Chapter 1: Introduction to Ecology

Ernst Haeckel

german biology who promoted ideas from Darwin’s theory and coined the term “ecologist”

ecology

the study of the interactions among organisms and their environment

earliest human ecologists

needed to understand behaviors/feeding habits/migration patters/factors affecting growth/survival of prey and crops

Aristotle

wrote the first book about animal behaviors and adaptations

Theopharstus

wrote the first book about plant growth factors and fecundity

23% of the earths surface…

is affected by light polution

80% of the population…

cannot see the milkway due to light polution

30% of vertebrates & 60% of invertebrates…

are nocturnal and affected by light polution

ecological systems

biological entities that have their own internal processes and interact with their external surroundings

open systems

ecological systems that interact with other systems

individual (organism)

a living being; the most fundamental unit of ecology

organismal approach

how an individual’s morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations enable it to survive in it’s environment

population

individuals of the same species living in a particular area (that potentially interact with each other)

population approach

factors limiting variation over time and space in the number, density, and composition of individuals

species

a group of organisms that interbreed with each other and produce fertile offspring

community

all populations of a species living together in a particular area (that potentially interact with each other)

community approach

the diversity and relative abundancies of different kinds of organisms living together in the same place

ecosystem

one or more communities of living organisms interacting with their nonliving physical and chemical environments

ecosystem approach

the storage and transfer of energy and matter (chemical elements/nutrients)

biosphere

all of the ecosystem on earth → global processes

biosphere approach

largest scale, includes movements of air, water, energy, and chemical elements they contain over the earths surface

law of conservation of matter

matter cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form

dynamic steady state

when the gains (inputs) and loses (outputs) of ecological systems are in balance