Elements of Ecology [CH 1: The Nature of Ecology]
1.1 Ecology is the Study of the Relationship between the
Organisms
 Environmentalism
- Activism; protecting the natural environment
from the negative impacts of human activities
- Takes form of public education programs,
advocacies, legislation and treaties
 Ecology
- Scientific study of the relationships between
organisms and their environment
- Includes physical and chemical conditions;
biological or living components or organisms’
surroundings
- “oikos”: the family household
- Economics: mass management of the household
- Coined by German Zoologist Ernst Haeckel in
1866
 Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species
 Haeckel: “struggle for existence”
- The study of the complex web interactions
between organisms and their environment at all
levels of organization
1.2 Organisms Interact with the Environment in the
Context of the Ecosystem
 Physical and chemical conditions
- Ambient temperature, moisture, concentrations
of O2 and CO2, and light intensity
 Ultimate goal: to pass their genes on to successive
generations
 Place: physical location in time and space
 Ecosystem
- Where organisms interact with the environment
- “eco” relates to environment; while “system”
implies to a collection of related parts that
function as a unit
 Ex. Automobile: ignition & fuel pump
- 2 basic interacting components:
 Biotic: living
Plants, animals, microbes
 Abiotic: nonliving (physical & chemical)
1.4 Ecologists Study Pattern and Process at Many Levels
Atmosphere, climate, soil, and water
1.3 Ecological Systems Form a Hierarchy
 Population
- Group of individuals of the same species that
occupy a given area
- Population of plants and animals are not
independent of one another
 Community
- Population of different species living and
interacting within an ecosystem
 1st level: Individual organisms both respond to
and influence the abiotic environment
 2nd level: Individuals of the same species form
populations (oak, squirrels)
 3rd level: Individuals of these populations
interact among themselves and with
individuals of other species to form a
community
 Landscape
- Area of land (or water) composed of patchwork
of communities and ecosystems
- Spatial scale: communities and ecosystems are
linked through such processes such as the
dispersal of organisms and the exchange of
materials and energy
 Biomes
- Geographic regions having similar geological
and climatic conditions (patterns of temperature,
precipitation and seasonality) support similar
types of communities and ecosystem
 Ex. Warm temp. & high precipitation =
Equatorial regions = tropical rain forests
 Ex. Grasslands and deserts
 Biosphere
- Highest level of organization of ecological
system
- Thin layer surrounding the Earth that supports
all of life
- Linked interactions: atmosphere, hydrosphere,
and geosphere
* Individual -> Population -> Community ->
Ecosystem -> Landscape -> Biome -> Biosphere
 Morphology, physiology and behavior
 Individual level
© Marvel Notes
Elements of Ecology [CH 1: The Nature of Ecology]
- Birth and death are discrete events
 Population level
- Birth and death as rates
- Focus: examining numbers of individuals in the
population and how these numbers change
through time
- Distribution in space (location)
 Ecological community
- Focus: factors influencing the relative
abundances of various species coexisting within
the community (interactions)
 Ecosystem
- Biotic and abiotic components interact
- Focus: shifts from species to the collective
properties characterizing the flow of energy and
nutrients through the combined physical and
biological system (processes)
 Landscape
- Patchwork of ecosystems whose boundaries are
defined by distinctive changes in the underlying
physical environment or species composition
- Focus: identifying factors that give rise to the
spatial extent and arrangement of the various
ecosystems that make up the landscape
- Explore consequences of the spatial pattern
 Continental to global scale (biome)
- Focus: broad-scale distribution of the different
biome types (e.g. forest, grassland, desert)
 Biosphere level
- Focus: linkages between ecosystems and other
components of the earth system, such as the
atmosphere
1.5 Ecologists Investigate Nature Using the Scientific
Method
 Demonstrate the power and limitation of science
- Observation, repeatable
- Defining a problem
- Hypothesis (predictions, hypothesis testing)
- Data Gathering, Experimentation
- Theory
1.6 Models Provide a Basis for Predictions
 Abstract, simplified representations of real systems
 Provides predictions which are testable
 Can be mathematical (quantitative)
 Hypotheses (qualitative)
1.7 Uncertainty Is an Inherent Feature of Science
 The only valid means of judging a concept is by
testing its empirical truth
 Limited to inspecting only a part of nature because
to understand, we have to simplify
 We control the pertinent factors and try to
eliminate others that may confuse the results
 Determination that experimental data are
consistent with a hypothesis does not prove that
the hypothesis is true
 Science is a self-correcting activity
1.8 Ecology Has Strong Ties to Other Disciplines
 Ecology as an interdisciplinary science
 Broader framework: Environmental science
1.9 The Individual Is the Basic Unit of Ecology
 The individual organism forms the basic unit in
ecology
◊ Ecological Issues and Applications ◊
 Theophrastus (Greek scholar)
- Wrote about relations between organisms and
the environment
- Plant geography and natural history
 Carl Ludwig Willdenow (1765-1812)
- Pointed out that similar climates supported
vegetation similar in form, even though the
species were different
 Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (1769-
1859)
- Correlated vegetation with environmental
characteristics
- Coined the term plant association
 Johannes Warming (1841-1924)
- Plantesamfund
- Integrated plant morphology, physiology,
taxonomy, and biogeography
 Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
- Similarities and dissimilarities among organisms
within and among the continents
- Attributed differences to geographical barriers
© Marvel Notes
Elements of Ecology [CH 1: The Nature of Ecology]

- Theory of evolution, origin of species, and  L.E. Howard

natural selection from Maltus - Behavioral ecology
 Thomas Maltus (1766-1834)  Population ecology, evolutionary ecology,
- Advanced the principle that populations grow in community ecology, landscape ecology,
a geometric function, doubling at regular conservation ecology, restoration ecology, global
intervals until they outstrip their food supply ecology
 Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) (Austrian monk)
◊ Quantifying Ecology ◊
- Transmission of characteristics from one
generation of pea plants to another  Statistical population
- He and Darwin’s study became the foundation  Sample
for the study of evolution and adaptation, the - Categorical data (qualitative)
field of population genetics  Color of hair, sex (Nominal)
 Frederic E. Clements  reproductive status (Ordinal)
- Proposed that plant community behaves as a Nominal – order unimportant
complex organism or superorganism that grows Ordinal – order important
and develops through stages to a mature or - Numerical data (quantitative)
climax state  Discrete data
 Arthur G. Tansley Integer values, counts
- Did not agree with Tansley Number of offspring, visits, etc.
- Advanced a holistic and integrated ecological  Continuous data
concept that combined living organisms and Limited only by measurement device
their physical environment into a system = Height, weight, and concentration
ecosystem  Frequency distribution, histogram, scatter plot
 Group of European ecologists advances the
ideas of organic nutrient cycling and feeding
levels using terms as producers and consumers
 R.A. Lindeman
- Traced “energy-available relationships within a
lake community”
- Marked the beginning of ecosystem ecology
- Stimulated pioneering work in the area of
energy flow and nutrient cycling
 Became foundation of ecology
 Radioactive tracers and computers stimulated
development of systems ecology
 R. Hesse and Charles Elton
- Animal ecology
 Victor Shelford
- Stressing interrelationship between plants and
animals
 Karl Mobius
- proposed the word of biocenose
 Greek: Life having something in common
 Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen
- Ethology
© Marvel Notes