Overview of Ecology
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Ecology: Study of relationships between
organisms and the environment.
 Environment: the circumstances or
conditions surrounding an organism.
Ecosystem: Includes all organisms living in
an area, and the physical environment with
which these organisms interact.
 Biosphere: Highest level of ecological
organization.
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Nature and Scope of Ecology
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Ecology: Study of relationships between
organisms and the environment.
 Wide variety of approaches.
 Large temporal and spatial scales.
 Field
 Lab
 Observational
 Manipulative
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Some fields of ecology
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Molecular Ecology
Physiological Ecology
Behavioral Ecology
Landscape Ecology
Restoration Ecology
Human Ecology
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ESA Journal Assignment
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Go to the Ecological Society of America
Click “science resources”, then “publications”
Choose an volume of Ecology
 Click Ecology
 Click “current issue”
 Click “available issues”
 Click to open an Ecology volume’s table of content.
Print & count the numbers of articles by these catagories:
 Individual, population, community, etc…
 Predation, competition, dispersal, energy flow, etc…
 Plants, animals (vertebrate or invertebrate), microbes.
 Terrestrial (land & soil) or aquatic (any water)
Hand-in the Table of Contents indicating journal volume and
your breakdown of each (due Thurs, Jan 25th).
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http://info.hartwick.edu/biology/def_frogs/Index.html
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1. Identify a problem (for example, lamp does not work)
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2. List possible explanations (alternative hypotheses) based on your
previous experience (what you already know); note: all of these
hypotheses must be testable (no demons allowed!)
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3. Pick the most likely hypothesis (or the easiest one to test); this is
called the "rule of maximum parsimony" (for example, the bulb is
burned out)
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4. Make predictions based on the hypothesis: "if this hypothesis is
true, then the lamp should work when I replace the bulb"
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5. Test the hypothesis by determining if the prediction is true: make an
observation or do an experiment (for example, replace the bulb)
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6. Move on to test alternative hypotheses if your first one fails the test.
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7. Repeat until you are convinced that you have identified the most
likely hypothesis (publish!)
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