Princp. of Eco Unit 1

What is ecology?

The biological study of whole organisms in relation to their environment (biotic and abiotic), less focus on practical applications

What are some key problems/questions in the field?

Ecology has evolved some, but traditionally ecologists focus on distribution & abundance

Why is this organism here? Why are there so many or so few?

Pure science

science for the sake of knowledge

Environmentalism

Advocacy for protection of environment, preserving biodiversity, a stance towards preservation of nature. Not a science, ethical stance, preservation of nature for the sake of nature

Conservation biology

restoration, preservation, for the purpose of understanding. Using ecology to do environmentalism, science with values, not a pure science, applied science

Natural resource management

people who traditionally didn’t consider themselves biologist, applied science, how can we manage nature for the benefit of people, how can we make use of nature?, often requires transformation,

Natural history

A field that most people call science, one of the places that modern science comes from

Can have a lot of negative connotations for the science field

Documenting what is out in nature – discovery, observation

How does the natural world work?

Ecology vs Evolutionary biology

Ecology - see the environment as a filter of the species pool, take the properties of organisms as mostly fixed, see an in-action perspective

Evolutionary biology - the environment as a filter of intraspecific trait variation, take the properties of the environment as fixed, the reasons why something got the be the way it is could no longer be present

Nomothetic

looking for the generalities

Ideographic

describing and explaining unique individuals

Levels of biological hierarchy

Population - multiple organisms of the same species

Interaction - two organisms of different species interacting

Community or assemblage - multiple interactions

Ecosystem, landscape, region

Biosphere - all of it together

Are the levels of biological hierarchy unambigous?

No

How do we describe the world scientifically?

Test ideas (hypotheses, theories, models) based on observation, and then combine that with reason to explain those observations

What is science limited to?

The observable, or at least what has observable consequences (like fossils)

Abitotic and biotic linkages

Influences, reactions, interactions between biotic and aboitic systems. Linkages states that while they influence each other they might not cause things to happen.

Why was Sinclair successful?

He simplified and broke the problem into pieces (reductionism). He was familiar with the system (natural history). But also used serious science,

Natural history vs. “hardcore” science

Natural history - descriptive, observational, passive, qualitative, cataloging/accumulating, learn from personal experience

Hardcore science - experimental, theoretical, manipulative, quantitative, using to coming up with laws/transcended truth, learn from formal training

What is statistical inference?

Inferring the properties of the population of a whole from a sample of the data. A form of induction

What are summary statistics (aka descriptive statistics)?

Some mathematical product of a form of statistical inference

The mean, median and mode. Corco. Skewed

A model

With respect to correlation (r)= .5,0,-.5,1 means…

.5 medium correlation

0 random correlation

-.5 medium inverse correlation

1 is the strongest

R^2 - coefficient of determination

Tells you how well you can predict y from the value on the x axis

Cor value squared

Independent variable

x (what you choose)

Dependent variable

y (what responds to your choice)

Explain null hypothesis research? H0

In general, the null hypothesis is the simplest predictable outcome. If the statistical test comes out to be significant, then we reject the null hypothesis. If we reject the null, then there’s a chance that the prediction is right

What is a p-value?

What’s the probability of getting you result if you’re in a null world