“生态环境”概念的起源与内涵

The origin of the term "ecological environment (eco-environment)" in Chinese and its connotation

"生态环境"这一汉语名词是我国目前使用频率较高的术语之一,但同时也是较有争议的术语之一。据分析,它在我国的使用至少可以追溯到20世纪50年代初期,最初是从俄文"экотоп"和英文"ecotope"翻译而来。但是"生态环境"这一汉语名词目前已经基本脱离了"母体",与"экотоп"和"ecotope"的联系很少。我国已经普遍将"生态环境"与"ecologicalenvironment"作为汉英、英汉双向对照名词。以生物为主体,"生态环境"可以定义为"对生物生长、发育、生殖、行为和分布有影响的环境因子的综合"。以人类为主体,它是指"对人类生存和发展有影响的自然因子的综合"。这一名词可以作为生态学的规范名词来使用。

The term 'ecological environment' in Chinese is now one of the terms in common use in daily life as well as in ecology in China. However it is regrettable that it is also one of the most disputed in usage among Chinese ecologists. It is the purpose of this paper to research into its origin and connotation, and to define it in a precise manner to eliminate confusion. The analysis showed that its usage can at least be traced back to 1953, and it came from the translations of 'экотоп' and 'ecotope'. However this Chinese term has been less related to the Russian word'экотоп' or English word 'ecotope', and it is now generally translated into 'ecological environment' (or its shortened form 'ecoenvironment') and vice versa. The 'ecotope' is now used in a meaning more or less similar to 'habitat' in China.China is one of the countries in witch ecologists prefer to use the term 'ecological environment'. According to CAB abstracts (1973～Feb. 24,2003), among the 99 abstracts including the term 'ecological environment', 44 records are written by Chinese ecologists, 42 by some ecologists in 22 countries whose native languages are not English, and the rest 13 by those ones in 6 countries whose native or official language is English. The 'ecological environment' describes the organism's full range of environmental factors to which it is exposed and reacts in its survival and reproduction. The ecological environment in this sense has a broader meaning than 'habitat' but a narrow one than 'environment'. And from the point view of Homo sapiens, it refers to the total of natural factors to which it reacts and on which it depends for its living and development. Human's ecological environment in this sense is distinguishable from its living habitat.