BIOL 3240 Plant and Animal Ecology - Introductions

http://people.nnu.edu/jocossel


• What is Science?• Develop a definition with someone near you…• Share a couple of class examples…

• Testing the assumptions

• Results & Discussion

• Methodologies

• “…but the truth is that science is the search for evidence that proves our concepts wrong.” Smith and Smith 2006


• Assg. 1 (URL here…)



“Today, most of earth’s human population lives in cities and most of us have little

direct contact with nature.

More than ever before, though, the future of our species depends on how well we understand the relationships between

organisms and the environment!”

Manuel Molles

How have humans altered Earth’s environment?

http://www.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/11474593533New_York_City.jpg


• What is Ecology?• History

• 1800s - Botanists …

• 1800s -

• 1900s -

• 2000s - http://www.miamisci.org/ecolinks/mapbiosphere.html


• What is Ecology?• Definition

“Oikos + logos”

• What is an environment?!?

• What kinds of data do ecologists collect?


• Levels of hierarchy• • • • • • •

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971026.html

http://www.mdafederal.com/geocover/geocoverortho/

gcorthoregional/africa_mosaic.jpg/viewhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Malawi

http://www.vagabonding.com/gallery_app/view_photo.php

?set_albumName=malawi&id=DSC01998_lake_malawi_fish

http://www.lazyjames.co.uk/hotrock/malawi.html

http://www.deepseaworld.com/attractions/lake_malawi.asp?css=1


http://www.mdafederal.com/

http://www.lazyjames.co.uk/

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Lake_Malawi_seen_from_orbit.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Lake_Malawi_seen_from_orbit.jpg

• Different types of ecology?• Ecosystem ecology• Population ecology• Community ecology• Evolutionary ecology• Landscape ecology• Physiological ecology• Behavioral ecology• Conservation ecology• Restoration ecology• Forest ecology• Fresh water ecology

Natural groupings?


Fig. 1.2

• Examples of ecological studies…

MacArthur 1958

Evaluating the notion of ________________________


Fig. 1.3


Morse 1980

Evaluating the notion of __________ __________


Fig. 1.4


Nadkarni 1980s

Evaluating ___________ ___________ and storage in rainforests



http://www.roysephotos.com/AmericanRedstart.html


“Humanity, in the desperate attempt to fit 8 billion or more people on the planet and

give them a higher standard of living, is at risk of pushing the rest of life off the globe”.

- E.O. Wilson



Temporal vs. Spatial change


BIOL 3240 Plant and Animal Ecology - Introductions

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