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Welcome to Ecology

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... ecology of five species of warblers in spruce forests in North America. ... Black-throated green warbler had the same feeding zone in the two study areas. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Welcome to Ecology


1
Welcome to Ecology!
  • Ecology (Bio 47)Spring 2008Tuesday 1100
    150Thursday 1100 150
  • Instructor Mrs. Nancy Wheat
  • nwheat_at_hartnell.edu
  • Text Ecology Concepts Applications by Manuel
    Molles 4th ed

2
Introduction What Is Ecology ?
  • Chapter 1

3
Outline
  • Overview of Ecology
  • Ecology of Forest Birds
  • Forest Nutrient Budgets
  • Vegetation Change Pollen Records
  • Nature and Scope of Ecology

4
Overview of Ecology
  • Ecology Study of relationships between organisms
    and the environment.
  • Simple definition does not convey the extreme
    breadth of this discipline.

5
Overview of Ecology
  • Ecology can be studied on many levels.
  • Individual
  • Behavioral ecology, physiological ecology
  • Population Groups of individuals from a single
    species which can potentially interbreed.
  • Community All of the populations of all of the
    species in an area.

6
Overview of Ecology
  • Ecosystem Includes all organisms living in an
    area, and the physical environment with which
    these organisms interact.
  • Landscape Includes exchange of materials
    organisms between ecosystems.
  • Biosphere Highest level of ecological
    organization.

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8
Ecology of Forest Birds
  • MacArthur studied ecology of five species of
    warblers in spruce forests in North America.
  • Theory predicted two species with identical
    ecological requirements could not coexist
    indefinitely.
  • Studies found warblers coexisted by feeding in
    different zones of the same tree.

9
Warbler Feeding Zones
10
What happens when some species are absent?
  • Morse expanded MacArthurs study
  • Black-throated green warbler had the same feeding
    zone in the two study areas.
  • Yellow-rumped warblers moved their feeding zone
    upward when black-throated green warblers were
    absent.
  • Morse observed aggressive interactions between
    the two species.

11
Forest Nutrient Budgets
  • Ecology can also be studied on a much broader
    scale.
  • Nutrient budgets in a forest are important to
    understand how this ecosystem functions.

12
Forest Nutrient Budgets
  • Due to heavy rainfall, many rainforest soils are
    nutrient-poor.
  • Nutrient stores in rainforest canopies are
    associated with epiphytes.
  • Epiphyte mats contain significant quantities of
    nutrients.
  • Trees send roots up to epiphyte mats to access
    nutrients.

13
Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
  • Likens and Bormann estimated 90 of nutrients in
    a New Hampshire forest were locked up in soil
    organic matter.
  • Approximately 9.5 was tied up in vegetation.
  • Streamflow output amounted to lt 1.

14
Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest
  • Plant growth was suppressed with herbicides for 3
    years.
  • Nutrient loss from the deforested basin was
    dramatically higher.

15
Vegetation Change Pollen Records
  • Many environmental changes occur over large
    spatial or temporal scales.
  • Davis monitored plant pollen deposited in lake
    sediments in the Appalachian Mountains.
  • Documented large temporal changes to nearby plant
    communities.

16
Vegetation History from Pollen Sediments
17
Vegetation Change Theoretical Models
  • Milne modeled transitions between ecosystems
    (ecotones) as phase transitions.
  • Searched for edges between critical densities of
    vegetation along ecotones.
  • Suggested areas of gradual change within a
    landscape are most likely to contain biological
    responses to environmental changes.

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19
Nature and Scope of Ecology
  • Ecology Study of relationships between organisms
    and the environment.
  • Wide variety of approaches.
  • Large range of temporal and spatial scales.
  • Field
  • Lab
  • Observational
  • Manipulative
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