BIO 4

ECOLOGY

COURSE OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

1. Introduction
Definition of Ecology
Scope of Ecology
History of Ecology

2. Biological Organization

Basic Definitions
Units of the Biosphere
Gaia Theory
Species and Habitat

COURSE OUTLINE
SECTION 1

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

3. The Abiotic World

The Physical Environment

Organism Morphology
Organism Physiology
Organism Behavior

4. Biological Communities

Communities
Terrestrial Biomes
Succession
Limnology

5. Community succession and stability

Community Stability
Disturbance
Problems Determining Stability
Charles Elton

COURSE OUTLINE
SECTION 1 : COMMUNITIES

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

6. Invasive Species Ecology

Introduction
Species status
Invasive Theories
Summarization

7. Species Richness and Diversity

Species Richness and Diversity Introduction

Rapoport's Rule
Metabolic Hypothesis
Diversity Measurements

8. Island Biogeography and Habitat Fragmentation

Island Biogeography
Endemism
Habitat Fragmentation
Metapopulation Theory

COURSE OUTLINE
SECTION 2 : POPULATIONS
9. Species and Populations
Species Concept
Population Biology
Predation

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

10.Resource Competition
Population Growth
Competition Types
Modeling Interspecific Competition

11.Predation and Herbivory

Types of Predation
Herbivory
Plant Defenses
Predator-Prey Models

12.Parasitism

Introduction
Types of Parasitism
The Host
Parasite Community Effects

COURSE OUTLINE
SECTION 3 : ECOSYSTEM

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

13.Ecosystems

Introduction
Ecosystem Concept
Basic Structural Components
Characteristics of Ecosystems
Basic Functional Components
Food Webs

14.Energy in Ecosystems

Introduction
Energy
Organisms Role in the Flow of Energy
The Laws of Thermodynamics as They Relate to Ecology
Measuring Energy Flow

15.Biogeochemical Cycles
Introduction
Biogeochemical Cycles
Soil

COURSE OUTLINE
SECTION 4 : ECOLOGY AND LIFE

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

16.Ecology of the Organism life history examples

Manatee
Short-Tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
North American River Otter
Pinewoods Treefrog
Cottonmouth Snake

17.Practical Ecology
Practical Vegetation Sampling

Definition of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

The term ecology (oekologie) was coined in 1866

by the German biologist, Ernst Haeckel from
the Greek oikos meaning "house" or "dwelling", and
logos meaning "science" or "study".
"study of the household of nature".
Haeckel intended it to encompass the study of an
animal in relation to both the physical environment
and other plants and animals with which it
interacted.
A contemporary definition of ecology is:
The scientific study of the distribution and
abundance of organisms and the interactions that
determine distribution and abundance.

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Definition of Ecology
Scientific study of interactions among
organisms and their environment Wiki
Ecology is an interdisciplinary field
that includes biology and Earth
science Wiki

CommonTerms in Ecology
Environment - The sum total of physical and
biotic conditions that influence an organism

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

(Kendeigh, 1961).

Biosphere - The subset of the planet

earthenvironmentinto which life penetrates.
Ecosystem-The system of organisms and
physical factors under study or consideration.
Habitatis generally considered by biologists to
be the physical conditions that surround a
species, or species population, or assemblage of
species, or community (Clements and Shelford,
1939).

Basic physical units of the biosphere

BASIC PHYSICAL UNIT OF BIOSPHERE

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

lithosphere(the land),
hydrosphere(the water), and
atmosphere(the air).

SCOPE OF ECOLOGY
Humanity has been studying nature for thousands
of years and formally for several centuries under
the science of biology.

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Note, the term "ecology" is only about 150 years old

Ecology is one of three main divisions of biology;

the other two being morphology [organism
structural aspects] and physiology [organism
functional aspects]". Kendeigh
The behavioral sciences encompass one facet of
the interaction of an organism with its physical and
biological surroundings.

SCOPE OF ECOLOGY

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Techniques used to study Ecology

Strong Inference is defined as the
method of testing a hypothesis by
deliberately attempting to demonstrate the
falsity of the hypothesis (Kinraide and
Denison, 2003).
Weak Inference there are no
experiments; rather, there are correlations
between observations. Weak inference is
defined as a "common sense" approach
using simple system models to build
understanding (Elner and Vadas).

SCOPE OF ECOLOGY

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Strong Inference
More advantageous because weak
inference is more prone to error.
Weak inference makes people try to cling
to one point of view.
Strong inference (doing experimentation)
causes people to think from more than
one point of view and keep coming up
with different hypotheses to test as their
old hypotheses get falsified

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

SCOPE OF ECOLOGY
Ecology has no aim, but ecologists
have. The problems of the ecologist are
not fundamentally different from those
of any other kind of naturalist. The
superficial differences in aim are due to
the different points of view, or methods
of approach, rather than to any
essential differences in the character of
the problems (Charles Adams, 1913;
cited in Hedgepeth, 1957).

SCOPE OF ECOLOGY

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Ecologists study
1. structural, functional, and behavioral
adaptations of organisms in relation to their
environment.
2. interrelationships between species and their
populations, and populations in their
communities.
3. local and geographic distributions of organisms;
4. regional variations in organism abundances;
5. temporal changes in the distribution,
abundance, and behaviors of organisms; and
6. evolution of the interrelationships described.

