Lecture 1: Introduction Flashcards
Why does ecology complete the Biology curriculum?
➢Deals with the higher levels of biological organization.
➢Investigates how organisms interact with each other and with the abiotic factors in the environment.
➢Describes the habitat (address) as well as the niche (profession) of organisms.
➢Investigations mostly conducted on-field situations.
What is ecology?
Studies the relationship between a living organism and its environment
Examples of abiotic factors
- wind
- sunlight
- soil
- atmosphere
- temperature
- water
Biological organization
cell > tissues > organ > organ system > organism
Biological organization (from subatomic particles)
subatomic particle > atom > compound > organelle > cell > tissue > organ > organ system > organism
the ecological study of an individual organism, or sometimes a particular species.
autecology (organism & population)
Ecological organization
organism > population > community > ecosystem > biosphere
the ecological study of whole plant or animal communities.
synecology (community & ecosystem)
- a group of organisms that are genetically related and can breed to produce fertile young
species
a group of organisms belonging to the same species that live in the same area and interact with one another.
population
- all of the populations of different species that live in the same area and interact with one another.
- composed of all of the biotic factors of an area.
community
includes the living organisms (all the populations) in an area and the non-living aspects of the environment
ecosystem
the part of the planet with living organisms
Biosphere
importance of decomposers
- feed on dead organic matter
- release nutrients to the soil that
provide for the growth of plants.
Who coined the word “Oekologie”? and when?
Ernst Haeckel (1869)
Etymology of ecology
“Oekologie”
Greek word:
“oikos” – house
“logos” – study of
Ecology definition according to Haeckel, 1869
The relationship of the animal to its organic as well as its inorganic environment
Ecology definition according to Nature Study
The study of the structure and function of nature
Ecology definition according to MacFacyden, 1963
A multidisciplinary Science
Ecology definition according to Andrewatha, 1961
Scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms
the best definition of ecology
ECOLOGY is the scientific study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms.
Questions in ecology
- What organisms are there?
- Why they occur there?
- What does it feed on?
- How does it minimize damage from wave action?
- Is it absent from other sites due to some factors?
- What are its predators?
- What are its competitors?
- What causes the death of this organism?
Three meanings of Ecology in today’s society
- The professional science and its variants
- The relation of any organism to its environment
- The political or philosophical movement incorporating environmental
concerns – NO!!
Difference of Environmentalism and Ecology
Environmentalism:
- advocacy, political aspects of managing our environment.
- Combines Ecology with other natural
and human science (applied ecology)
Ecology:
- Is a science with the goal of searching for principles governing the interactions between the living and non-living
components on earth (pure ecology)
- Uses the scientific method of posing and testing hypotheses using field, laboratory, and mathematical approaches
displays yearly temperature and precipitation statistics for a particular location.
climate graph/ climograph
- often considered the father of ecology. He was the first to take on the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment.
- also considered the father of *modern geography
Alexander Von Humboldt
- a Danish botanist and ecologist known for his significant contributions to the field of ecology and plant geography
- He is particularly known for his book “Oecological Plant Geography” (1895), which laid the groundwork for understanding how environmental factors influence the distribution of plant species and communities around the world
Johannes Warming
- wrote “Plant Geography of Physiological Basis,” is often credited as one of the earliest comprehensive works that discussed the concept of tropical rainforests and their characteristics.
Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper
an American ecologist who is widely known for his pioneering work in the field of plant ecology, particularly for his research on plant succession.
Henry Chandler Cowles
a process of ecological succession that occurs in an environment that is virtually devoid of life and has not been significantly influenced by living organisms before.
primary succession
process of ecological succession that occurs in an environment that has been previously inhabited by living organisms but has undergone a disturbance that significantly altered the ecosystem, such as forest fires, clear-cutting, or abandoned agricultural fields.
secondary succession
a Swiss botanist known for his significant contributions to plant community structure.
Josias Braun-Blanquet
a German limnologist (a scientist specializing in the study of freshwater ecosystems) known for his significant contributions to the concept of trophic levels in food webs. “flow of energy”
August Thienemann
a Swiss scientist often referred to as one of the “fathers of limnology.” Limnology is the scientific study of inland waters, including lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands. His extensive research and contributions to the understanding of freshwater ecosystems earned him this distinction.
Francois Alphonse Forel
- an influential figure in the early development of ecology, and his concept of “the lake as a microcosm”
- helped set the stage for later researchers to investigate phenomena like algal blooms and fish kills.
Stephen Alfred Forbes
- were American limnologists who conducted significant research on freshwater ecosystems, particularly lakes. They made important contributions to the study of primary production in aquatic environments.
