1. Welcome to Ecology
Paul Cezanne

2. Bolinas Lagoon

3. Bolinas Lagoon Salt Marsh

4. Atlantic White Cedar Swamp

5. Green Oaks – South Prairie

6. Course Webpage

7. What is ?

8. Ecology is: A science – and as such is concerned with:
Attempting to describe and explain as objectively as possible patterns and processes that occur in the physical world
Also attempts to make predictions about future events based on past history and current circumstances

9. Ecology is not: Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a social-cultural movement dedicated to protecting and preserving the environment

11. Easter Island

12. Easter Island

13. Prairie in Illinois
in 1820 –
Prairie – Yellow
Forest - Green

14. Spread of HIV in Russia

15. Rosy
Periwinkle

16. Temperate Rain Forest

17. Biodiversity: The rivet hypothesis – Paul Ehrlich

18. Biodiversity: Passenger and crew hypothesis – Brian Walker

19. Shahid Naeem –
Columbia
University

20. The Ecotron

21. Aldo Leopold circa 1945

22. Aldo Leopold (on left) and forest service crew in 1911 in Arizona

25. Introduction to Ecology
How do you know you are talking to a real ecologist? They always answer any question the same way.
Rob Colwell

26. Introduction to Ecology
How do you know you are talking to a real ecologist? They always answer any question the same way.
“Well it depends…”
Rob Colwell

27. Ecology is:
A science of dependency
A probabilistic science

28. Intermediate Number Systems

29. The first ecologists?

30. Two Founders of Ecology
Ernst Haeckel Eugene Warming

31. Definitions of Ecology
Haeckel – 1870 – By ecology we mean the body of knowledge concerning the economy of nature – the investigation of the total relations of the animal both to its inorganic and organic environment.
Tansley – 1904 – (Ecology is) Those relations of plants, with their surroundings and with one another, which depend directly upon differences of habitat among plants.
Elton – 1927 – Ecology is the new name for a very old subject. It simply means scientific natural history.

32. Definitions of Ecology cont’d
Andrewartha – 1961 – Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms.
Krebs – 1972, 2008 – Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms.
Townsend et al – Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine distribution and abundance.

33. The Fundamental Equation of Ecology – Harper 1977
Δ N = B – D + I – E
Change in Number = Births – Deaths + Immigration - Emigration
John L. Harper –

34. Some Definitions of Terms
environment - biotic and abiotic factors that influence organisms
organism - individual living thing
population - many individuals of one species living close enough to each other to potentially interbreed
community - all interacting populations in a particular habitat - includes plants, animals, decomposer microbes - pond or forest community - in practice often used when 2 or more species discussed

35. Some Definitions of Terms
habitat - place where microbe, plant or animal lives
ecosystem - community plus abiotic factors - nutrients, water, soil, etc. - pond ecosystem
biosphere - the earth
autecology - relation of individual organism to environment
synecology - relation of populations or species to other populations or species