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.