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Ecology

Scientific study of the abundance and distribution of organisms in relation to other organisms and environmental conditions

Is ecological understanding complete?

No, new discoveries are always being made

Organization of Ecological Systems

Individual, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere

individual

Most fundamental unit of ecology
Acquire nutrients and energy and produce waste

Species

Individuals that are capable of interbreeding or share genetic similarity

Population

Individuals of the same species living in a particular area

Abundance

total number of individuals

Density

Number of individuals per unit of area

Composition

Makeup of a population in terms of gender, age, genetics

Communities

Populations of species living together in a particular area
Includes predator-prey and competition interactions

Ecosystems

One or more communities of living organisms interacting w their nonliving physical and chemical environments

what is ecological research focused on?

Movement of energy and matter between physical and biological components. Includes flow of materials from pools of elements like carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus

Landscape approach

Concerned with the movement of energy, matter and individuals between different ecosystems

Biosphere

All ecosystems on earth! Linked together by exchanges of water and wind and move to of organisms

Individual approach to ecology

Understands how adaptations, characteristics of an individual's morphology, physiology and behavior enable it to survive in a certain environment

Population approach

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

Community approach

Understands the diversity and interactions of organisms living together in the same space

Ecosystem approach

Describes the storage and transfer of energy and matter

Biosphere approach

Examines movements of energy and chemicals over the earths surface

Adaptation

A characteristic of an organisms that makes it well suited go its environment

first law of thermodynamics

Matter and energy cannot be created/destroyed Burt clan change form

Dynamic steady state

Ecological systems gains and losses are in a balance

Phenotype

An attribute of an organism (behavior, morphology)

genotype

The set of genes an organism carries; determines organism phenotype

Evolution

A change in the genetic composition of a population over time

natural selection

A change in the frequency of genes in a population through different survival and reproduction of individuals that possess certain phenotypes

4 requirements for natural selection

1. Limited resources
2. Individuals vary in their traits
3. Traits are heritable
4. Variation in traits cause some individuals to have higher fitness (survival and reproduction)

Organisms can be classified by...

Their source of energy, how they interact with other organisms,

producers

Aka autotrophs
Convert chemical energy into resources

Consumers

heterotrophs
Obtain energy from other oragnisms

Mixotrophs

Switch between producers and consumers

Scavengers

Consume dead animals

Detritivores

Break down dead organic matter into smaller particles

Decomposers

Break down detritus into simpler elements that'll be recycled back into the environment

Predation

When an organism kills and consumes an individual

Parasitism

When one organism lives in or on another organism

Herbivory

When one organism consumes producers

Competition

When two organisms that depend on the same resource have a negative effect on each other

Mutualism

When two species benefit each other

Commensalism

When two species live in close association and one receives a benefit whereas the other is unaffected

Habitats

The place, or physical setting an organism lives
Distinguished by physical features like dominant plant types
Ex- marine, freshwater, coastal, streams, forests, deserts, grasslands

Niches

Range of biotic and abiotic conditions an organism can tolerate

Can two organisms occupy the same niche?

No because each as a unique phenotype that determines the conditions it can tolerate

Hypotheses

Ideas that potentially explain a repeated observation

Proximate hypothesis

Addresses the cause of immediate changes in an individual's phenotypes or iontercatiosn

Ultimate hypotheses

Address the fitness costs and benefits of a response

Can hypotheses be proven completely true?

No, a particular hypothesis can rarely be confirmed beyond hypothesis

predictions

Statements that arise logically from a hypothesis

Manipulative experiments

A hypothesis is tested by altering a factored hypothesized to the cause of a phenomenon

treatment

The factor that we want to manipulate in a study

Control

A treatment that includes all aspects of an experiment except the factor of interest

Experimental unit

The object to which we apply a manipulatioj

Replication

Being able to produce a similar outcome multiple times

randomization

A requirement fro manipulation experiments, each experimental unit must have equal chance of being assigned to a particular treatment

Natural experiments

An approach to hypothesis testing that relies on natural variation in the environment to test a hypothesis

Mathematical models

Representations of a system with a set of equations that correspond to hypothesized relationships among the system's components

Mean

Average observation values for a treatment

Variance of the mean

A measurement indicating the spread of data around a mean measuring all members of a population

Sample variance

Value similar to variance of the mean but it's accounts for how many samples of the population were measured