Lecture #1 Introduction to Plant Ecology

Ecology

• The study of interactions between organisms, and their interactions with their physical environment

Abiotic

• Non-living or not composed of living things

Biotic

• Living organisms that are part of an environment

Plant Ecology

• The study of relationships between plants and their environment

Plant communities

• Individual —> Population —> Community —> Ecosytem —> Landscape/Global

Individual

• Traits of plants (ex. height, growth biomass, reproduction)

• Physiology (photosyntheis rate, water use)

• How is plant responding to environment

Population

• Evolution (selection, local adaptation, plasticity)

• Population growth

• Life history

• How is it growing and evolving

Community

• Plant-plant, plant-herbivore, and plant-pollinator interactions

• Interactions among species and other organisms

• Community diversity measures - species richness, species eveness, phlogentic diversity, functional trait diversity

Ecosystem

• Nutrient Cycling

• Ecosytem Function

• Looking at whole system and seeing how its functioning

• Biogeochemical cycling (carbon, nitrogen)

• Resilience to disturbance (invasive species, global change)

Landscape/Global

• Patterns of Diversity

• Global Change

• Trying to understand the things that are happening at a broader scale.

• Seeing if there are patterns and consistencies, and if not, why