MOD1 BIO150 LEC

• Organismal Ecology focuses on the study of individuals and species and their relationship with the environment
• Two fundamental questions addressed in Organismal Ecology:

  • How does a species or organism function in this environment?
  • How does the environment influence that species or organism?
• Autecology:

  • Focuses on the individual and how it relates to the environment
  • Emphasizes life history
  • Behavior as an adaptation to the environment
• Synecology:

  • Focuses on groups of organisms and their relation to the environment (community, and ecosystem ecology)
  • Considers "the picture as a whole"
• In Ecology, organisms are classified as Unitary or Modular

  • Unitary:
  • Determinate form
  • Continuous and predictable pattern of growth and development
  • Highly mobile
  • Governed by genetic makeup
  • Modular:
  • Indeterminate form
  • Unpredictable pattern of growth and development
  • Sedentary or hardly mobile
  • Highly influenced by the environment
• A species is a group of actually or potentially interbreeding individuals that are reproductively isolated from other individuals
• Environment:

  • Consists of everything in the universe external to the organism
  • Abiotic = non-living & Biotic = living
• Environmental factors may be of two types: Resource and Condition

  
  

  Resource:

  • All things consumed or used up by an organism, making it less available for others
  • Organisms may compete for resources
  • E.g. light, CO2, O2, space, water, mineral nutrients, other organisms as food

  Condition:

  • Environmental factors that influence the functioning of living organisms
  • May be altered but not consumed
  • E.g. temp, RH, pH, salinity, concentration of pollutants
• An environmental factor may be both a condition and a resource depending on the situation and the context

  • Biotic factors may also be conditions
• Habitat vs. Niche:

  
  

  Habitat:

  • Actual place where an organism lives
  • "Address" of an organism

  Niche:

  • Not a place but an idea
  • Defines the conditions and resources an organism needs in order to practice its way of life
  • Way of life = functional role
  • Fundamental vs. realized niche
  • N-dimensional hypervolume
• The habitat is part and parcel of the niche idea
• Ecology is the study of the interaction of organisms with their environment
• The term "ecology" was coined by Ernst Haeckel in 1869
• The Greek root of "ecology" is "oikos" meaning house or home
• Ecology is the study of the economy of resources
• Father of Ecology: Alexander von Humboldt
• Alexander von Humboldt is also known as the Father of Biogeography
• Humboldt was the first to study the relationship between organisms and their environment
• Subdivisions of Ecology by Level of Organization:

  • Organismal Ecology
  • Population Ecology
  • Community Ecology
  • Ecosystem Ecology
  • Landscape Ecology
• Subdivisions of Ecology by Taxonomic "Slices" :

  • Microbial Ecology
  • Plant Ecology
  • Animal Ecology
• Subdivisions of Ecology by Basic "Layers" :

  • Physiological Ecology
  • Genetic Ecology
  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Systems Ecology
• Sciences allied to Ecology:

  • Natural History
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Resource Management Sciences
• Ecology gained popularity during the second half of the 20th century
• Ecology was acquired from other fields like physiology, geology, and climatology
• Greek inquiry: Aristotle wrote Historia Animalium, Theophrastus observed plants and animals brought by soldiers of Alexander the Great, Herodotus & Plato believed "Nature provides for all organisms"
• 16th to 18th century: Gesner & Aldovanni described interactions of plants and animals, Linnaeus studied phenology of flowering plants, Buffon noted different regions have distinct plants and animals, Reamur studied growth of insect populations
• 19th century: Bates scientifically documented mimicry, Darwin & Wallace proposed the Theory of Natural Selection, Humboldt had the idea for Plant Geography and is considered the Father of Ecology
• 20th century to present: Liebig, Blackman, Shelford, Malthus, Verhulst, Lotka & Volterra, Gause, Mobius, Cowles, Tansley, Clements contributed to the development of Ecology