The laws of ecology and its basic concepts

The concept of "ecology" came from the Greek word "oikos", which means "residence", "shelter", "home". Each species of inhabitants of the planet has its own habitat, the so-called house. In particular, for man, the whole planet Earth, including the outer space surrounding it, became the home.

The first laws of ecology were presented by the great doctor of antiquity Hippocrates more than two thousand years ago. He was able to describe not only the direct influence of climate, relief, water and seasons on the health of the inhabitants of different localities, but also compiled a comparative anthropological description of the peoples living on the African, Asian and European shores of the Mediterranean Sea. His works contain numerous evidence of the influence of the way of life and factors of the external environment on the formation of the soul and body qualities of a person.

Later, in the 17th century a new science appeared - medical geography. She studied the influence of the social and natural conditions prevailing in various territories on the health of the population of those lands. The Italian physician B. Rammacini became the founder of this science.

A certain contribution to the laws of ecology was made by the well-known Russian scientist VI Vernadsky. According to his definition, the biosphere is the shell of the Earth, where the life of the most diverse organisms develops. Against the existing opinion that the task of the organism is a permanent adaptation to circumstances, Vernadsky proved that living matter is quite capable of changing the surface of the planet, forming an ideally favorable ecosystem for its development. Each process within the biosphere is interconnected. And mankind is only a small part of the biosphere, and directly the man himself is one of the types of organic life.

Also to this great scientist is the priority of the doctrine of the noosphere. This concept means a qualitatively new phase - the sphere of the mind, or the "thinking shell." This is the highest stage of the development of the biosphere, directly related to the birth and development of civilization in it. The noosphere is a period when a person's rational activity becomes the main factor of development on the planet.

Any set of inorganic components and organisms that are peculiar to the circulation of substances is called an ecosystem. This term was proposed by A. Tensli in 1935. Laws of social ecology or, more simply, human ecology, determine the nature of the relationship of the organism with the environment. At the heart of such relations are morphophysiological reactions of the human body to the effect of the environment in the process of ontogenesis.

There are various ecological bases that affect the most diverse spheres of life of organisms. But the main ones are those that directly relate to human life and health. In particular, it is possible to single out the basic laws of ecology concerning human health:

• Weak impacts often do not cause any response from the natural system, but this does not mean that due to accumulation they can not cause violent and unpredictable dynamic processes.
• The kind of organism exists due to the fact that the surrounding environment fully corresponds to all genetic possibilities of adaptation of the presented species to its changes and fluctuations.
• An ecological niche (place) of any kind represented in nature must necessarily be filled. For example, the AIDS pandemic was predicted by scientists even before the discovery of the first symptoms and causative agents of the disease. The reason for this prediction was that the victory over the majority of human infectious diseases freed an appropriate ecological niche.
• Biospheric response. The laws of ecology are such that, in the course of using natural systems, no one has the right to cross allowed boundaries that allow these systems to fully preserve the unique property of self-regulation, self-organization and self-maintenance. Otherwise, the response forces of nature counteraction exceed the power of anthropogenic influence.

The science of "ecology" is a huge body of laws and rules that must be strictly observed if humanity wants to achieve harmony and unity with nature. But, unfortunately, most often they are neglected to suit their own desires and needs, and many basic laws of ecology are simply ignored, which causes practically irreparable consequences and huge destruction.