Iguana Ecology – Environment Iguanas Really Love
Iguanas are crucial to survive extinction, as it is part of the eco-system. Without the iguanas, the balance of ecosystem may be damaged. That is why we, as more intelligent creations must help to preserve them. In preserving these animals, people need to know the appropriate ecological atmosphere for the iguanas.
However, replicating ecological condition for the iguanas in captivity is a very challenging task. Iguanas are very dependent on their surroundings in terms of temperature as to their body heat and food supply as to the proper body chemistry and metabolism.
Iguanas inhabit the forests of Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands. They inhabit trees growing near bodies of water in the deep jungle. They prefer adjacent to water sources as a form of defense from predators. There, they can be seen basking on large horizontal tree limbs or feeding amount the foliage. Iguanas are intensely territorial so no more than a single large male will be found in a specific area encompassing about a quarter to a half-acre in size. In captivity, cage size is often not much longer than 1.5 times the iguana’s length. This exemplifies how adaptable these creatures really are.
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Ecological Technology
Can we solve our current energy crisis in an ecologically friendly manner? Can we gain better understanding on ecological systems when viewed from a technological perspective? The answer is a big yes but only if our intellect is up to the challenge.
Ecology, the branch of science that deals with the interactions of living organisms and their environment, a term derived from two Greek words which mean “the study of the home” while technology is the totality of the means employed to provide objects necessary for human sustenance and comfort.
Since humans are the dominant “life form” on this planet, and are viewed as the cause célèbre for all of our ecological problems. Paradoxically, it is us that can only solve the problems that we create in the first place. One of the problems that we face today is our increasing demand for energy generation that is not necessarily environmentally friendly to begin with. How we go about solving this must go hand in hand on how we will protect our environment just to keep our planet habitable in the future. All the energy that mankind utilizes, whether renewable or not, all come from nature. Only a handful of scientists like R. Buckminster Fuller view ecosystems as an interrelationship between matter and energy or more aptly living organisms and energy.
All ecosystems are governed by: “The Laws of Thermodynamics”, this is the relationship between matter and energy in a system. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that “the sum total energy in a system is constant” i.e. energy can neither be created nor destroyed. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that there is a tendency toward entropy or maximum disorganization of a structure and the loss of usable energy. These laws prevent us from formulating an easy solution to our energy problem in an ecologically friendly manner. But first, let’s check out how nature manages energy to sustain an ecosystem.
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The Ecology of Environmentalism
The concept of “nature” is a romantic invention. It was spun by the likes of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century as a confabulated utopian contrast to the dystopia of urbanization and materialism. The traces of this dewy-eyed conception of the “savage” and his unmolested, unadulterated surroundings can be found in the more malignant forms of fundamentalist environmentalism.
At the other extreme are religious literalists who regard Man as the crown of creation with complete dominion over nature and the right to exploit its resources unreservedly. Similar, veiled, sentiments can be found among scientists. The Anthropic Principle, for instance, promoted by many outstanding physicists, claims that the nature of the Universe is preordained to accommodate sentient beings – namely, us humans.
Industrialists, politicians and economists have only recently begun paying lip service to sustainable development and to the environmental costs of their policies. Thus, in a way, they bridge the abyss – at least verbally – between these two diametrically opposed forms of fundamentalism. Still, essential dissimilarities between the schools notwithstanding, the dualism of Man vs. Nature is universally acknowledged.
Modern physics – notably the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics – has abandoned the classic split between (typically human) observer and (usually inanimate) observed. Environmentalists, in contrast, have embraced this discarded worldview wholeheartedly. To them, Man is the active agent operating upon a distinct reactive or passive substrate – i.e., Nature. But, though intuitively compelling, it is a false dichotomy.
Tags: ecology and environment, ecology online