Ecology, or ecological science, is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how these properties are affected by interation between the organisms and their environment. The environment of an organism includes both the physical properties, which ecan be described as the sum of local abiotic factors like climate and geology, as well as the other organisms that share its habitat. The term oekologie was coined in 1866 by the german biologist, ernst haeckel, from the greek oikos meaning "household" and logos meaning " study"; hence, the " study of the household of nature". for modern ecologists, ecology can be studied at several levels: Population level ( individuals of the same species), biocoenosis level ( or community of species), ecosystem level, and biosphere level. the outer layer of the planet earth can be divided into several compartments: The hydrosphere( or sphere of water), the lithosphere ( or sphere of soils and rocks), and the atmosphere ( or sphere of the air). The biosphere ( or sphere of life), sometimes described as " the fourth envelope", is all living matter on the planet or that portion of the planet occupied by life. It reaches well into the other three spheres, although there are no permanent inhabitants of the atmosphere. Relative to the volume of the earth, the biosphere is only the very thin surface layer which extends from 11000 meters below sea level to 15000 meters aboveclassically it was thought that life first developed in the hydrosphere, at shallow depths, in the photic zone. Multicellular organisms then appeared and colonized benthic zones. Terrestrial life developed later, after the ozone layer protecting living beings from uv rays formed. Diversification of terrestrial species is thought to be increased by the continents drifting apart, or alternately, colliding. Biodiversity is expressed at the ecological level ( ecosystem), population level ( intraspecific diversity), species level ( specific diversity), and genetic level. Recently technology has allowed the discovery of the deep ocean vent communities. This remarkable ecological system is not dependant on sunlight but bacteria, utilising the chemistry of the hot volcanic vents, are at the base of it's food chainThe biosphere contains great quantities of elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Other elements, such as phosphorus, calcium, and potassium, are also essential to life, yet are present in smaller amounts. At the ecosystem and biosphere levels, there is a continual recycling of all these elements, which alternate between the mineral and organic states.
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