basic unit of ecology.

Concept of levels of Organisation :

There are many levels of a organisation of organisms in the nature. It is w ell known that the body of every animal is made up of cells that contains protoplasm and genes. The group of cells is called as tissue, the tissues form organ, the organs together form organ system and the various organ systems form an individual. The organism is a unit of ecology.

A group of animals of a specific species is called as population where as the groups of different species at a times in a specific area/region is called as community. The continuously occurring various activities between the community and the surrounding abiotic factors (environment) constitute an ecosystem. The sum of all the ecosystems form the biggest organisation, the biosphere or ecosphere i.e. the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere together constitute the Biosphere.

There is hierarchical arrangement from higher to lower sequence of many organisms levels. Every level interacts with its physical environment (Energy and Substances) to form a specific functional system. No specific or distinct borderline can be established between the two organisation levels just like between two color spectrum’s. The various levels are directly or indirectly interdependent.

The study of interactions between the animals with their biotic and abiotic environment is called as ecology or ecological science. On the earth, every organism is adapted to the environment to survive i.e. become adapted to the environmental factors and to the inhabiting other plants and animal species.

Term “Ecology” is a Greek word which means — Oikos = House and Logos = Study. Here house indicates the habitat of the organism. Reiter (1868) was first to use the term Ecology. Ernst Hacked (1869), a German Scientist interpreted and defined the term ecology.

Definition :
Many scientists defined the ecology in different ways. Such as –

• Taylor (1936) : defined ecology as study of all organisms in relation with the environment.
• Philip Handler (1970) : stated that the study of relationship of organism and their environment is called as ecology.
• The study of relationship between living systems and environment is called ecological science (Turch and Witz, 1972).
• The ecology concerns with study of functioning living organisms and the environmental systems like land, oceans, fresh water bodies. Odum defined ecology as “study of structure and function of the nature”
• The leading ecologist of India, Ramdeo Misra (1968) defined ecology as study of interactions between shapes and functions of organisms and the factors.
  Hence to conclude, ecology can be define as “Study of interaction between living beings and their Environment.”