LECTURE 1.Ecology, subject and objectives.pptx

ECOLOGY

1. The Subject of Ecology and its Objectives Medical E cology as a Modern D irection of Ecology

2. Ecology is defined as the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment, including both the living (biological) and non-living ( physical) components . Ecology involves subject matter that is often readily observable and evident all around us . From the moment of birth, each of us interacts with the environment. Life’s journey begins by developing relationships both with other humans and non-human organisms, and by engaging in interactions with our physical surroundings. ECOLOGY

3. Every organism interacts with a multitude of other organisms, contributes to the flow of energy and materials, and responds to the physical environment in numerous subtle ways. Ecology aims to understand how natural systems such as plant and animal communities are organized and function . After Charles Darwin’s publication of ‘’ On The Origin of Species’’ ( 1859) the fact that living organisms undergo change through the process of natural selection began to be incorporated into ecological study of the dynamics of natural systems.

4. Ernst Haeckel , the German zoologist and Darwin contemporary, coined the term “ecology” in 1866. Haeckel created the new term to draw attention to the study of organisms in their environments, in contrast to their study only in the laboratory. The “eco” in ecology (from the Greek ‘’ oikos ’’) means home or place of dwelling.

5. While ecology developed as a natural science during the 19th and 20th centuries , many of its concepts and principles were applied to other fields, ranging from human social development ( Bronfenbrenner , 1979 ), to social and cultural systems (Park, 1952; Bennett,1993), and to epidemiology (Last, 1998). The application of ecological thinking began expanding by the mid-20th century to cover human-built or “hybrid” human-natural systems such as cities and cultivated landscapes. This integrative approach to understanding living systems has been found necessary for sustainability; a concept that consider the dependence of human health and well-being on “healthy ecosystems’’. As such, ecology has become as much a worldview as it is a scientific discipline.

6. Ecology is mainly built on three different major sub-disciplines : ecosystem ecology community ecology population ecology In addition, the linking of these concepts across different scales is often aided by landscape ecology, which tends to act as a bridge linking these disciplines, especially in applied contexts.

7. Ecosystem ecology underlines energy flows and material cycles, including how energy and materials are modified by human activities. It aims to understand how energy and materials (such as water, carbon , oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus , and other elements) essential to growth and metabolism—from the organism level to the entire ecosystem—flow in, out, through, and are compartmentalized and transformed.

8. Community ecology deals with ecological communities, which are defined as complex of interacting plants, animals, and microbes co-existing in a particular location . Its aim is to understand the factors and mecha-nisms that determine the composition and diversity of species found in a particular place.

9. Population ecology attempts to explain the dynamics of species’ populations, and interactions among species, as well as relationships between species and their physical environment . The overlap of community ecology and population ecology becomes apparent when we consider that inter-species interactions—competition, predation, and parasitism—are some of the key determinants by which species co-exist in a particular place (that is, make up a community ).

10. We humans, the most conscious species today, are actually unconscious of most of the “invisible” ways in which we influence and are influenced by our environment. For example, most people know little of the organisms and processes that underlie the ecological systems responsible for the oxygen we breathe, the water we use, the food we eat, and the infectious illnesses we get.

11. Aquatic ecology includes the study of these relationships in all aquatic environments, including oceans, estuaries, lakes, ponds, wetlands, rivers, and streams. ... WATER ECOLOGY

12. Soil ecology  is the study of how  soil  organisms interact with other organisms and their environment – their influence on and response to numerous  soil  processes and properties form the basis for delivering essential ecosystem services. SOIL ECOLOGY

13. Landscape ecology   is the study of the pattern and interaction between ecosystems within a region of interest, and the way the interactions affect  ecological  processes, especially the unique effects of spatial heterogeneity on these interactions.

14. MOLECULAR ECOLOGY Molecular ecology  is the use of  molecular  genetic tools to study  ecological  questions. Techniques such as microarrays and DNA markers are used to study the interactions and diversity of natural populations.

