Ecology, as defined by Encarta Encyclopedia, is “the study of the relationship of plants and animals to their physical and biological environment” (Smith 1). Of course, one of the reasons why ecology is an important topic of study and concern among human beings is because we are one of the animals that has a relationship to the environment. The physical portion of the environment involves things like wind, soil nutrients, water and the atmosphere, while the biological portion contains similar organisms but also plants and animals. Ecology, like many disciplines, depends upon and works in relationship to other disciplines like mathematics and animal science. However, even ecology itself is divided into many aspects, such as animal ecology, population ecology and landscape ecology. Ecology is often misperceived as environmental science, but it is a distinct field and aspect of existence though the two together afford a greater understanding of each. Biologists, mathematicians, naturalists and others have greatly contributed to the understanding of ecology since the term was coined by German biologist Ernst Heinrich Haeckel in 1866 (Smith 1). Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and his concept of natural selection greatly added to our understanding of the relationship of plants and animals to the natural environment.
Many models of ecology exist, but a useful one in particular takes into account the variables of population, economic development, investment and environment. This theory basically argues that monies (investment capital) are generated from taxpayers (population) which is spent to increase the development of the society, to increase population and to protect the environment. What this amounts to in modern developed nations is an increase in development and population as large sums are expended to artificially protect the environment from the destruction such development creates. There are many examples ar...