History of Ecology

Ecological thought is said to derive its roots from the early teachings of philosophy, ethics, and politics.
Aristotle and Theophrastus were considered the first ecologists who had an interest in studying plants and animals. Theophrastus described several interrelationships that exist between living organisms and their environment.

Two schools of thought dominated the growing scientific study of ecology.
The first school of thought is the "Arcadian Ecology" which advocates for a “simple, humble life for man” and a harmonious relationship with man and nature. On the other hand, the second school of thought, known as the "Imperial Ecology" believes in the establishment of man's dominance over nature through the exercise of reason and hard work.
Both views rivaled through the early years of the 18^th century until Carolus Linnaeus came in the picture.

Countries such as Great Britain, Portugal, and Spain have set several expeditions to discover new natural resources and to make records about them.

Alexander von Humboldt reported an impressive number of species, particularly plants, for which he sought to explain their geographic distribution concerning geological data. One year after, he published his work entitled Idea for Plant Geography (PDF). Alexander von Humboldt was considered the father of ecology by many scholars.

In this year, Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution and adaptation. According to this theory, organisms change over time because of their inherited traits and characters. Such evolutionary changes allow them to adapt better to their environment. These changes also ensure survival by increasing the likelihood of producing more offspring.
Charles Darwin's fame can be greatly attributed to his idea of natural selection or more commonly referred to as "survival of the fittest". Along with Alfred Russel Wallace, who defined the role of natural selection in the formation of various organisms, Charles Darwin published all his observations, proposed mechanisms, and discoveries in his book entitled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

Ernst Haeckel coined the term "ecology". Since then, ecology has become the study of the relationships of organisms with their environment.

Eduard Suess first defined the term biosphere (from Greek bios = life, sphaira, sphere) as the system composed of living organisms and their environment.

Not long after, symbiosis or the living together in more or less intimate association or close union of two dissimilar organisms, was first described.

Eugen Warming introduced the discipline of biogeography, the study of how living things are geographically distributed, in his 1895 textbook. Biogeography also considers how abiotic factors such as wind, fire, and temperature shape where organisms live. This ecological understanding built on earlier chemistry breakthroughs, including Antoine Lavoisier’s identification of nitrogen in the 1770s and Theodore de Saussure’s 1804 studies on how plants absorb nitrogen, work that laid the foundation for understanding the nitrogen cycle. Here is an interesting research article on the nitrogen cycle.

The study of human ecology emerged. This discipline aimed to increase ecological science’s role in managing cities and residential places.

Vladimir I. Vernadsky, in his book, The Biosphere, redefined the biosphere as the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Here is an excerpt from his work.

Arthur Tansley coined the term ecosystem as the biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. Because of this, ecology became the science of ecosystems.

Patrick studied interdependence of organisms, particularly freshwater ecosystems. She developed methods to measure the health of a stream.

The harmful effects of pollution to ecosystems became known to people.

Eugene Odum and Howard Odum wrote the first ecology textbook and ecology became a university course.

The discipline of Ecology gained much public prominence because of the widespread concern for the state of the environment.

UNESCO launched the research program Man and Biosphere in the goal of increasing the awareness of humans about their relationship with nature. More info can be found here.

James Lovelock introduced the term Gaia, or the idea that the whole earth is one living entity and will ensure its survival even if humans destroy themselves.

Conservation Biology established as a discipline focusing on environmental management.