human ecology

human ecology [′hyü·mən ē′käl·ə·jē]

(ecology)

The branch of ecology that considers the relations of individual persons and of human communities with their particular environment.

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Human ecology

The study of how the distributions and numbers of humans are determined by interactions with conspecific individuals, with members of other species, and with the abiotic environment. Human ecology encompasses both the responses of humans to, and the effects of humans on, the environment. Human ecology today is the combined result of humans' evolutionary nature and cultural developments. See Ecological communities, Ecosystem

Humans' strong positive and negative emotional responses to components of the environment evolved because our ancestors' responses to environmental information affected survival and reproductive success. Early humans needed to interpret signals from other organisms and the abiotic environment, and they needed to evaluate and select habitats and the resources there. These choices were emotionally driven. For example, food is one of the most important resources provided by the environment. Gathering food requires decisions of where to forage and what items to select. Anthropologists often use the theory of optimal foraging to interpret how these decisions are made. The theory postulates that as long as foragers have other valuable ways to spend their time or there are risks associated with seeking food, efficient foraging will be favored even when food is not scarce. This approach has facilitated development of simple foraging models and more elaborate models of food sharing and gender division of labor, symbolic communication, long-term subsistence change, and cross-cultural variation in subsistence practices.

Significant modification of the environment by people was initiated by the domestication of fire, used to change vegetation structure and influence populations of food plants and animals. Vegetation burning is still common in the world, particularly in tropic regions. The arrival of humans with sophisticated tools precipitated the next major transformation of Earth, the extinction of large vertebrates. Agriculture drove the third major human modification of environments. Today about 35–40% of terrestrial primary production is appropriated by people, and the percentage is rising.

Humans will continue to exert powerful influences on the functioning of the Earth's ecological systems. The human population is destined to increase for many years. Rising affluence will be accompanied by increased consumption of resources and, hence, greater appropriation of the Earth's primary production. Nevertheless, many future human ecology scenarios are possible, depending on how much the human population grows and how growth is accommodated, the efficiency with which humans use and recycle resources, and the value that people give to preservation of biodiversity. See Ecology, Environment