UM Panabo College

Department of Accounting and Business Administration Education

P.N. Arguelles St., San Francisco, Panabo City
Telefax # (084) 628-6437

Big Picture in Focus: ULOb. Discuss the scope of human ecology and
succession.

Metalanguage
The most essential terms below are operationally defined for you to have a better understanding of
this section in the course.

1. Human ecology is interdisciplinary. In the usual sense, neither ordinary biological ecology nor human
ecology is a discipline. Both have to rely extensively on other disciplines relevant to understanding
organism behavior. The multidisciplinary ecological and human ecological obligations emerge because
the species' behavior is so complex. Requiring knowledge of human psychology and biology will often be
important to understand how individuals tick.
2. Ecological succession is the process of transformation of an ecological community's species structure
over time. The time scale may be decades after a wildfire, for example, or even millions of years after a
mass extinction

Essential Knowledge

The human ecology is the mutual relationship between man and his environment. Influenced by
biologists' research on the interaction of species within their societies, social scientists pursued likewise to
study human communities. In the social sciences, therefore, ecology is the study of how the social system
adapts to the nature of natural resources and the life of other human beings. It views the biological,
economic, cultural, and technological conditions of any individual's life as an interrelated set of shape and
functional determinants in human cultures and social structures. It acknowledges that group action
depends on resources and associated skills and a body of emotionally charged beliefs; these together build
a social network.
Population ecology, study of processes which affect the distribution and abundance of
populations of animals and plants. A population is a group of individuals of one species that occupies a
given geographical region and interbreeds in species that reproduce sexually. In some animals, the
geographical borders of a population are easy to define but more difficult for others. For instance, island-
occupying plants or animals have a geographic range specified by the perimeter of the island. In
comparison, certain species are scattered over large expanses, so it is more difficult to establish the limits
of local populations. A spectrum exists from closed populations geographically separated from other
populations of the same species and missing contact with them to open populations exhibiting varying
degrees of connectedness.
Populations are groups of the same species organisms which live simultaneously in the same
area (Figure 3). They are defined in terms of features which include: Population size which is the
population number of inhabitants; Population density is how many inhabitants in a given location;
Population growth is how the population's size changes over time; and Demographics provides
important information on individuals, such as births, death and where they live, as well as the overall size
of the population.
United Nations projection of 7.7 billion people in 2018 is merely an estimate. Also, in this era of
informatics and digital communication, counting the number of people in the world is an inexact science.
 UM Panabo College
Department of Accounting and Business Administration Education
P.N. Arguelles St., San Francisco, Panabo City
Telefax # (084) 628-6437

Some countries have never even censused and those that have been done might not be accurate.
Governments exaggerate or understate their populations to make their nations look bigger or smaller, and
more prosperous than they actually are. Many people may not want to be counted or called particularly if
they are homeless, refugees or illegal migrants.

Adapted from Cunningham & Cunningham, 2020

Figure 3. Is this already overcrowded planet, or is man a resource? The approach largely depends on the
types of devices we use, and how we use them. This also depends on whether our social structures are
founded on equality, fairness and justice.

We exist in two cultural universes which are very different. Once such world is small, young, and
fast-growing, while the other is wealthy, aging, and population-shrinking. The world's poorest is inhabited
by the overwhelming majority of people living in the least developed countries of Africa, Asia and Latin
America (Figure 4.1). These countries account for 80 per cent of the world, but will contribute more than
90 percent of all projected future growth. The wealthier region includes North America, Western Europe,
Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The average age in richer countries is forty, and the life expectancy of
their residents can surpass 90 by 2050. With many couples opting to have either one or no children, the
populations of those countries are expected to decrease in the coming century.
Many developing world countries are growing so quickly that they will be reaching large
population levels by the middle of the 21st century (Figure 4.2). China was the most densely populated
nation in the 20th century; India is expected to surpass China in the 21st century. Nigeria, which had just
33 million people in 1950, is estimated to have 299 million inhabitants by 2050. Ethiopia is expected to
expand nearly tenfold over the course of a century, from about 18 million inhabitants 50 years ago. For
many of those nations, rapid population growth poses enormous challenges for food security and stability.
At the other hand, many developing countries have declining populations. Japan, which now has 128
 UM Panabo College
Department of Accounting and Business Administration Education
P.N. Arguelles St., San Francisco, Panabo City
Telefax # (084) 628-6437

million inhabitants, is expected to shrink to some 90 million by 2050. If current trends persist, Europe,
which now accounts for around 12 percent of the world 's population, will make up less than 7 percent in
50 years. When immigration had ended there would be stable populations for both the US and Canada.

