Lecture 1: What is Ecology

Question 1

Plant Biology

Answer 1

Developed from natural history, plant geography, and botany. Focuses on plant description of plant communities, succession (temporal changes in plant communities) a major topic

Question 2

Ecosystems Ecology

Answer 2

Developed from studies of lakes that focused on nutrient and energy flow. International Biological Program. Long-term studies- Hubbard Brook (NH) and the U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program

Question 3

Physiological Ecology (subdiscipline)

Answer 3

Questions Asked: What are the major abiotic challenges for organisms in different climates? How do they deal
with those challenges?

Question 4

Evolutionary Ecology (subdiscipline)

Answer 4

Questions Asked: What are the mechanisms of evolution and how do they work? How does ecology drive evolutionary change? What forces shape traits like body size, life span, number of offspring?

Question 5

Population Ecology (subdiscipline)

Answer 5

Questions Asked: How do we measure population sizes, and predict them into the future? What forces regulate populations? How are organisms distributed with respect to one another?

Question 6

Species Interactions

Answer 6

Questions Asked: What types of interactions occur in nature? How do they affect evolution, population size,
ecosystem function?

Question 7

Communities

Answer 7

How are natural communities structured? When and why do they change over time? What happens when communities are disturbed?

Question 8

Biodiversity

Answer 8

What is the role of environment vs. history in shaping where certain species occur? How does species diversity affect ecosystem function? How can we design preserves
to best conserve diversity?

Question 9

Ecosystems

Answer 9

Sources and pathways of energy through ecosystems?How do essential nutrients cycle through the biosphere?How are humans altering these cycles?