In light of the recent and numerous environmental problems going on in our planet, many terms are frequently used not in context of their true meaning.

Ecology is one such term. In order to better understand our environment one needs to understand ecology. But this is a very wide area of study so to guide you one can turn to the eight main concepts of ecology; energy cycles, stability, populations, habitat relationships, predator-prey relationships and finally knowledge. In this article I will briefly outline these concepts with examples.

In order to understand the basic ecological concepts you must first know what is ecology. Ecology is defined as "the study of how organisms interact with one another and their physical and chemical environment." But one can think of ecology as consisting of different realms or levels. The first consists of organisms, then population (group of individuals of the same species), communities (populations of different species in an area), ecosystems (communities of different species interacting with each other as well as the non-living or abiotic components) and the ecosphere or biosphere (all the ecosystems on the planet). I must also clarify what an "environment" is. An environment includes all the physical, biological and chemical conditions that need to be present for a particular species to survive.

One of the first ecological concepts is energy. Most importantly, energy cannot be created or destroyed but it can be transferred from one form to another. In order to understand energy flow you can use the food web. The first category of organisms is the producers which capture the energy from sunlight and incorporate it into their structure. They are eaten by herbivores and the energy that they contain is taken up by the herbivores. The herbivores in turn are eaten by consumers or carnivores. These carnivores are consumed by larger carnivores and so on. However when all these organisms die, energy is still locked away in their bodies and this is where organisms called detritivores, such as earthworms and fungi come in. They break down dead and decaying matter thus releasing the energy.

In addition to knowing how the energy flows and the organisms involved at each stage or trophic level, it is also important to know, the number of organisms at each level as well as their weight or biomass that is transferred from one level to another in the form of chemical energy. This is done using a diagram known as an "ecological pyramid". Another diagram is the "pyramid of energy flow" is used to determine the percentage of usable energy transferred from one level to another.

Another basic component is cycles. This refers to the hydrological (water), carbon and nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen which are necessary for a healthy plant growth. These cycles are too many to go through in detail, but basically, knowledge of how these nutrients are released and cycled in our environment enables us to maintain these cycles, in the event of disturbance due to human activities. It also allows us to know "what not to do" when we are going to make a change or release materials or chemicals into our environment.

Stability is another concept which refers to the ability of the ecosystem and the organisms in it to recover from disturbances, for example bush fires. When an area is burnt the ecosystem of course loses its biodiversity as many plants and animals were killed or as a result of habitat loss many animals have migrated out of the area to more suitable habitats. But the area also cannot perform some of the ecosystem functions it did before the fire, such as carbon dioxide absorption, holding the soil together to prevent against erosion because the vegetation is gone. However, the fire having burnt the soil actually releases nutrients which plants such as grasses readily use and grow rapidly. Therefore the ecosystem functions are not lost for long, but they are taken over by smaller plants rather than trees.

Interactions make up the next few basic ecological concepts like the interaction between the organisms in populations and their environment, including the abiotic components is another important concept in ecology for example, animals that dig burrows to live in. This digging action loosens the soil thus letting in more oxygen and water which in addition to nutrients are also vital for healthy plant growth.

In populations, the interactions between the different species are also very important, for example, mutualism which is best seen with epiphytes or tree branches. The epiphytes do not remove any nutrients from the tree; they just need the branches as support. However, if the weight of the epiphytes becomes too great the branch will break, but this will not kill the tree. However, the relationship between the strangler fig (Ficus spp.) and a tree is regarded as parasitic. The strangler fig starts off germinating on the branches of a tree and as it develops it sends down long roots down in to the soil around the tree. With time these roots get thicker and coalesce all the while the host tree not looking like if it is in a cage is being sucked of nutrients by the strangler fig. the tree will eventually die and the strangler fig will feed on its decaying form and will replace it.

The last type of relationships is called predator-prey relationships. When we view nature documentaries on TV we really don't like to see a lion take down the zebra. But the lion is actually performing an important function which is regulating the number of individuals of the zebra population. Zebras are herbivores so without predators they would multiply and eat up all the grass. This grass also holds the soil together and prevents against erosion.

Finally one cannot emphasize enough the importance of the last concept - knowledge.

If we do not know how our ecosystem functions and the roles of the organisms in it we would not know how to maintain it, and help it recover from all the environmental changes due to human activities. Also with our ecological knowledge we can make materials and design manufacturing processes that are environmentally friendly.

Now armed with knowledge of these basic ecological concepts let us hope we can understand and protect our planet.