Adapted from Cunningham & Cunningham, 2020

Figure 4.1. We live in two worlds of Figure 4.2. The World’s Largest Countries
demography. One is affluent, technologically
advanced, and has an aging population that, if
anything, is increasing slowly. The other one is
low, crowded and underdeveloped and is
rapidly rising.

Figure 5. Two modes of Population Growth

(https://www.britannica.com/science/population-ecology/Logistic-population-growth)
Practically, all populations would continue to grow exponentially as long as resources are
available. Most populations have the potential to expand at an exponential rate, as reproduction is
generally a process of multiplication. Birth rate and death rate are two of the most important variables
impacting the rate of population growth. The intrinsic rate of increase is the birth rate subtracted by the
death rate. Carrying capacity; population growth exponential versus logistic (Figure 5). Populations
expand at an exponential pace within an optimal world (one that has no limiting factors). Those
populations' growth curve is smooth and rises steeper over time (left). Exponential growth is therefore
curtailed for all populations by factors such as food constraints, diseases, competition for other resources.
As competition grows and resources become increasingly scarce, populations are exceeding their
environment's carrying capacity (K), causing their growth rate to slow almost to zero. This produces a
population growth curve in S-shaped form known as the logistic curve (right).
 UM Panabo College
Department of Accounting and Business Administration Education
P.N. Arguelles St., San Francisco, Panabo City
Telefax # (084) 628-6437

Ecological succession is the study of how biological populations reconstitute themselves appears
as a result of natural or anthropogenic disruption was an ecological structure and theoretical framework
underpin several disciplinary dimensions. Though succession is often seen as an old-fashioned one an
ionized topic, recent studies and reviews show this succession keeps playing a key role in contemporary
ecological theory and in application. Our concept of succession, for example is rooted in current group
assembly theories and the coexistence of organisms this has strong importance to landscape this
biodiversity studies, progress, ecological restoration and the global ecological shift.
Primary succession is the natural removal of nutrients from soil and vegetation. It takes a very
long time to recover primary successions. This may be attributed to the movement of lava or glaciers in
retreat. Secondary succession is when the field and the trees are cleared but the soil still persists.
Examples of this include forest fires, deforestation and earthquakes. Secondary succession relative to
main succession happens relatively rapidly. Secondary succession in the taiga came after the 1992
Canadian forest fire (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Primary and Secondary Succession.

Adapted from https://taigaclaymon.weebly.com/succession.html

Self-Help: You can also refer to the sources below to help you further
understand the lesson:

*Bueno, D. (2019). Environmental science. Mandaluyong City: Book Atbp. Publishing Corp.
ISBN: 978-621-409-112-6

*Chang, C. & Turner, B. (2019). Ecological succession in a changing world. Journal of Ecology,
107:503–509. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13132. Retrieved from
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/1365-2745.13132

*Cunningham, W. & Cunningham, M. A. (2020). Principles of environmental science: inquiry

 UM Panabo College
Department of Accounting and Business Administration Education
P.N. Arguelles St., San Francisco, Panabo City
Telefax # (084) 628-6437

and applications. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 9th edition.

*Easton, T. (2016). Taking sides: clashing views on environmental issues. New York: McGraw-
Hill Education. 16th edition.

*Enger, E. & Smith, B. (2019). Environmental Science: a study of interrelationships. New York:
McGraw Hill Education. 15th edition.

*Miller, G. & Spoolman, S. (2019). Environmental science. Australia: Cengage Learning, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-337-61275-3