Course Website: Bookmark zo.utexas/courses/bio301/

1. Course Website: Bookmark http://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/bio301/ Download Syllabus from above site (Contract) Exams, ground rules, discussion sections, textbook, etc. Watch ‘Dance Monkeys Dance’ and ‘Domino Effects’ videos Our one and only but much abused Spaceship Ecology, environment, organismic units Anthropocentrism, wilderness, what good are rattlesnakes? Hierarchical structure of biological science, snobbery Varanus eremius (Varanid) Lecture # 2 3 Sept. 2019 Familiarize yourself with campus safety

2. Biology 301M – Ecology, Evolution, & SocietyProfessor: Eric R. PiankaOffice: Patterson 125, Mon., Fri. 1-2 PM (or by appointment)471-7472, email: erp@austin.utexas.eduLectures: Tuesday and Thursday, 11-1230 (Gearing 105) Course Websites:type “bio301-pianka” into browserhttp://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/bio301/Download Syllabus from above site (Contract)Familiarize yourself with Campus Safety Procedures Ctenophorus isolepis (Agamid)

3. Teaching Assistant: Kyle Wilhite, Office: Patterson 113 (or by appointment, use email) Email: kwilhite@utexas.edu Discussion Sections (20% of letter grade) (26 readings and Problem Sets) Wednesday 9-10 AM GDC 1.406 Wednesday 10-11 AM GDC 5.302 Wednesday 11-12 AM GDC 6.202 Wednesday 12-1 PM GDC 2.210 Ctenophorus nuchalis (Agamid)

4. First Exam: 26 September Second Exam: 31 October Third Exam: 5 December Best 2 of above 3 = 40% Discussion Sections 20%Final Exam 12 December40% No “Extra pointsNo “Make Up” Exams! Final Grades are FINAL, non negotiable Anolis carolinensis (Dactyloid)

6. Hierarchical Organization of the Biological Sciences Biosphere Molecules Molecular Biology Neurobiology Behavior Evolutionary Ecology <—————— Integrative Biology——————————> Snobbery

7. Major Lizard Clades: Agamidae 440 species Gekkota 7 Families 1536 species Iguania 12 Families 1086 species Lacertidae 330 species Scincidae 1600 species Varanidae 75 species Moloch Nucras Ctenophorus (Lacertid) Phelsuma Anolis Sceloporus Ctenotus Ctenotus Varanus

8. 7 Families 12 Families Plus a dozen other families

9. Captive organisms are out of context, they don’t have a natural environment (they might as well be dead as far as an ecologist is concerned) Henry David Thoreau (1854) Walden “Book of Life” metaphor Holmes Rolston (1985) “Vanishing Book of Life” Humans are just beginning to be able to read it, but its pages are tattered and torn, and entire chapters have been ripped out. Need to save as much as possible (conservation biology), but also must READ it (ecology) before it is gone. Other Earthlings were here before us and have a right to exist, too.

10. Foot & Mouth Virus

11. Time and Space Scaling in EcologyDaily movements (home range, territory) Dispersal events (immigration, emigration) Colonization of new areas and habitats Geographic range expansion or contraction Geographical patterns of diversity Daniel R. Brooks

12. Models may be verbal, graphical, or mathematical Model: mere “caricatures of nature” (all models are imperfect) Trade offs in construction of models precision generality realism

14. Manipulation

15. Manipulation Understanding

16. Manipulation Understanding Knowledge

17. Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipulation

18. Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipulation Profess: “to claim to have knowledge of”

19. Wisdom Knowledge Understanding Manipulation Profess: “to claim to have knowledge of” Study: “application of the mental faculties to the acquisition of knowledge”

20. Fossil fuel is our energy slave. It’s too cheap, one gallon will move a one-ton car 30-50 miles (for a measly $2-$3 bucks – just imagine having to push your car that far) Read Horsepower

21. Watch these videoshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YQ9_2K2_z3Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM6txLtoaochttp://www.upworthy.com/a-smartypants-scientist-makes-an-easy-analogy-about-our-planet-and-now-im-scared

22. Proper motivation to do science is curiosity. How do things work? Assume an organized reality exists and that objective principles can be formulated to reflect this natural order (not faith based). Common misconception that “truth” and “proof” and even “facts” exist. Nietzsche said “there are no facts, only interpretation.” Better to say facts include interpretation Nietzsche

23. Proper motivation to do science is curiosity. How do things work? Assume an organized reality exists and that objective principles can be formulated to reflect this natural order (not faith based). Common misconception that “truth” and “proof” and even “facts” exist. Nietzsche said “there are no facts, only interpretation.” Better to say facts include interpretation Nietzsche ‘Just Another Monkey’

24. Sunrise Sunset Geocentric world view

25. X X Sunrise Sunset Geocentric world view

26. “Spinup” “Spindawn”” “Spindown” “Spindusk” Solar system world view

27. Heliocentric world view

28. You are Here Heliocentric world view

29. Most people consider a “fact” as “what really happened.” However, Many “facts” are not so clean and simple -- most involve varying levels of interpretation. Consider, for example, the apparently simple fact that the Sun rises each morning. Daily we receive new evidence confirming this fact. We can be quite confident that the Sun will rise again tomorrow. References to sunrise and sunset are based on now defunct concept of a “flat Earth and moving Sun”. But our understanding of cosmic events is greatly enhanced when instead of thinking of the Sun as moving, it is viewed as fixed in space at the center of a solar system, and the Earth is interpreted as a rotating globe orbiting around a small star. Our vocabulary hasn't caught up -- clearly, we should refer to “sunrise” as “spinup” or “spindawn” and “sunset” as “spindown” or “spindusk.”

32. Our one and only Spaceship (there is no planet B)

34. Observation and Experiment are vital.Scientists formulate hypotheses to explain repeatable events. A hypothesis is tested by confronting it with reality — if it fails, it is discarded and replaced with another, hopefully better, hypothesis. In time, a well supported hypothesis becomes a theory. The scientific method is self regulating: poor hypotheses are continually replaced with better ones as human knowledge expands and is improved. We benefit immensely from past genius.

35. A sprinkling of past geniuses: Socrates Aristotle Archimedes Euclid DaVinci Newton Darwin Einsteinn

36. Archimedes “The Method”

37. Archimedes (287-212 BC) “The Method”

38. Archimedes (287-212 BC) “The Method” http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32808/Archimedes - ref389152

40. 7.7 Billion of us

41. 7.7 Billion of us Paul Ehrlich

42. 7.7 Billion of us

43. 7.7 Billion of us

44. Caribou Pribolof Islands Alaska

45. Caribou Pribolof Islands Alaska

46. Caribou Pribolof Islands Alaska

49. Domain of Ecology Simple versus multiple causality

50. Observation and Experiment are vital.Scientists formulate hypotheses to explain repeatable events. A hypothesis is tested by confronting it with reality — if it fails, it is discarded and replaced with another, hopefully better, hypothesis. In time, a well supported hypothesis becomes a theory. The scientific method is self regulating: poor hypotheses are continually replaced with better ones as human knowledge expands and is improved. We benefit immensely from past genius.