History of ecology

Ernst Haeckel coined the word “oecology” in 1866 for a new science, but relevant observations and ideas had already been accumulating since the ancient Greeks. The balance of nature was the first ecological idea; Carl Linnaeus expanded it beyond animals to include plants and named it Oeconomia Naturae. Specialized sciences began to emerge in the early 1800s; among the earliest was phytogeography, founded by Alexander von Humboldt. Evolutionary theories by Lamarck and Charles Darwin were relevant to ecological ideas, since Lamarck thought species evolve rather than become extinct; Darwin saw competition as a cause of extinction. The roots of the main ecological specializations-plant ecology, animal ecology, limnology, and marine ecology-emerged in the 1800s, and limnology and plant ecology became organized by the 1890s. These four specializations were developed throughout the 1900s, as were new ones-primarily population ecology and ecosystem ecology. Ecological societies and journals came to the fore in the 1900s, as did institutions and specialized schools in various universities. Biogeochemistry arose in Russia (the USSR) in the early 1900s, and the Gaia theory arose in 1972. After the Second World War, environmentalism became important in all countries, and ecologists were needed as consultants. The International Biological Program (1964-74) produced many publications on ecosystems throughout the world. © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.