ecology

• Ecology deals with the study of the relationships between organisms and their environment
• The environment includes abiotic factors such as light, temperature, moisture, relative humidity, soil, and other physico-chemical components
• Biotic factors refer to all other organisms in the environment
• The environment can be described as either the macroenvironment (wide habitat coverage) or the microenvironment (immediate environment affecting survival, growth, and reproduction)
• Organisms are classified as unitary (determinate forms) or modular (indeterminate forms)
• Unitary organisms have distinct forms from birth until death, while modular organisms have unpredictable growth and development patterns
• Organisms have an optimum range of conditions for survival, growth, and reproduction
• Unitary organisms respond quicker to environmental changes due to their ability to move, while modular organisms take longer to respond as they are sessile
• Characterizing the habitat of an organism leads to understanding its niche or functional role
• Responses of a sun-loving plant to low and high light conditions will be observed
• Light intensity and temperature are primary factors affecting photomorphogenesis in plants
• Ants (unitary organisms) responses to changes in the environment will be monitored
• Ants communicate and cooperate using pheromones, sounds, and touch
• Students will observe the behavior of ants under normal and disturbed conditions
• General Characteristics of Sun-Loving and Shade-Tolerant Plants and Abiotic Factors of their Environment:
• Measure temperature, light intensity, and relative humidity in open and shaded environments
• Record weather, time of day, and sky condition during observations
• Discuss differences between sun-loving and shade-tolerant plants in relation to their natural environment
• Responses of Modular Organisms to Changes in the Environment:
• Compare responses of sun-loving plants under high and low light intensity for two weeks
• Measure plant height, leaf area, and petiole angle in different light conditions
• Observe leaf color differences between light conditions
• Responses of Unitary Organisms to Changes in the Environment:
• Locate a trail of ants and observe their behavior in their natural habitat
• Simulate a disturbance in the ant habitat and document their responses
• Compare responses of unitary and modular organisms to environmental perturbations
• Comparison of the responses between unitary and modular organisms:
• Synthesize differences in responses of unitary and modular organisms to environmental changes
• Guide Questions:
• Compare general characteristics of sun-loving and shade-tolerant plants and explain differences in relation to their environment
• Based on graphs, compare plant height and leaf area under different light conditions
• Discuss morphological differences between sunny and shady set-ups in relation to plant responses
• Describe ant behavior when the trail was blocked and explain trail establishment or reestablishment mechanisms
• Compare responses of plants and ants to simulated environmental disturbances based on being modular or unitary organisms
• Ecology is the study of the interactions of organisms in and with their environment, showing the interdependence of species
• Two schools of thought in ecology:

  • Arcadian ecology: promotes a simple, humble life for man and a harmonious relationship between humans and nature
  • Imperial ecology: emphasizes man's dominance over nature
• Ernst Haeckel coined the term Ecology in 1866 from the Greek "oikos," meaning house or home
• Scope of Ecology:

  • Studied at different levels from narrowest to broadest: individual, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere
  • Many sub-disciplines in Ecology based on levels of study, taxonomic groups, or content area
• Modern Ecology traces its roots to Natural History and incorporates knowledge from disciplines like Physiology, Geology, and Climatology
• History of Ecology:

  • Greek inquiry: Aristotle, Theophrastus, Herodotus, and Plato observed and wrote about nature
  • 16th to 18th Century: Carolus Linnaeus and Alexander von Humboldt made significant contributions
  • 19th Century: Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Warming, Bates, and Justus von Liebig advanced ecological knowledge
  • Early 20th Century: Frederick Frost Blackman, Victor Ernest Shelford, and other personalities shaped Population and Community Ecology