Welcome to Ecology

Paul Cezanne

Bolinas Lagoon

Bolinas Lagoon Salt Marsh

Atlantic White Cedar Swamp

Green Oaks – South Prairie

Course Webpage

• http://courses.knox.edu/bio317

What is

?

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

Ecology is not:

• Environmentalism• Environmentalism is a

social-cultural movement dedicated to protecting and preserving the environment

Easter Island

Easter Island

Prairie in Illinois in 1820 – Prairie – YellowForest - Green

Spread of HIV in Russia

RosyPeriwinkle

Temperate Rain Forest

Biodiversity:The rivet hypothesis – Paul Ehrlich

Biodiversity:Passenger and crew hypothesis – Brian Walker

Shahid Naeem –Columbia University

The Ecotron

Aldo Leopold circa 1945

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

Introduction to Ecology

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

Rob Colwell

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

Ecology is:

• A science of dependency

• A probabilistic science

Intermediate Number Systems

The first ecologists?

Two Founders of Ecology

Ernst Haeckel Eugene Warming

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.

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.

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

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

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