15. What is M edical Ecology? The term Medical Ecology was first coined by microbiologist Rene Dubos to describe a new way of viewing the human condition in context with the environment. Environmental medicine was formed as a new direction on the border of medical disciplines and ecology in the mid 70's. XX Century in the developed countries of the world that were the first to encounter environmental problems. It took shape in Cleveland (USA) in 1986. Slow to take hold in the mainstream of public health, this paradigm has rarely been applied in the last two decades, though the urgency to do so has dramatically increased, mainly due to the dramatic increase in the human population, and the emergence and re-emergence of a wide variety of infectious diseases.

16. ME - part of human ecology, which has its primary aim of improving health outcomes, taking into account the factors effect on the body of the human environment Human Ecology - complex scientific and scientific-practical direction concerning the interaction of human populations from the surrounding social and natural environment . «Human ecology" - as part of the overall ecology was first isolated in 1921 by American sociologists R.Parkom and E. Burgess Each examines the social and natural human interaction with the operating system, the problems of the population in order to maintain its health and performance, improve physical and mental capabilities of human . MEDICAL ECOLOGY (ME)

17. Human ecology  is about relationships between people and their environment. In human ecology the environment is perceived as an  ecosystem   . An ecosystem is everything in a specified area - the air, soil, water, living organisms and physical structures, including everything built by humans. The living parts of an ecosystem - microorganisms, plants and animals (including humans) - are its  biological community . Ecosystems can be any size. A small pond in a forest is an ecosystem, and the entire forest is an ecosystem. A single farm is an ecosystem, and a rural landscape is an ecosystem. Villages, towns and large cities are ecosystems. A region of thousands of square kilometres is an ecosystem, and the planet Earth is an ecosystem .

18. Although humans are part of the ecosystem, it is useful to think of human - environment interaction as interaction between the human  social system  and the rest of the ecosystem. The social system is everything about people, their  population  and the psychology and  social organization  that shape their behaviour . The social system is a central concept in human ecology because human activities that impact on ecosystems are strongly influenced by the society in which people live. Values and knowledge - which together form our worldview as individuals and as a society - shape the way that we process and interpret information and translate it into action. Technology defines our repertoire of possible actions. Social organization, and the social institutions that specify socially acceptable behaviour , shape the possibilities into what we actually do. Like ecosystems, social systems can be on any scale - from a family to the entire human population of the planet.

19. Interaction of the human social system with the ecosystem

20. Material, energy and information move from social system to ecosystem as a consequence of human activities that impact the ecosystem : People affect ecosystems when they use resources such as water, fish, timber and livestock grazing land. After using materials from ecosystems, people return the materials to ecosystems as waste. People intentionally modify or reorganize existing ecosystems, or create new ones, to better serve their needs.

21. Human ecology analyses the consequences of human activities as a chain of effects through the ecosystem and human social system. The following story is about fishing. Fishing is directed toward one part of the marine ecosystem, namely fish, but fishing has unintended effects on other parts of the ecosystem. Those effects set in motion a series of additional effects that go back and forth between ecosystem and social system An example: destruction of marine animals by commercial fishing

22. ME- The most important contemporary issues related to the medical environment pollution. The scientific community-at-large now realizes the extensiveness of the relationship between human health and a damaged environment Medical ecology

23. Medical Ecology is still considered an emerging hybrid science striving to supply the missing connections between the health and the ecological and earth sciences.

24. The Main Difficulties in Identifying the Relationship in the "Environment - Health" T he possibility of non-additive effects and non-linear relationship; V ery long lag symptoms responses ( delayed responses to the exposure time); O ften mediated /non-direct/effects ; E ffect of mutual aggravation under the influence of several factors(synergism)

25. individual characteristics of the body, primarily manifested in different sensitivity and susceptibility to environmental factors, or contrary to the increased resistance; frequent incorrect, imprecision and inaccuracy of official statistics; technical difficulties related to the organization of environment-oriented data collection and processing. The Main Difficulties in Identifying the Relationship in the "Environment - Health"

26. 1.Pollution of the environment 2.Global warming is driving dramatic and unpredictable climate change 3.Overpopulation leads to scarcity of resources and environmental pollution 4.Depletion of natural resources 5. Waste disposal 6. Destruction of forests 7. Ocean acidification makes shellfish fragile 8. Ozone depletion increases cancer rates 9. Sprawling cities occupy land suitable for agriculture 10. Public health concerns are directly related to environmental The main ecological problems

27. The Most Important Problems of Medical Ecology And hygienic regulation of complex or combined effects on the human factors of modern operating systems Development of methodological approaches that evaluate the risk of the combined action with the excess as hygienic regulations and possible changes in the body To date, there were developing, in which as the hazard criteria of the environmental situation uses complex environmental quality in standard scores, calculated based on the excess of each factor takes into account the relevant hygiene regulations .

