Chapter 1: Introduction to Ecology

What is ecology?

The study of relationships

Is ecology the same as environmentalism?

No it is not

What are the two factors that influences the biology of an organism?

Abiotic and Biotic factors

What is the biotic factors examples?

• Competition

• Predation

• Herbivory

• Disease

What is the abiotic factors examples?

• Weather

• Moisture

• Temperature

• Nutrients

• Toxins

With the physical habitat how climate affect plants?

Affects what plants grow

With the physical habitat, soil affects what aspect on water?

Water availability

What herbivores feeds?

Plants

What does carnivores feeds?

It feeds on other animals

What does forest canopy do?

It shades understory

Who converts organic compounds into inorganic forms?

Decomposer

What is fixation?

Taking inorganic molecules into organic molecule

What is mineralization?

When the animal dies their biomass goes back to inorganic form like CO2

What is Ecological hierarchy?

• Organism

• Population

• Communities

• Ecosystem

• Landscape

• Biomes

• Biosphere

What is organism

Single organism

What is population?

Number of the same species

What is communities

All living things on the same area including bacteria, biotic

What is ecosystem?

The community interacting with its environment. Non/Living

What is landscapes?

Different communities that lives on that area

What is biomes?

The large expanses of similar area

What is biosphere?

All the ecosystem together. Hardest to study

What is hypothesis?

What is predictions

For ecological data what ecologists make and collect?

Ecologists make observations and collect measurements

What data may be?

Data may be qualitative or quantitative

What is the nominal categorical data?

Unordered categorioes

What is the ordinal categorical data?

Ordered categories

What is the discrete numerical date?

Limited possibilities

What is continuous numerical data?

A scale of possibilities

What does presentation styles includes?

• Tables

• Frequency distributions(histograms)

• Scatter plots comparing two variables

What is correlation?

When x changes, so does y but does not prove that one causes the other

What is positive correlation?

As x increase, y increases

What is negative correlation?

As x increases, y decreases

What is the R² value?

Shows how strong the correlation is

What is the strong correlation for R²?

R² greater than 0.8

What is the weak correlation for R²?

R² less than 0.6

What is causation?

• Direct cause-and-effect relationship

• Factor A leads to condition B

Why correlation is not the same as causation?

Correlation is a relationship where two variables change together and does not prove that one causes the other while causation is direct cause-and-effect relationship

Does correlation can be meaning or irrelevant?

Yes because it requires a biological explanation

Media wellness on presenting data accurateness is?

• Inaccurate information

• Claims without correlations

Which is more difficult to demonstrate? Causation or correlation?

Direct causation is difficult to demonstrate

How Koch’s Postulates are used to identify causation?

1. Take the bacterium from sick individuals.

2. Grow the bacterium in a pure culture.

3. Introduce the bacterium into a healthy individual → they become sick.

4. Re-isolate (purify) the same bacterium from the newly sick individual.