- the concept of primary production
Edward Birge and Chancey Juday
Plant ecologists
- Alexander Von Humboldt
- Johannes Warming
- Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper
- Henry Chandler Cowles
- Frederic Clements
- Josias Braun-Blanquet
- August Thienemann
- Francois Alphonse Forel
- Stephen Alfred Forbes
- Edward Birge and Chancey Juday
a British ecologist and one of the pioneers of modern ecology. His book “Animal Ecology,” published in 1927, is indeed a landmark work that significantly influenced the development of the field
Charles Elton
wrote the book “Ecological Animal Geography”
Richard Hesse
published first book “A guide to the study of
Animal Ecology” (1913)
Charles Christopher Adams
an American ecologist known for his significant contributions to the field of ecology. He is indeed credited with formulating the “Law of Tolerance,” which gave a new direction to ecology by stressing the relationship between plants and animals
Victor Ernest Shelford
an American ecologist and zoologist known for his significant contributions to the field of animal ecology. He is best known for formulating what is now known as the “Allee effect/Allee Principle” and for his work on cooperative behavior in animals.
Warder Clyde Allee
a British botanist and ecologist who is credited with introducing the concept of the “ecosystem.” His work had a profound influence on the field of ecology and how we understand the interactions between living organisms and their environment.
Arthur George Tansley
an American ecologist known for his pioneering work in the field of trophic ecology, particularly his research on energy flow and the dynamics of ecosystems. His most notable contribution is the paper titled “The Trophic-Dynamic Aspect of Ecology,” published in 1942, which had a profound impact on our understanding of the flow of energy through ecosystems.
Raymond Lindemann
biogeochemical cycling
George Evelyn Hutchinson, Ivington, Rodin, Bazellivic
published the influential book titled “Fundamentals of Ecology,” which is considered a foundational text in the field. The book aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of ecological principles and concepts, and it played a crucial role in shaping the way ecology was taught and understood.
- Summarized all principles
Howard Thomas Odum
Experimental ecology
Alfred Lotka & Vito Voltera
a Soviet biologist known for his pioneering work in the field of ecological competition and predator-prey interactions.
- competition theory
- exclusion principle - different niches can’t coexist
George Gause
Intraspecific competition - competition among the same species
Arnold Joseph Nicholson
an American ecologist known for his contributions to the study of plant ecology and the development of the niche concept.
Henry A. Gleason
- influential ethologists who made significant contributions to the study of animal behavior, including instinctive and aggressive behaviors.
- were pioneers in the field of ethology, which focuses on the study of natural animal behavior in their natural environments.
- instinctive and aggressive behavior
Lorenz and Tinbergen
a British economist and demographer known for his influential work on population growth and its relation to available resources. His most famous work, “An Essay on the Principle of Population,” was first published in 1798.
- population density versus resource
- Malthusian theory - famine will happen
Thomas Malthus
Origin of species, mainly ecological in its orientation (e.g., natural selection is an ecological process)
Charles Darwin
Credited Darwin as the founder of
Ecology
Ernst Haeckel
Division of Ecology
- BASED ON SYSTEM STUDIED
(marine, freshwater, terrestrial, forest, lake) - BASED ON MECHANISM/FUNCTION
(physiological, mathematical, chemical, ecotoxicology, conservation) - BASED ON LEVEL OF ORGANIZATION
(individual, population, community, ecosystem, landscape) - BASED ON TAXONOMIC GROUP STUDIED
(microbial, plant, avian, insect)
the study of single organisms or populations of
single species and their relationship to their environment.
Autecology
Subdivisions of ecology
- Autecology
- Synecology
the study of groups of organisms (or populations) associated to form a functional unit of the environment.
synecology
Three approaches to ecology
- Systems Ecology
- Evolutionary Ecology
- Population Ecology
analysis of the structure and function of the ecosystem by the use of mathematics and engineering in constructing models.
Systems Ecology
concentrates on the changes taking place in
organisms and their interactions with their environment due to adaptation
Evolutionary Ecology
strongly directed on population dynamics
creating theories and equations to derive ecological concepts
Population Ecology
What Ecologists Do?
- Discover and describe patterns in nature (WHAT & WHERE)
- Explain the observed patterns in nature (HOW & WHY)
Research examples of ecologists
- Distribution of climate and organisms (temperate vs. tropical)
- Unique associations of plants and animals
- TRF vs desert conditions
- Limits of tolerance for different organisms
- Unique relationships among organism
Types of scale
- Biological scale
- Spatial scale
- Temporal scale
The study area can be as small as within an organism or the entire biosphere
Spatial scale
The scale of Ecological Investigations
- Individual Space
- Local Patch/Ecological Neighborhood
- Regional Scale
- Biogeographical Scale
changes in community composition or ecosystem properties through time
succession studies
➢ Can be a matter of hours, or thousands of years, and all in between.
➢ Long-term studies (>3 years) are difficult to do and rare but have tremendous value (for example: social behavior in apes)
Temporal scale
