Sofia, Bulgaria

Ecology and Protection of Ecosystems

Екология и опазване на екосистемите

Table of contents

⇑Ecology and Protection of Ecosystems at University of Mining and Geology "St. Ivan Rilski"

Language: Bulgarian Studies in Bulgarian
Subject area: physical science, environment
University website: www.mgu.bg
Programme: Ecology and Protection of Ecosystems
Type: PhD/Doctoral programme
Academic degree: Doctor (доктор)
Duration: 3 years

⇑Definitions and quotes

Ecology
Ecology (from Greek: οἶκος, "house", or "environment"; -λογία, "study of") is the branch of biology which studies the interactions among organisms and their environment. Objects of study include interactions of organisms with each other and with abiotic components of their environment. Topics of interest include the biodiversity, distribution, biomass, and populations of organisms, as well as cooperation and competition within and between species. Ecosystems are dynamically interacting systems of organisms, the communities they make up, and the non-living components of their environment. Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, pedogenesis, nutrient cycling, and niche construction, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment. These processes are sustained by organisms with specific life history traits. Biodiversity means the varieties of species, genes, and ecosystems, enhances certain ecosystem services.
Ecology
If there are favourable habitats and favorable forms of association for animals and plants, as ecology demonstrates, why not for men? If each particular natural environment has has its own balance; is there not perhaps an equivalent of this in culture?
Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities, Secker & Warburg, 1938.
Protection
A man wants no protection when his conduct is strictly right.
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Bird v. Gunston (1785), 3 Doug. 275; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 212.
Ecology
If we recognise that every ecosystem can also be viewed as a food web, we can think of it as a circular, interlacing nexus of plant animal relationships (rather than a stratified pyramid with man at the apex)... Each species, be it a form of bacteria or deer, is knitted together in a network of interdependence, however indirect the links may be.
Murray Bookchin, The Ecology of Freedom (1982).
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