Welcome to Ecology

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 • http://courses.knox.edu/bio317

7. 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

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

10. Easter Island

11. Easter Island

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

13. Spread of HIV in Russia

14. Rosy Periwinkle

15. Temperate Rain Forest

16. Biodiversity:The rivet hypothesis – Paul Ehrlich

17. Biodiversity:Passenger and crew hypothesis – Brian Walker

18. Shahid Naeem – Columbia University

19. The Ecotron

20. Aldo Leopold circa 1945

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

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

25. 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

26. Ecology is: • A science of dependency • A probabilistic science

27. The first ecologists?

28. Two Founders of Ecology Ernst Haeckel Eugene Warming

29. 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.

30. 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. 2003 – Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine distribution and abundance.

31. The Fundamental Equation of Ecology – Harper 1977 Δ N = B – D + I – E Change in Number = Births – Deaths + Immigration - Emigration John L. Harper – 1925-2009

32. 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

33. 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