ECOLOGY - Overview Subdisciplines Allied Sciences Concepts FIELD BIOLOGY & METHODOLOGY Fall 2015 Althoff Ron Cobb 1968 Lecture 01

Ecology “_______” -- Greek for a “place to live” or “household” Original known use: oekologie was coined by German biologist Ernst Haeckel in First text written and course taught in Ecology by Danish botanist Eugene Warming in 1895.

ECOLOGY -- study of the natural environment and the relations of organisms to each other and their surroundings. Tremendous __________ of interactions Complex levels of bio _____________ Challenge: to “do” _____________

Diversity of Interactions Can happen at multiple levels…. Within organism Between organisms Between populations Between ecosystems… and with the __________ components of the environment

grass snake Forked tongue tongue vomero- nasal organ nerve brain A B A B _________ __________________ Jacobson’s organ

Levels of Biological Organization Living Non-living Atom Molecule Tissue Organ Organ-System Population Community Biosphere

“Solid Science” Scientific method - the process: Observation  Hypotheses  Experiments  Analysis/Conclusions  Theories (or “back to the drawing board”) Challenge of establishing “_________” for complex and diverse systems Often left with _________________ studies vs. ______________ studies…..—both can feed into models

Subdisciplines Autecology Population Ecology Community Ecology Ecosystem Ecology

AUTECOLOGY -- interactions between __________ organism & its environment. POPULATION ECOLOGY--interactions between a ______ & its environment.

COMMUNITY ECOLOGY--interactions ________________living in the same area ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY--interactions among all the ______ and ______ components of the system

Five approaches to the study of Ecology Ricklefs Fig. 1.3, p5 – 5 th edition Biosphere Approach Ecosystem Approach Organism Approach Population Approach Community Approach This represents an area where all five approaches intersect

ECOLOGY Natural History Resource Management Sciences Environmental Science Allied Sciences

What are they? Natural History — life histories of organisms, population biology/reproduction, dietary analysis, etc. Environmental Science – study the interactions of the various aspects of natural history with the environment Resource Management Sciences—forestry management, fisheries management, wildlife management, agronomy, etc.

Key Definitions... ____________—group of organisms of a particular species that inhabit an area ____________—an association of interaction populations, usually defined by the nature of their interaction or the place in which they live ____________—all the interacting parts of the physical (abiotic) and biological (biotic) worlds

Key Definitions... ________—the place where an animal or plant (or microorganism) normally lives, often characterized by a dominant plant form or physical characteristic (this is a stream habitat, a forest habitat, a gastro-intestinal habitat, etc.) ________—the ecological role of a species in the community; the ranges of many conditions and resource qualities within which the organism or species persists, often conceived as a multidimensional space

General Principles of Ecology 1)Ecological systems are __________ entities 2)Ecological systems exist in ____________ 3)Ecological systems undergo _____________ _________ over time