lecture 02 - what is ecology?

Question 1

what is ecology?

Answer 1

the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment in a hierarchy of levels of organization

Question 2

how do we organize organismal life

Answer 2

individuals, populations, community, ecosystem, landscape, biosphere

Question 3

individuals

Answer 3

living entities that are genetically and physically discrete

Question 4

population

Answer 4

group of interbreeding individuals of a single species

Question 5

community

Answer 5

population of species that occur together in the same space and time (=association of interacting species)

Question 6

ecosystem

Answer 6

biological community together with its associated physical and chemical environment (energy flow)

Question 7

landscape

Answer 7

exchange of materials, energy and organisms among ecosystems

Question 8

biosphere

Answer 8

portions of the earth that support life, including land, water and atmosphere

Question 9

autoecology

Answer 9

focuses on the interactions between individuals with their environment

Question 10

population ecology

Answer 10

interactions between species or factors that influence the structure of entire communities

Question 11

ecosystem ecology

Answer 11

how organisms and chemical and physical processes interact

Question 12

landscape ecology

Answer 12

how landscape patterns influence ecological processes and how ecological processes in turn modify the landscape

Question 13

macroecology

Answer 13

processes at large spatial scales (region, continent or several continents)

Question 14

global ecology

Answer 14

study of processes at the global scale with relevance for all life on our planet

Question 15

what is the order of asking questions

Answer 15

observation
question
hypothesis
prediction
test of predication
iteration