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

SCOPE OF ECOLOGY
Ecology is both a biological and
an environmental science,

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Subdisciplines of ecology, and subdiscipline

classification
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

By level of complexity or scope

By organisms under study
By biome under study
By geographic or climatic area under study
By spatial scale under study
By ecological aspects or phenomena under
investigation
7. By technique used for investigation
8. By philosophical approach
9. Ecology-involved interdisciplinary fields

Biogeographic regions

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

By level of complexity or scope (Arranged from

Lowest to highest complexity)
1. Ecophysiology/Behavioral ecology examine
adaptations of the individual to its environment.
2. Population ecology studies the dynamics of
populations of a single species.
3. Community ecology (or synecology) focuses on
the interactions between species within an
ecological community.
4. Ecosystem ecology studies the flows of energy
and matter through the biotic and abiotic
components of ecosystems.
5. Systems ecology is an interdisciplinary field
focusing on the study, development, and
organization of ecological systems from a holistic
perspective.

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

By organisms under study

1. Animal ecology studies consist of areas such as
animal species and their taxonomic relations
(systematics), animal distribution and abundance
within their range (zoogeography), interaction
between species, individuals and their environment
2. Biogeography the study of the geographic
distributions of species ;
3. Insect ecology scientific study of how insects,
individually or as a community, interact with the
surrounding environment or ecosystem.
4. Microbial ecology the ecology of micro-organisms;
5. Paleoecology which seeks to understand the
relationships between species in fossil
assemblages;
6. Plant ecology studies the distribution and

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

By biome under study

1. Benthic ecology study of sea-floor organisms, and
their interaction with each other and with the
environment
2. Desert ecology the sum of the interactions
between both biotic and abiotic processes in arid
regions
3. Forest ecology scientific study of the interrelated
patterns, processes, flora, fauna and ecosystems in
forests.
4. Grassland ecology
5. Marine ecology and aquatic ecology, where the
dominant environmental milieu is water;
6. Urban ecology the study of ecosystems in urban
areas.

Branches of Ecology
By geographic or climatic area under study

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Arctic ecology scientific study of the relationships

between biotic and abiotic factors in the arctic, the
region north of the Arctic Circle (66 33)
Polar ecology is the relationship between plants

and animals in a polar environment. Polar

environments are in theNorthernandSouthern
Hemisphere
Tropical ecology relationships between the biotic
and abiotic components of the tropics, or the area of
the Earth that lies between the Tropic of Cancer and
the Tropic of Capricorn (23.4378 N and 23.4378 S,
respectively).

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

By spatial scale under study

Global ecology which examines ecological
phenomena at the largest possible scale, addressing
macroecological questions;
Landscape ecology which studies the interactions
between discrete elements of a landscape;
Landscape limnology the spatially explicit study of
aquatic ecosystems (e.g., rivers, lakes, and wetlands)
as they interact with the aquatic, terrestrial, and
human components of landscapes to determine the
effects of pattern on ecosystem processes across
spatial scales;
Spatial ecology which identifies spatial patterns and
their relationships to ecological events;

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

By spatial scale under study

Macroecology the study of large-scale phenomena;
Microecology the study of small-scale phenomena;
Microbial ecology is the ecology of microorganisms:
their relationship with one another and with their
environment. It concerns the three major domains of
lifeEukaryota, Archaea, and Bacteriaas well as
viruses
Molecular ecology is a field of evolutionary biology
that is concerned with applying molecular population
genetics, molecular phylogenetics, and more recently
genomics to traditional ecological questions

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

By ecological aspects or phenomena under

investigation
Chemical ecology which deals with the ecological role
of biological chemicals used in a wide range of areas
including defense against predators and attraction of
mates;
Ecophysiology which studies the interaction of
physiological traits with the abiotic environment;
Ecotoxicology which looks at the ecological role of
toxic chemicals (often pollutants, but also naturally
occurring compounds);
Evolutionary ecology or ecoevolution which looks at
evolutionary changes in the context of the populations
and communities in which the organisms exist;
Fire ecology which looks at the role of fire in the
environment of plants and animals and its effect on

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

By technique used for investigation

Field ecology
Quantitative ecology is the application of advanced
mathematical and statistical tools to any number of
problems in the field of ecology. It is a small but
growing subfield in ecology, reflecting the demand
among practicing ecologists to interpret ever larger
and more complex data sets using quantitative
reasoning.
Theoretical ecology the development of ecological
theory, usually with mathematical, statistical and/or
computer modeling tools;

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

By philosophical approach
Ecosophy
Applied ecology the practice of employing
ecological principles and understanding to solve real
world problems (includes agroecology and
conservation biology);
Conservation ecology which studies how to reduce
the risk of species extinction;
Deep ecology
Restoration ecology which attempts to understand
the ecological basis needed to restore impaired or
damaged ecosystems;

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Ecology-involved interdisciplinary fields

Agroecology provides an interdisciplinary
framework with which to study the activity of
agriculture.
Biogeochemistry effect of biota on global chemistry,
and the cycles of matter and energy that transport
the Earth's chemical components in time and space.
Ecological design design that minimizes
environmentally destructive impacts by integrating
itself with living processes."[1] Ecological design is an
integrative ecologically responsible design discipline.
Ecological economics
Ecological engineering

Branches of Ecology

INTRODUCTION | ECOLOGY

Ecology-involved interdisciplinary fields

Festive ecology
Human ecology the interaction of human beings
and their living and non-living environments and the
effects of human decisions on those environments.
Ecological anthropology
Social ecology
Ecological health
Environmental psychology
Industrial ecology
Paleoecology - study of past ecosystems