Synecology - what is the direction of what science? Why was it created? What does synecology do in practice? What problems does it solve and what does it explore?
General information
Synecology is one of the branches of ecology that studies the patterns of development and life of communities of organisms (or, in scientific terms, biocenoses) in specific habitat conditions that change. The activation of this direction is associated with the significant influence of various factors that determine which path the human community will follow. Synecology itself studies the biotic community of an ecosystem, where organisms live and how it affects them. Let's look at a general example - people in Africa and the subtropics of the Earth have black and swarthy skin color, which is a natural adaptation to the conditions of a large amount of sunlight and its relative "astronomical" proximity and directness of incidence. But the further north, the whiter people will meet.
Organization
In nature, there is a certain hierarchy of associations of organisms. Within their framework, synecology studies living organisms. In addition to the previously mentioned biocenosis,it can also focus on biogeocenoses. Moreover, the latter term can be characterized as a central concept in this direction. After all, synecology studies the structure and functioning of populations that can be influenced by biogeocenoses of various scales. So, you can mention at the same time about the oceans, and about lakes, and about rotten stumps. Moreover, size is not the only characteristic by which classification is carried out. In addition to it, they can still distinguish long-term and short-term, natural and piece biogeocenoses. Synecology studies the relationships that arise between different components of systems. Let's take a rotten stump as an example. Fungi, lichen, and bacteria live on it at the same time, which decompose it into mineral elements and make it possible for grass to grow in this place or a new tree from a fallen seed.
Difficulty of work
So, in general, the picture is clear. And many already understand that synecology is a branch of science that faces extremely difficult tasks. It's right. Indeed, even the simplest biogeocenoses consist of a huge population of bacteria, plants, animals, in general, living organisms. When conducting research, already at this stage, it is necessary to carry out the selection of species and concentrate on dominant ones in terms of their number, value, or mass. After that, it is necessary to establish connections between all representatives who live within the same biogeocenosis. And synecology studies all this. In this case, the rule applies thatThe more factors are taken into account and taken into account, the more perfect the result will be. But at the same time, the complexity of research will also increase. Therefore, we have to look for a middle ground between accuracy and labor costs.
About important biogeocenoses
If we consider what is of great importance for a person (for example, seas, nature reserves, fields or forests), then in such systems the number of connections between species will be simply enormous. So far, no one has been able to perform a complete theoretical study of complex objects, where the diversity of living organisms is simply amazing. The knowledge we have is too small to create and untie systems of interrelated differential equations with which to calculate changes. Theoretically, artificial intelligence could take over this task. But, alas, it is still far away. And now synecology is the lot of man. In order to get at least some reliable information about the future of biogeocenosis, scientists and researchers have to introduce restrictions, generalize and focus their attention on the most significant phenomena and processes. For simplicity, the real and complex model of a living system is replaced by mathematical equations. Particular attention is paid to the chain of consumption, assimilation and redistribution of energy. What is she?
Consumption chain
She is being consideredin the role of the central highway of processes that occur in biogeocenoses. On the basis of certain points, division into parts occurs. The most important types of living organisms are singled out, which are considered in the modeling in the first place. The flowering of life is due to the flow of energy, which does not allow biogeocenoses to die. In closed systems like the Earth or individual islands, cycles have formed that provide multiple uses of the existing "building material" for living organisms to build themselves. In this case, as a rule, the following limitation applies: as soon as there is too much of someone, self-regulation mechanisms are activated.
Consider the example of a small forest: as soon as the number of hares grows, the number of wolves also increases. Due to the abundance of predators, the number of herbivores will begin to decrease. And due to lack of food, the livestock and wolves will also decrease. But why was the generalization "as a rule" used? The fact is that there is one exception to this scheme - a person. We humans have learned to bypass the limitations of nature. True, for the sake of justice, it is better to say "expanded the boundaries of the possible." Technically, we would not be more numerous than an arbitrary species of ape if it were not for our intelligence. To cultivate the land to get a crop? Easily! Maximize the efficiency of agriculture? We continue down this path! Moreover, at will, we can increase the number of other species and fundamentally influence them through selection.
Conclusion
So far, there is no need to talk about the unconditional importance of synecology in the form in which it is available. But gradually, with the development of computer technology and the ability to work with large amounts of data, this science will certainly find its application in practice. Thanks to it, we will be able to calculate how much energy and resources will be consumed and generated by a certain system in order to plan human development in the future based on these data. That's what synecology does.
