Introduction to Ecology

Question 1

What is ecology and its challenges?

Answer 1

Ecology: the branch of biology that deals with the relationship between organisms and their surrounding biotic and abiotic environment.
- attempts to understand the distribution and abundance of organisms over space and time.

Challenges:

1. Complexity of ecological systems contains hundreds of interacting species
2. Scale dependence of many ecological processes
   
   • scale needs to be modulated based on the organism being studied
   • organisms perceive the environment at different temporal scales (different lifespands)

Question 2

What is population in an ecological and genetic context?

Answer 2

Population

Ecological context: a population is comprised of individuals of a single species that occupy the same general area, rely on the same resources, have a high likelihood of interacting with one another and are influenced by similar environmental factors

Genetic context: a population is a group of individuals living in close enough proximity to have both the potential to interbreed conspecifics and a reasonable likelihood of that occurring

Population Dynamics → changes in abundance of pop over time