pls maawa ang profs

• Community


  Assemblage of populations that occupy a given area, interacting either directly/indirectly
• Biosystems


  Biotic + Abiotic
• Structure


  • Population - community
  • Ecosystems as networks of interacting populations
  • Abiotic environment as backdrop where biotic interactions occur
• Function


  • Process - function
  • Ecosystems = pathways of matter of energy
  • Functions of processes are more important and more fundamental than organisms performing them
  • Misses out the importance of some species
• Population - community


  • Food chain/web
• Process - function


  • Carbon flow
• Ecosystem


  • Unit including all the organisms interacting with each other (Biotic Community) in a given area interacting with the physical environment
  • First unit in the ecological hierarchy that is complete
  • Cycling of Materials - Flow of Energy - Community
• Understanding Ecosystem

  • Ecosystems as networks of interacting populations
  • Abiotic environment where biotic interactions occur
  • Fails to see the bigger picture
• Functions


  • Ecosystems as pathways of matter and energy
  • Misses out important and more fundamental than the organisms performing them
• Keystone species


  • Roles: create/modify habitats, influence interactions among species
• Ecosystem engineers


  • Allogenic engineers - modify the environment by modifying materials from one form to another (e.g. beaver, earthworm)
  • Autogenic engineers - modify the environment by modifying themselves (e.g. Coral, trees)
• Landscape


  Heterogenous are composed of several systems
• Landscape ecology


  Landscape structure and processes
• Source


  High quality patch of a landscape
• Sink


  Low quality patch of a landscape
• 3 Major Elements

  • Landscape matrix - "primary cover type" in the landscape, greater control over fauna and flora, makes up larger coverage in an area, has several patched
  • Landscape patch - homogenous are that differs from the surrounding matrix
  • Landscape corridor - a strip of environment connecting 2 or more landscape patches of similar habitat
• By convention, systems are described only at one level of organization (population or community, but not both simultaneously)
• Complexity theory


  • Differs from other analytical approaches in that it is based upon a conceptual model in which entities exist in a hierarchy of interrelated organizational levels
• 4 Primary parameters that make up Complex System

  • Numerosity - number of elements in different levels to the hierarchy within our system
  • Non-linearity - interactions and feedback loops over time, it is cyclic
  • Connectivity - degree of how things flow in the networks
  • Autonomy and Adaptation - enables self organization and the process of evolution that shapes complex systems on macro scale (ecological memory)
• Restoration


  The system have the capacity to go back to its original state after disturbance without intervention
• 3 Dimensions in Ecological Complexity

  • Spatial - distribution defines spatial extent of a population/ecosystem, patterns in nature, limits the distribution of species, tolerance on physical factors/environment
  • Temporal - time series of different variables describing the dynamics of a system, seasonalities, population oscillation, primary succession, secondary succession
  • Structural - relationships within the ecosystems (food web), measuring connectants
• Four kinds of connectivity networks/matrices

  • Plannar
  • Random
  • Scale free
  • Small world
• From a Conservation Standpoint

  • Node 12 is regarded as a high-degree node or high quality patch warranting conservation and monitoring efforts
  • Node 12 is designated as a hub because it is connected to many other nodes
  • The number of its connections is higher compared to those of other hubs, so NODE 12 is regarded as a high-degree node or high quality patch
• Clustering


  • Disadvantage: Facilitate fast spread of disturbances

  Advantages: Facilitate fast dispersal, Resilient to patch removal due to many redundant pathways
• Compartmentalization


  • Disadvantage: Connectivity would break apart if hubs were taken away

  Advantages: May isolate the potentially cascading effects of disturbance
• Stability of a system

  Measured through resistance & resilience
• Restoration


  To accelerate the recovery of damaged habitats back to as close as possible to its former state
• Rehabilitation


  To partially substitute alternatively lost components of an ecosystem that existed in the former state
• Restoration is better than Rehabilitation
• Biodiversity


  The variation and richness of life at a particular scale, variety and extent of differences among and within living things
• We depend on biodiversity so much that a significant loss of it could seriously undermine our long-term well being; be it intellectual, physical, emotional, and economic
• The first Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro concluded that human activities were fast destroying ecosystems through loss of biodiversity at alarming rates
• The reduction in biodiversity is brought about by extinction or displacement of species
• Natural causes and changes in environmental conditions brought about by human activities have been attributed to as the drivers of biodiversity loss
• Levels of Biodiversity


  Genetic diversity - sum total of information contained in the genes of species, plays a very important role in the survival and adaptability of a species, vulnerability of populations to diseases increases with decreasing genetic diversity

  Species diversity - Variety of species, including their abundance, distribution and functions or interactions within a given spatial context, factors are richness and evenness

  Ecosystem diversity - distribution and abundance of habitats, biotic communities, and ecological processes in the biosphere
• Compositional biodiversity


  • Describes the type of elements and the number of representatives present at each level (genes, species and habitat) in an area
• Structural biodiversity


  • Describes the variety of arrangement of these components, spatial biodiversity, temporal fluctuations
• Functional biodiversity


  • The variety of biological processes, functions or characteristics of a particular ecosystem/area, determines the long-term stability and resiliency of an ecosystem, nutrient cycling, pollinations, predation, parasitism, germination
• Biodiversity at all forms, levels, structure, and function provides many anthropocentric, as well as, ecocentric benefits to humankind
• Ecosystem services


  The services that ecosystems perform for humanity, such as purifying water and air, pollinating crops, stabilizing soil, maintaining a proper heat balance in the atmosphere, and cycling critical nutrients