Concluding Statement 



Throughout this book we have examined nature, 

 using its organization as a basis for approaching and 

 relating various phenomena. Summarization, per- 

 haps conclusion, seems in order. 



Organization was stressed in the brief mention of 

 the universe and its subunits down to and including a 

 star system. Also, specific organization of our star 

 system, the solar system, introduced the main topic of 

 this book, the planet earth. Organization of the earth 

 led to discussion of air, sea, land, and life, and, 

 again, orderliness was a primary concern in each. 

 Finally, life was treated on the basis of the individual, 

 population, community, and ecosystem. Yet, all these 

 physical and biological phenomena comprise a single 

 unit, the sum total of all forces in the universe, 

 nature. 



Let us attempt to summarize these forces. By now 

 it should be obvious that nature displays organiza- 

 tion. This was the basis of our segregation of topics. 

 However, our segregation is not necessarily the only 

 one that could be made. We as humans observe what 

 to us appears as organization. DiflTerent individuals 

 could well express this organization in different terms 

 and difTerent categories. Therefore, the groupings 

 indicated in this book are the choice of the author, 

 mostly because they present a useful framework for 

 pedagogical purposes. 



Certain other concepts, again not necessarily the 

 only ones possible, may help in our final view of 

 nature. These concepts are limitation, regulation, 

 compensation, steady state, equilibrium, and 

 synergism. 



Limitation is a convenient way of expressing the 

 role of the environment on particular organisms. The 

 air, sea, land, and life limit any particular individual, 

 population, community, or ecosystem upon which we 

 focus our attention. We examined the role of limita- 

 tion, limiting factors. Also, specific ecological factors, 

 physical and biotic, were discussed in terms of how 

 they limit life. Additional examples of life limitation 

 were given in chapters on populations, communities. 



and ecosystems. In a sense, all ecological phenomena, 

 directly or indirectly, contribute to limitation. 



Regulation emphasizes the fact that limitation need 

 not be harmful. The gamut of ecological relation- 

 ships may harm individuals and often populations, 

 communities, and ecosystems; however, many rela- 

 tionships contribute to ecological success because 

 they regulate. A limiting factor may control organ- 

 isms by restricting their numbers, hence preventing 

 their needs from excluding the materials available in 

 their environment. In other words, regulation causes 

 organisms to be in balance with the energy cycle in 

 their ecosystem. Moreover, this regulation is related 

 to changes. For example, regulation is a major factor 

 in dynamics, influence, succession, stratification, 

 diurnation, aspectation, and many other temporal or 

 spatial variations and gradients in populations, com- 

 munities, and ecosystems. In a sense, evolution and 

 all other factors involved in ecological success can be 

 regulatory. 



(.'ompensation in the sense of balancing relationships 

 can exist in the environment, individual, population, 

 community, and ecosystem. The balances of eco- 

 logical factors at each of many locales can be identical 

 in the sense of all locales having the same climate, yet 

 individual ecological factors can and often would vary 

 among the locales. Biological compensation per se 

 can be related to adaptation. In the main it would be 

 related to newly created balances in environmental 

 conditions, balances unlike the old ones. Specializa- 

 tion, hereditary adaptation, is in turn related to 

 evolution. The normal means for balance through 

 specialization would be gene mutations to provide the 

 structures, functions, and behavior patterns required 

 for continued success. Adjustment, so-called non- 

 hereditary adaptation, would come from an organ- 

 ism's or larger group's acclimating to a new balance 

 of environmental conditions. 



Steady state or stability is allied to regulation and 

 compensation. Moreover, degree of steady state is 

 associated with life at the individual, population, and 



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