EXPLORING ECOLOGY - -

ly n -l e p Nowadays, ecology is a very familiar word. It is the name of a fairly new science. Biology is the science that investigates everything to do with plants and animals.
Ecology is the science that investigates the ways that plants and animals live together. A biologist can study a pressed flower or a dead animal. An ecologist has to look at living things in their natural surroundings.
The word ecology comes from two Greek words. Eco comes from oikos, which means house; logy comes from logos, which means knowledge. Ecology, therefore, means the knowledge of houses-the study of the homes of plants and animals.
Ecology is a fascinating science. It was started more than 100 years ago by botanists. Plants are easier to study than animals, because they do not move about.
The scientists had done a great deal of work on plants, and found out about roots, stems, leaves and flowers.
They then wanted to find out about plants' lives. They studied plants by the sea, plants in woodlands and plants high on mountains. They discovered that plants needed different forms to be able to live in these places.
Plants by the sea have to be able to live in salty air.
Plants on mountains have to be able to live in cold, windy places. Plants that live in woodlands have to be able to live in the shade. If a woodland plant was taken to a completely different place, such as a desert, it would probably die. Desert plants have to be able to live in bright, hot sunlight with very little water.
Woodland plants are not suited to desert conditions.
Plants live in the places to which they are suited. If a plant is transplanted to an unsuitable place, it will probably die. Each place has its own set of plants.
They are called a community. The science of ecology started with the study of communities of plants.
Ecologists soon discovered that the plants were affected by the animals living among them. Some plants did not grow because animals ate the seedlings as soon as they appeared.