People in Ecosystem

This article reviews the ecosystem concept and introduces the distinction between adaptation and adjustment. The integration of social and biological approach to the study of adaptability was facilitate by acceptance of the ecosystem concept that derived from the study of biological ecology, views all organism as part of ecological system and subject to the same physical laws. Some concepts of ecosystem (Human ecology) are discusses.

The ecosystem, is a fundamental ecological unit that refers to associated species of living organism in a nonliving physical environment and to the structural and functional relationship among them. For proposes of study, ecosystem is subdivided into the tree components that structure it: energy, matter and information. Energy flows into ecosystem and its converted into vegetal biomass. Chemical energy makes possible the conversion of matter from organic to inorganic form and the cycle of essential nutrients in ecosystem. Information make possible control over rate of flow, change in ecosystem structure and function, and overall adaptability to both internal and external conditions.

Study of Human adaptability focuses on how human populations in interacting with each other and their environments attempt to accommodate themselves to these very specific environmental problems. Adaptations result from exposure to physical and chemical factor in the environment, from interaction with other species, and from the interaction of individuals within the same species. Individuals respond to changes in their environment by morphological and functional adjustment.

How energy is stored and performs work are described by Laws of thermodynamics which sates, (1) The energy is neither created nor destroyed, It may change form, one place to the another, or be degraded into less usable forms (2) Part of energy involved in doing work is lost as heat to the surrounding environment.　Thus, there is a constant degradation of energy. This leads to an increase in entropy in ecological system. While energy flows continually in and out of systems, matter essentially cycles form one state to another. The cycles of materials on the earth involve pathways that take elements from organic to inorganic forms and back again. There has been a tendency to speak of cycle mater as closed cycles.

How information flows and is transformed is of interest to analysis of how matter and energy are transformed and work achieved. On perception of human organization of information, there is sensory reception of signals and symbols, some of which are ignored and some of which are received, depending upon the sensory quality of the information and its fit with current logical structures that result from linguistic and cultural categorization. The filed of semiotic has developed in recent years as an interdisciplinary attempt to deal with the complex phenomena of message exchanges and communication systems, It deals with interrelations among social, culture, and environmental variables.

The process of globalization has the potential of threatening human ecosystem in ways and at scales not currently imaginable. The impact of global media, international flows of labor, the spread of infectious diseases and global economy are transforming concept of community, culture and society. Ecosystems have always experienced change and disturbance, but the rates and magnitude at local, regional, and global scale have grown in recent years.