Physiology - the centre of environmental research

As I am again reading a grant application on conservation biology, I started thinking what is important when combining environmental changes and organisms. And the single factor is physiology (=function). This conclusion may be surprising, as physiology is virtually always at least in Finland considered to be a minor field of biology with little importance in environmental science. However, I hope that the points I make below will convince the reader about the truth of the conclusion.

First, without functions organisms would be just stones. They could  have exactly the same molecules, including the whole genome, but if they would not function (=be physiologically active), they would be just unliving material with interesting molecules.

Second, environmental changes will influence the ecosystem only if the function of some organism(s) in the ecosystem is affected. Thus, any ecological effects are only seen after  there must be physiological effects. It is possible that one does not see any change in, e.g., species abundances or composition, even if the environmental disturbance is affecting the physiology of organisms, provided that immigration/emigration balances the disturbance. Consequently, environmental changes can be observed first at the physiological level; physiological changes may cause measurable ecological effects.

Third, even if environmental changes affect the genetic makeup of organisms, the changes are only important, if the physiology of the organism is affected in such a way that the fitness of organism (taken as the number of sexually mature offspring produced) is influenced. Thus, also genetic effects of environmental changes are only seen, if changes in the physiology of organisms take place.

As a conclusion, physiology should be in the centre of biological environmental research. This has already been realized in some cases in USA: I recently participated in filling a position of conservation biology, where a physiologist was selected instead of other biologists. I hope that in this regard Finnish science would be among front runners in noting how environmental biology should develop.