MACFADYEN Extractor

Originally, ecology was a branch of biology that dealt with the so-called interrelationships of all living organisms. It is important to know that in this context the word living being stands for humans and animals as well as for plants and microorganisms.

At the same time, however, ecology is also concerned with the interrelationships between these living beings and the unoccupied environment, which includes the soil, the climate and the water. It is therefore indispensable for the existence of life on our planet.

From all the interrelationships concerning ecology, it is therefore possible to identify our so-called ecosystem, the function of which is already suffering from various disturbances of precisely these interrelationships.

In order to understand and promote the existing ecosystem, which is the basis of our life, ecology divides its questions into three sub-areas, from which necessary measures in the most diverse areas of life can result, which under certain circumstances touch on the most diverse subject areas.

Ecologists proceed step by step, starting with the smallest form of ecology. This so-called auto-ecology deals primarily with the interactions of the smallest individual organisms and their environment, from which initial conclusions can be drawn about their dependence on their habitat.

The second step, population ecology, expands these observations somewhat and looks at groups of similar individual organisms. Here, researchers focus primarily on the animal and plant kingdoms, hoping to draw conclusions about the functions of our ecosystem from the behaviour of one group in relation to another.

Ecology, on the other hand, only touches on our human habitat in the third step. Here, in the approach called synecology, our entire habitat is examined in order to be able to draw conclusions about the interrelationships within a multi-layered community. The aim of this approach is to find answers to important environmental and societal questions that will enable comprehensive protection of our habitat.

For this very reason, this area of research is becoming increasingly important in our daily lives, and can now also be transferred to other areas.

At present, a distinction is made between the main topics of animal ecology, plant ecology, marine ecology, freshwater ecology, continental ecology, molecular ecology and finally human ecology, which deals primarily with the human habitat and examines the interactions of humans with their environment.

In this context, ecology is also finding its way into our everyday lives more and more quickly, especially in recent years, and is now also being applied in politics, economics and energy policy, where it should serve to develop a good concept for protecting the Earth.

Source:

http://www.gfoe2007.de/okologie-%E2%80%93-was-ist-das-eigentlich.htm

Kempson method:

The Kempson method is a laboratory method of ecology for studying the species spectrum and animal density in soil and litter.

Samples taken from the field are placed in prepared tubs with wire mesh bottoms and heated from above by strong light and dried out. The animals migrate downwards into the wetter part and finally fall through the wire mesh bottom into a collecting tray with preservation liquid.

The efficiency of the method is very high at over 90 %.

(Michael Mühlenberg: Freilandökologie. 3rd, revised edition. UTB, 1993, P. 422, ISBN 3-8252-0595-9)

Sieve flotation method:

Soil samples are flushed with water through five cascaded collecting trays, each connected by an overflow, and each containing a sieve tray. The sieved sample material is flotated with a mixture of glycerine and water (specific weight 1.14). This separates the animals from the heavier, remaining soil and plant material.
Determination of animal densities in the soil, especially of dipteran larvae and other less mobile stages of arthropods and annelids.

(Michael Mühlenberg: Field Ecology. 3rd, revised edition. UTB, 1993, P. 422, ISBN 3-8252-0595-9)

The arthropods emerging from the soil in spring and summer are quantitatively captured in soil photoeclectors; the analysis can be carried out both in terms of their density (number of individuals per unit area) and - for life cycle questions - in terms of their temporal occurrence (phenologically). Spiders, weaver crabs, centipedes and isopods are only incompletely recorded in soil photoeclectors, as they are not specifically strata changers. They are determined in absolute density in two ways: Hand selection and heat extraction with a selection apparatus according to KEMPSON.

(Michael Mühlenberg: Outdoor Ecology. 3rd, revised edition. UTB, 1993, P. 422, ISBN 3-8252-0595-9)

Bundesamt für Naturschutz (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation), Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environment Agency), Gesellschaft für Ökologie e.V (The Ecological Society). and various ecological institutes of many universities