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Transcript
Introduction to Ecology cont’d 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 – 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. We study these interactions via: • Descriptive studies • Modeling – verbal, graphical or mathematical • Experiments in nature The Fundamental Equation of Ecology – Harper 1977 ΔN=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 • ecosystem - community plus abiotic factors - nutrients, water, soil, climate, etc. - pond ecosystem • habitat - place where microbe, plant or animal lives • biosphere - the earth and all its ecological systems • autecology - relation of individual organism to environment • synecology - relation of populations or species to other populations or species How to study ecology? Scientific method Initial Observation reasoning? is a repetitive process that leads Hypothesis to the building of theories New Hypothesis Experiment New Experiment Observation/ Data Analysis New Observation Hypothesis not Supported Interpretation Final Hypothesis Supported Theory Creosote and sage brush desert Diagram of desert plant root growth Statistics - a powerful tool for analyzing data 1. Descriptive Statistics - provide an overview of the attributes of a data set. These include measurements of central tendency (frequency histograms, mean, median, & mode) and dispersion (range, variance & standard deviation) 2. Inferential Statistics - provide measures of how well your data support your hypothesis and if your data are generalizable beyond what was tested (significance tests) Differences Between Means Asks whether samples come from populations with different means Null Hypothesis Y Alternative Hypothesis Y A B C A B C Observational Studies pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1209/studyunit_design.htm Watering Hole showing Piosphere Piosphere is an area of land degraded by many animals gathering around a watering hole Model of Piosphere Lab Experiments Field Experiments Pelvetiopsis Rothamsted, England – Broadbalk Wheat Experiment Rothamsted, England – Park Grass Experiment Natural snapshot experiment Succession following avalanches at different times Natural trajectory experiment Eruption of Krakatau – 1883