1. Ecology

Definition of ecology

the study of relationships among organisms and between organisms and the environment

Distribution

the number of individuals of a species that are found in a given area

abundance

the geographic area where individuals of a species are present

core concepts of ecology

i. Energy and nutrients

ii. Trade-offs HW 1 Problem 3

iii. Evolution

iv. Interactions

v. Structure and function HW 1 Problem 5

vi. Context dependence

vii. Human activity

viii. Scale dependence

Energy and nutrients

energy and matter flow and cycle

Trade-offs

• living things can’t optimize everything

• organisms can’t do everything b/c resources limited

• thus, face tradeoffs 

• ex: seed size vs amount of seeds produced

• leads to evolution and diversity

Evolution

ecology and evolution go hand in hand

Interactions

biological interactions with other living and physical interactions with the environment

Structure and function

structure gives rise to function

structure

the physical and biological components (biotic and abiotic) of a system and how these compounds are organized 

functions

the processes that arise from the components and organization of a system (nutrient cycling, water filtration, etc)

Context dependence

different results over space, time, and situation

Human activity

humans influence and are influenced by natural ecosystems, climate change, resource extraction, pollution, conservation

Scale dependence

ecology has scale and complexity

• individual

• population: a group of individuals of a single species that live in an area

• communities: group of populations that live in the same area and interact with each other

• ecosystems: includes all of the organisms in an area along with abiotic materials and energy with each other

• landscape: have several ecosystems

• biosphere: all of earth (includes all organisms and their environents