Welcome to:Foundations of Ecology
Biology 356
J. Ruesink Lecture 1Introduction/ Adaptation
What do ecologists do?
• How many of you are familiar with the following jobs:– Computer programmer– Marketing department– Artist– Biotechnologist
• Ecologist
What does this course cover?
• Basic principles of ecology• Methods that ecologists use
– Experiments, models, observations
• Graphical presentation of ecological data
• Interpretation of ecological data• Evaluation of primary literature
What does this course cover?
• 3 Exams (20% each)– Feb 3, Feb 24, Mar 16
• 4 In-class exercises (5% each)• 2 Literature reviews (5% each)• Independent write-up of scientific
study (estimating crow population size) (10%)
What does this course cover?
Week 1, 2
Week 3, 4
Week 5-7
Week 9, 10
Week 2
Landscapes:Week 8
Fig 1.1
Syllabus
Who is my TA?
• Last names A-L: Shallin Busch• Last names M-Z: Jon Moore
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles• Review material from Biology 180
– Eukaryotes or Prokaryotes– Autotrophs or Heterotrophs
• Plants• Animals• Fungi• Protists• Bacteria
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles• Review material from Biology 180
– Eukaryotes or Prokaryotes– Autotrophs or Heterotrophs
• Plants• Animals• Fungi• Protists• Bacteria
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles• Review material from Biology 180
– Eukaryotes or Prokaryotes– Autotrophs or Heterotrophs
• Plants• Animals• Fungi• Protists• Bacteria
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles• Review material from Biology 180
– Eukaryotes or Prokaryotes– Autotrophs or Heterotrophs
• Plants• Animals• Fungi• Protists• Bacteria
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles• Review material from Biology 180
– Eukaryotes or Prokaryotes– Autotrophs or Heterotrophs
• Plants• Animals• Fungi• Protists• Bacteria
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles• Review material from Biology 180
– Eukaryotes or Prokaryotes– Autotrophs or Heterotrophs
• Plants• Animals• Fungi• Protists• Bacteria
Different groups of organisms
play different
ecological roles
Fig 1.5
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles
Inorganic carbon
Photoautotrophs
Heterotrophs(Decomposers)
Dead organic matter
Inorganic & organic nutrients
SUN
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles
Inorganic carbon
Photoautotrophs
Heterotrophs(Decomposers)
Dead organic matter
Inorganic & organic nutrients
SUN
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles
Inorganic carbon
Photoautotrophs
Heterotrophs(Decomposers)
Dead organic matter
Inorganic nutrients
SUN
Plants, Protists
Fungi, Bacteria
Different groups of organisms play different
ecological roles
Inorganic carbon
Photoautotrophs
Heterotrophs(Decomposers)
Dead organic matter
Inorganic nutrients
SUNHeterotrophs(Consumers)
Heterotrophs(Consumers)
Animals, some protists
Ecological principles
• Ecological systems are physical entities• Ecological systems exist in dynamic
steady states• Maintenance of living systems requires
expenditure of energy (Boundary is essential)
• Ecological systems undergo evolutionary change
• Maintenance of living systems requires expenditure of energy (Boundary is essential)
Fig 3.12
• Maintenance of living systems requires expenditure of energy (Boundary is essential)
Homeostasis: organism’s ability to maintain a constant internal environment despite variation in the environment
• Ecological systems undergo evolutionary change
See Ch. 1 p. 15: Natural selection requires heritable variation and differential survival and reproductionAlso see Ch. 9 P. 182-3
Diverse life forms are a product of evolution
• Habitats vary.• No single species can exist in all
habitats. (Tradeoffs exist.) An organism’s niche represents the ranges of conditions that it tolerates and the ways of life it pursues.
• Habitats vary.
• An organism’s niche represents the ranges of conditions that it tolerates and the ways of life it pursues.
Adaptation
• Attributes of structure or function that suit an organism to the conditions of its environment– May be adaptations to physical
characteristics of the environment– Or to biological characteristics of the
environment
Adaptation
Adaptation
Adaptation
Physical characteristics of the environment that affect plants
• Light• Nutrients• Water • Temperature• Carbon dioxide
Physical characteristics of the environment that affect plants
• Light• Nutrients• Water • Temperature• Carbon dioxide
As you read chapter 3, you should write down examples of plant adaptations to (extremes of) each of these environmental conditions
• Nutrients– Distribution of nutrients, as well as
total amount, influences plant growth
• Nutrients– Plants have adapted to use “pockets” of
nutrients by locally increasing root density
Physical characteristics of the environment that affect animals
• Temperature• Water• Salt balance• Oxygen• (Food supply = biological)
• Temperature– Endotherms use internal metabolic
processes to adjust body temperature– Ectotherms cannot control
temperature internally, only through behavior
• Temperature– Cold adaptations
• Large body size (small surface to volume ratio)
• Storage of food• Hibernation/ torpor
Ecological principle: Activity space
Fig 9.4
What do ecologists do?
• Measure characteristics of the environment
• Count organisms• Observe their responses to and
affects on their environment
Today’s in-class exercise
• Form a group of 4 people. Hand in separate worksheets.
• Do a mark-recapture study to estimate the number of individuals in a population of beans.
• Vary the number of beans marked.• Vary the number of beans sampled.