1. Announcements September 1, 2006 No class on Monday! Have a great weekend. Turn in your ecological footprint for extra credit http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp

2. Basics of Ecology and Evolution (part 1) Lecture Objectives: 2. Understand the scientific definition of Ecology and Evolution 1. Be introduced to the diversity of life on Earth 3. Learn basic concepts of Ecology and Evolution

3. What is biological diversity? “the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes in which they occur” U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (1987)

4. Scales or types of biological diversity: Genetic diversity - Amount of genetic variation within or among populations of a given species. Species diversity - The number of species in a given community. Community level diversity - Variation in species assemblages based on variation in habitat within an ecosystem type. Ecosystem level diversity - Variation in ecosystems across a landscape or region.

5. Species are groups of interbreeding organisms. Biological Species Concept (E. Mayr) What is a species?

6. Taxonomy: the study of types of organisms and their relationships. Linnaeus (1707-1778) originator of modern scientific classification of plants and animals Classification ranked according to - similarity - common ancestry

7. Scientific Classification Kingdom King Phillip Can Order Fried Green Snails Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species Aves Chordata Animalia Haliaeetus leucocephalus Falconiformes Accipitridae

9. The Kingdoms of Life Plants Animals Fungi Protists Bacteria Archaebacteria Organisms are classified into groups based on how they make a living

10. The Kingdoms of Life Bacteria Archaebacteria Organisms are classified into groups based on how they make a living Prokaryotes: do not have membrane bound nucleus nor other organelles, are unicellular.

11. The Kingdoms of Life Plants Animals Fungi Protists Organisms are classified into groups based on how they make a living Eukaryotes: have membrane bound nucleus and other organelles, can be multicellular or unicellular.

12. How many species are there? 1.4 -1.7 million described 10-100 million estimated

14. Animal Diversity 34 Animal Phyla Over 1 million different species of animals have been described < 5 % of described animals have a backbone

15. Phylum Porifera: The Sponges

16. Phylum Cnidaria: jellyfish sea anemones coral Hydra

17. Phylum Ctenophora:The Comb Jellies

18. Phylum Platyhelminthes: The flatworms Phylum Nemertea: The Ribbon Worms

19. Phylum Nemata: the roundworms

20. Phylum Annelida: The Segmented Worms Earthworm Christmas tree worm Leech

21. Phylum Onychophora: Velvet worms Phylum Tardigrada: Water Bears

22. Phylum Arthropoda: Crustaceans Lobster Crab Water fleas

23. Phylum Arthropoda: Insects Butterfly beetle cockroach Ants

24. Phylum Arthropoda: Centipedes and Millipedes

25. Phylum Arthropoda: Spiders

26. Phylum Mollusca: Snail Clam Octopus

27. Phylum Echinodermata: Starfish Sea Urchin

28. Phylum Chordata: Tunicates Vertebrates

29. Plant Diversity

30. Food webs: All species in a community are interconnected to varying degrees.

31. An estimate of interactions among species between only 2 trophic levels (10,000 plants and 100 herbivores) in Hawaii Sheppard et al. 2004 Mol. Ecol.

32. From Cohen et al. 2003 PNAS

33. Keystone species: a species that plays an essential role in community stability. Indicator Species: a species that provides information about the quality of an area. (could be rare or a habitat specialist) Umbrella species: a species that can be used as a surrogate for the heath/status of the entire community. (tend to need a lot of area)

35. Do all species matter? Is there redundancy in communities? Paul Ehrlich made an analogy between species in communities and rivets on the wing of an airplane. Removing a few rivets from an airplane is undoubtedly safe. How many are you willing to remove? On average, there are only 2 degrees of separation between any two species in a food web.

36. Many species are in danger of extinction WHY?? If current trends continue, 1/5 of all current plant and animal species could be gone or on the road to extinction by 2030.

37. Percentage of threatened or endangered species in the U.S. imperiled by: Why are species declining? Disease - 3% Overexploitation - 17% Pollution - 24% Invasive species - 49% Habitat degradation and loss - 85% Dave Wilcove et al. 1998 BioScience

38. Rarity: A species that is either very uncommon throughout its range, or its range is very small. Endemism: An endemic species occurs no where else. Most common on islands.

40. Photo: Darren Irwin

41. Why value diversity? Motivation can be based on many principles. EthicalMoral AestheticMonetary SpiritualEnvironmental Anthropocentric

42. Basic Ecological Concepts Ecology – the study of the interrelationship between organisms and their environment Environment – everything that affects an organism it its lifetime Organisms interact with their environment Survival of each individual depends on getting enough to eat and not being killed Survival of the species depends on births being higher than deaths

43. Environment can be divided into biotic and abiotic factors Biotic - Living portions of the environment Predation, parasitism, competition, etc. Abiotic - Nonliving factors Rain, soil type, temperature, etc.

44. All organism have a range of requirements that determines where they can live The biotic and abiotic factors of any particular place determine where they do live

45. Often, there are not enough resources for all individuals in the population All organisms need resources to grow and reproduce food water places to live mates Many individuals die before reproducing Some individuals are better at surviving and reproducing than others

49. What is Evolution? The process of change in the traits of populations over time. Process by which species' characteristics change over generations. Evolution does not occur within an individual. Evolution does not occur within a generation. Traits must have genetic basis.

50. Adaptive evolution occurs primarily through natural selection Natural Selection is the process that determines which individuals within a species will reproduce and pass their genes to the next generation. What is Evolution?

51. Points to Know 1.Be familiar with the system for classifying living things. 2.What is biological diversity. 3.Understand the difference between the biotic and abiotic environment; know examples of each. 4.What types of resources do organisms need to survive and reproduce?