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25. Ecosystem eLearn.Punjab

In addition, niche includes all the physical factors of the environment necessary for
survival, such as range of temperature, amount of humidity, the pH of the water and
soil.
Autecology

Ecology is the study of relationship of living organisms to their environment. When
you are studying a single population’s relationship to its environment it will be called
as autecology. For example, you are studying 50 to 100 plants of soybean in order
to know the effect of water pollution on their growth and yield, you are studying the
single or one population of soybean plant, this study is autecology.
Synecology

Growth responses of individual plants to their environment are a complex factor.
One factor can aggaravate the other factor. These factors interact with one another.
Complexity of environment depends upon the combination of various factors. The
study of the relationship of different communities (grouping of populations) to their
environment is called synecology or community ecology.

When you study only one population, at different places in an environment it will be
autecology. But when you see all the populations at the same time it will be synecology.
In synecology (the study of a community) you have to see the various aspects of
community like the origin, structure and composition of the community. You have to
consider the history of community and also its dynamics because community is not a
fixed entity but different changes are going to occur at different times. While studying
the community we come across three levels of integration : (i) individual (ii) population
(iii) community.

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