Ecology, Evolution and Diversity

General Biology I

The two hour version

Part 1

http://faculty.csuci.edu/steven.norris/

Steven Mark Norris

steven.norris@csuci.edu

bio + logia

=“study of life”

Biology

“skin-in”

“skin-out”

Biology

“skin-out”

Biology

Biological Themes

Evolution

Theodosius Dobzhansky

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”

Ecology

Biological Themes

Biological Themes

Bio-diversity

Science

Western Science

Plato and Aristotle

Raphael, ca. 1510

The Vatican

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Trusting our senses

Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

Natural PhilosophyRobert Boyle (1627-1691)

Robert Hooke (1635-1703)

“Let it not suffice to be book-learned, to read what others have written and to take upon trust more falsehood than truth, but let us ourselves examine things as we have opportunity, and converse with Nature as well as with books.”

John Ray -- 1691(1627-1705)

Natural Philosophy

Natural Theology Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, collected from the Appearances of Nature

William Paley - 1802

Natural Theology

Natural Science

C. Darwin

C. Lyell

L. Pasteur

A. Einstein

The Scientific Method …..

The Scientific Method …..

Hypothesis (= theory)

Prediction and test

Support or reject

Proven or Truth

Vacuum tubes

Transistors

Integrated Circuits

US Navy Computer 1945

Notebook - 2008

Ecologyoikos + ology

“study of home”

Ernst Haeckel

EcologyHow organisms interact with

each other and their environment.

Individual

Population

Community

Ecosystem

Population Ecology

Populations have attributes

Populations can be large ……

Devil’s Hole, Death Valley

….populations can be small.

and Fitness

Life History

Life History

Salmon spawning migration

Life History

Salmon spawning migration

Life History

Salmon spawning

Life History

the end

Newly hatched salmon fry

Fitness = the pay off

Life History

Broad range of live history strategies

Community Ecology

Communities and

community interactions

Competition

Everyone loses when they compete

Competition

Resource Partitioning

Very narrow dietary niche

Koala BearNiche

Very broad dietary niche

Racoon

Niche

Barnacles

Competition and niche

Competition and niche

(+/-)

Predation

Predation

Plant defenses

Plant Physical Defenses

Poison Ivy

Plant defenses: Secondary Compounds

Coffee

Plant defenses: Secondary Compounds

Willows

acetylsalicylic acid

Willows

Secondary compounds

Animal Defenses

Chemical Defenses

toad

Crypsis

Countershading