Milestones in Ecology

Copyrighted Material Milestones in Ecology Compiled by Christopher Morris This timeline presents a view of the successive advancement whereas those with mismatching parts died out. This of the field of ecology, first through earlier developments that concept of survival of certain body types and extinction of provided a foundation for the field and then through devel- others roughly anticipates the nineteenth-century theory opments within the formal discipline of ecology itself, from of natural selection. the late 1800s onward. The timeline concludes with a cutoff 400s BC. Herodotus, known as the father of history, reports date in the late twentieth century, based on the principle that on the wildlife he observes in areas of the Mediterranean. contemporary developments need a certain interval of time He identifies an example of mutualism, involving the Nile before their significance can be properly evaluated. crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) and a bird (the Egyptian plover, Pluvianus aegyptius) that removes and eats para- 500,000 BC. Proposed date for the earliest use of fire in a sitic leeches in the crocodile’s mouth. Herodotus also de- controlled manner, the first major alteration of the natural scribes a balance-of-nature concept by noting that prey environment by human activity. By about 3000 BC, many animals such as the rabbit have greater reproductive ca- forest regions of the Middle East will be stripped of trees pacity than the predators that feed on them. for the fuel demands of the Bronze Age. ca. 380 BC. A striking example of resource depletion is de- 8000 BC. Estimated time for the beginnings of agriculture, crop scribed by Plato, who decries loss of forest cover, and irrigation, and village formation in various areas of the subsequent erosion, in the mountains of his native region world, especially in parts of the so-called Fertile Crescent of Attica. He portrays the area as ‘‘A mere relic of the such as Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley. Evidence also original country. ...What remains is like the skeleton of a indicates that plants such as gourds were being cultivated at body wasted by disease. All the rich soil has melted away, about the same time in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico. leaving a country of skin and bone.’’ ca. 2000 BC. The Indus Valley civilization, one of the three 300s BC. Aristotle establishes a classification system for ani- great sites of early civilization along with Mesopotamia mals, placing those with red blood in a different category and Egypt, declines and eventually collapses. Cited as a from those without blood. This in effect corresponds to leading cause of this is the large-scale removal of forests, the contemporary distinction between vertebrates and in- which is thought to have shifted the habitat preferences of vertebrates. He further divides the blooded animals into the mosquito Anopholes stephansi, a dangerous malaria five groups similar to the modern system of mammals, vector, from forest to urban areas. birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. 900s BC (?). The Bible states in Genesis 1:26: ‘‘And God said, 300s BC. Chinese philosophers of the Taoist (Daoist) tradi- Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let tion develop a concept of living as one with nature, based them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the on the idea that humanity is only a single component of fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, the wholeness of the natural world, rather than the master and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the of it. Restraint is urged in the use of resources to maintain earth.’’ This passage has been interpreted in contrasting the harmony and balance of nature. Taoism has thus been ways in the modern era, on the one hand as the Christian described as a model for the modern environmental phi- basis for the concept of environmental stewardship, and losophy of deep ecology. conversely, as a God-given right to exploit the natural ca. 300 BC. Aristotle’s pupil Theophrastus produces an ex- world for human benefit. haustive study of plants, describing them according to such 500s BC. Ancient Chinese writers describe feeding patterns in criteria as method of reproduction, size, habitat, method animal communities with aphorisms such as ‘‘The large of cultivation, practical uses, and appearance, smell, and fish eat the small fish’’; ‘‘Large birds cannot eat small taste. This is considered the first significant step in the sys- grain’’; and ‘‘Each hill can shelter only a single tiger.’’ In the tematic classification of plant life. twentieth century, animal ecologist Charles Elton will cite ca. 220 BC. The Qin Dynasty of ancient China enacts the these sayings to show ancient awareness of the principle of world’s earliest known environmental protection laws. food pyramids. According to documents recently discovered, bans or re- 400s BC. The Greek philosopher Empedocles postulates that strictions were placed on the cutting of trees, the burning animals had originally been formed at random from in- of grass or picking of germinating plants, the killing of dividual parts, with those in which the parts formed a baby animals and birds, and the use of poison, traps, or natural body shape surviving and reproducing over time, nets to catch fish and game. Copyrighted Material 762 Milestones in Ecology 100s BC. Ancient Rome provides contrasting examples of use management through the controlled burning of for- the management of ecosystem services. On one hand, the ests and grasslands, which promotes the success of fire- Romans successfully manage and conserve water through resistant (or fire-dependent) plant species. an elaborate system of aqueducts and water fountains. On 1493. Christopher Columbus returns to Spain from his mo- the other hand, they fail to properly manage forest re- mentous voyage to the West Indies, carrying specimens of sources, and evidence suggests this deforestation is one of various plants, birds, and animals previously unknown to the causes of the eventual collapse of the Roman Empire. the Old World. These include important food plants such ca. AD 65. Greek physician Dioscorides travels widely in the as maize (corn), sweet potatoes, peppers, bananas, and area of the Mediterranean and Asia Minor and writes pineapples. Columbus is also said to be one of the first to De Materia Medica, a five-volume compendium on ‘‘the note that forests influence and enhance rainfall, through preparation, properties, and testing of drugs.’’ In this work his observations of the landscape of the Azores and Can- he describes more than 600 different plants that have aries. pharmacological effects and establishes the practice of 1503. The German artist Albrecht Du¨ rer creates a watercolor organizing botanical information on a species-by-species known as ‘‘The Large Piece of Turf,’’ which is described as basis. the first work of art with an ecological theme. Before this, AD 800s. The Arab scholar Al-Jahiz provides the first explicit artists had included plants as background for scenes with description of a food chain, stating that ‘‘All animals, in human subjects, but Du¨ rer’s painting realistically portrays short, can not exist without food, neither can the hunting a plant community separate from human society. animal escape being hunted in his turn.’’ He also is among 1543. Andreas Vesalius, a Flemish physician, publishes De the first to describe the effect of environmental factors on Fabrica Corporis Humani [Concerning the Structure of animal life. the Human Body], a book that founds the scientific dis- 1100s. Ibn al-’Awwam, an Arab agriculturist active in Moor- cipline of anatomy. The influence of Vesalius extends be- ish Spain, writes a comprehensive encyclopedia of botany yond anatomy as his work inspires various similar studies in which he discusses hundreds of different kinds of crop in zoology, as by Pierre Belon on birds (1555) and Conrad plants, including 50 types of fruit trees. This work includes Gesner (see next). valuable information on soil science, fertilization, grafting, 1556. Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner completes the fourth and plant pathology. volume of his Historiae Animalium, a far-ranging study of 1100s. The Cistercians, a Roman Catholic monastic order, animal life. The books are profusely illustrated and deal develop methods of sustainable agriculture that allow with, respectively, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, their monasteries to derive all necessary sustenance and birds, and fish and other aquatic animals. Gessner’s work income from their own farm production. In particular, is regarded as the beginning of the field of vertebrate zo- they are noted for the practice of an early form of resto- ology. ration ecology, converting desolate or abandoned terrain 1583. Italian scientist Andrea Cesalpino publishes De Plantis into fertile agricultural land. Libri XVI, which is considered the first textbook of bot- early 1200s. St. Francis of Assisi becomes widely known for any in that he studies plants for their own sake rather than his love of nature. According to legend, he is able to gather in terms of their applications in medicine, agriculture, and flocks of birds around him and preach to them. He comes horticulture. In this book, he employs a system of bino- to represent the concept of living in harmony with the mial nomenclature that anticipates the work of Linnaeus environment rather than trying to dominate it. by almost two centuries. 1240s. Frederick II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, 1603. The Lincean Academy is founded by Federico Cesi in publishes a six-volume treatise entitled De Arte Venandi Rome. Galileo Galilei will become a member in 1611. This cum Avibus [The Art of Hunting with Birds]. It is lavishly is one of the first scientific communities, and it carries out illustrated and contains many valuable observations on important research in fields such as entomology and pa- avian biology, dealing with topics such as comparative leobotany, especially with the use of the newly invented anatomy, feeding habits, characteristic habitats, and di- microscope.

Load more