28. The Public Health Paradigm The influence of the environment on the outcome of human health is complex, and at best, poorly understood. Despite the general acceptance of this concept, public health practitioners, for the most part, discharge their duties without due consideration for the ecological impact of anthropogenically -induced alterations in the environment .

29. Global climate change , stratospheric ozone depletion, air and water pollutions, the over use and mis -use of fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides, numerous arthropod-borne infectious diseases, and contaminated food supplies represent current hazards to the well-being of vast numbers of people living throughout the world.

30. All of these problems have major environmental components associated with them . The rise of the oceans, if unchecked, would likely overwhelm whole cities and rearrange the coastlines of all land territories, both large and small. It can bring also the human health problems.

31. The Medical Ecology Paradigm Medical Ecology is a hybrid science which brings the principles of ecology, earth sciences, and public health together for the purpose of analyzing problems of the environment as they impact on human health. In doing so, it is expected that the information contained there in will serve to encourage professionals engaged in the both applied and basic sciences to enter into more comprehensive collaborative efforts.

32. Until the beginning of the 19th century, diseases of an infectious nature, injuries, and accidents were dominant. In the 20th century, the proportion of chronic diseases that currently prevailed increased, including cancer, diseases of the connective tissue, immune system, chronic fatigue, etc. .

33. Valuing contemporary factors on the health of the population (the problems of environmental epidemiology) Develop activities for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of environment-related diseases Current Challenges to Modern ME

34. Identification of the frequency of various forms of pathology factors Study of changes in the clinical features of the disease in the present conditions Development of new approaches to diagnosis, treatment and prevention of environmentally related diseases The Main Problems of Environmental Epidemiology

35. The main reasons for the current situation are: the accumulation in the environment of chemical alien compounds depletion of systems responsible for the neutralization of toxic compounds heredity food status toxic effects action of allergens free radical stress

36. The internal environment of an organism - a collection of fluids (blood, lymph, tissue fluid), which washed the cells and tissues involved in the implementation of the metabolism of the organism. THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT The Internal Environment  refers to all the inlying forces and conditions present within the company, which can affect the company's working. 

37. The external environment - part of the environment, which comes into contact with the epithelium of the skin and mucous membranes, affects all types of receptors that perceive the world around us. THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT External Environment  is a set of all the exogenous forces that have the potential to affect the organization's performance, profitability, and functionality.

38. Environment of habitation - a set of interrelated abiotic and biotic factors that are outside of the organism and determine its vital functions. It is a residential home, a place of rest, the vehicle, hospital, etc. Human activity in the environment of habitation is outside of production. ENVIRONMENT OF HABITATION

39. Work environment - part of the environment that surrounds human, formed by natural and climatic conditions, and professional (physical, chemical, biological, social) factors that affect it in the workplace. THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

40. A modern doctor should be distinguished by an integrated approach to patient problems, taking into account the environmental impact. Today, environmental medicine is relevant, since every year the negative impact of environmental factors on human health is growing.

41. Environmental medicine professionals should identify chronic conditions with and for eliminating the causes that could have bring them, including the causes of pathogenic adverse environmental effects.

42. References:

43. Thanks for your attention

44. The list of suggested topics for student presentations: Development of M edical Ecology in 21 century. E cosystem Ecology , its goal and objectives Medical Ecology as a interdisciplinary science. The main problems of the environment, anthropogenic impacts. Human Ecology, its aim and main objectives. Ecological problems of Africa. Ecological problems of Asia. Ecological problems of Europe. Ecological problems of Armenia. Environmental disasters and the risk of people morbidity. Ecosystems of big cities and people health.