Principles of Ecology EVE 101

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Principles of Ecology EVE 101

• Introduction to Ecology
• What is it?
• Why care?

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What is Ecology?

• For now, think of ecology as describing the
  relationships between living organisms and their
  environment.

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Why care about ecology?

• Humans are an integral part of ecological systems
  and depend on them for survival and quality of
  life
• The human population will soon occupy most of
  the land surface of the planet Earth and their
  activities are currently altering the biosphere,
  making it less capable of sustaining human
  civilization.

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Trajectory of the human population
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Earth at night
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USA at night
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Humans the Biosphere

• How many humans are there on the planet today?
• 6,648,792,000 or so
• What is the doubling time of the human
  population now?
• With this many humans and the population doubling
  43 yrs, whats next?

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The Blue Planet
Its the only one that we know of and the only
one weve got. The biosphere is fragile. We
depend on it for everything we need and want.
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The Blue Planet

• The biosphere is a complex interacting system, of
  living organisms and the physical environment
• Through ecological processes, living organisms
  made the blue planet more hospitable to life.
• These interactions gave rise to increasing
  biodiversity through geological time.

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The Blue Planet

• Physicists are aware of how unique the blue
  planet is and how life has interacted with the
  Earths physical environment to create this
  highly unusual planet.

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Humans enter the picture

• Never before has a single species had such a
  profound, and adverse, effect on the biosphere,
  making it less capable of supporting life
• Mass extinctions are not new. Before they were
  caused by other catastrophes such as a meteor
  hitting the planet.

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How humans perceive the environment

• When Ronald Regan was born, Miami had a
  population of 4000

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How humans perceive the environment

• With exponential population growth, the human
  population size is changing much faster than
  human culture and mores can change

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Global Atmospheric Changes
Global warming
Ozone depletion
Caused by human population and their waste
products
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Global Warming
1875
2004
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Global Warming
Blue Man Group Earth to America!
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Global Warming
Taking care of our environment is increasingly
main stream
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Homo sapiens as a species

• The relationship between humans and nature Is
  there a difference?
• Are humans natural?
• Are humans subject to the laws of nature?
  principles of ecology
• These are questions that we ask you to consider
  throughout the course.

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Homo sapiens determines its future and of the
planet itself

• EVE 101 will teach you principles of
  ecology--well practice during the quarter asking
  how humans are affected by this principles.
• For example
• Is growth sustainable?
• Is there a conflict between jobs v. environment?
• Can individuals make a difference to the blue
  planet by their personal choices?

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What is Ecology?

• Ecology is the science that seeks to describe and
  explain the relationship between living organisms
  and their environment.
• Ecologists describe and quantify the connections
  between an organism and its environment.

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Another definition of ecology

• Ecology is the science that seeks to understand
  the distribution and abundance of organisms.
  (emphasis in EVE 101)
• Ecologists create test hypotheses that predict
  patterns in the distribution and abundance of
  organisms.
• Ecology is a quantitative science

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Biosphere
Figure 1.1
Region Biome
Landscape
Ecosystem
Levels of Ecology
Community
Population interactions
Population
Individual
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Levels of ecological organization

• Individual organism and its responses to the
  environment
• Individuals interact with the physical
  environment physiology morphology
• Individuals interact with each other behavior
• Individuals live out their lives life history

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Levels of ecological organization

• Population a group of individuals
• New individuals are born
• Individuals of any age can die
• As a result of births and deaths, the number of
  individuals changes with time
• Population Growth or Behavior change in the
  numbers of individuals with time

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Levels of ecological organization

• Individual organism and its responses to the
  environment
• Population a group of individuals that
  collectively interact to give birth to new
  individuals and eventually die
• Species one to many populations of individuals
  that interbreed freely

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Levels of ecological organization

• Community a group of populations of different
  species occurring in one place individuals of
  different species may interact with each other
  (predator, prey)
• Ecosystem a group of communities and the
  populations within them embedded in a common
  physical environment and tied together by
  physical processes.

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Levels of ecological organization

• Landscape a group of ecosystems that may or may
  not interact in a given region
• Biome a group of landscapes within a common
  climatic regime
• Biosphere a group of biomes and ecosystems
  embedded in and interacting with the physical
  environment of a planet

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Levels of organization of the physical world

• Subatomic particles
• Atoms molecules
• Components of cells
• Cells
• Tissues organs
• Individuals, populations, communities,
  ecosystems, landscapes,biomes,biosphere
• Planet, solar system, galaxy
• Universe

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SummaryEcological processes occur at all levels

• Individuals interact with their environment.
• Populations change over time and affect
  populations of other species.
• Communities interact with each other as they are
  embedded in ecosystems and landscapes
• Ecosystem processes can affect the entire
  biosphere and always have.
• Physicists recognize the unusual properties of
  planets with biospheres

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Summary EVE 101

• EVE 101 will focus on ecology at all levels
• EVE 101 will emphasize learning principles of
  ecology and how ecology the science is done
• EVE 101 will encourage you to apply ecological
  principles to humans and to the personal choices
  you make as you live your life