Ecology
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Ecology is the study of the interaction between an organism and its environment.
These interactions are influenced by biotic (living) and the abiotic (non-living)
components present.
There are many subfields that describe every possible interaction between
communities and their environments.
An ecosystem refers to all of the abiotic features, the organisms that live there,
and the energy flow in that system. The sum of all the ecosystems is the biosphere.
Subfields of Ecology
• Organismal ecology… concerned with how biotic and abiotic factors in
an area lead to changes within a species
• Population ecology… how organisms in a population interact
• Community ecology… how different populations of species in an area
interact
• Ecosystem ecology… concerned with energy flow in a specific area
• Landscape ecology… concerned with how different ecosystems blend
• Biology (the study of life) is based on the
systems approach to science whereby
each system belongs to a larger system
based on a hierarchical structure.
– Biosphere - Biome - Ecosystem Communities - Populations - Species
- Organisms - Organs & Organ
systems - Tissues - Cells - Organelles
– Molecules (DNA!)
• The emergent properties of the system
are based on the arrangement and
interactions of the parts as complexity
increases.
• Reductionists theory… Reductionism
therefore states that in order to
understand the complexity of a system
one must break it into its smallest parts.
Levels of
Organization
Ecological Methods
• Observation
– Identification &counting
– Interactions observed
• Experimentation
– Manipulate variables to test
hypothesis to better understand
ecological relationships
• Modeling
– Use mathematical models to predict
long term affects of variables (global
warming models)
Ethology
• Behavioral ecology can be further narrowed to the study of
Ethology (organisms in their natural environments).
– An ethologist will attempt to answer the following 4 questions
without influencing the outcome.
• What is the mechanistic basis of the behavior (chemical, anatomical,
& physiological)- proximate
• How does development of the animal influence behavior - proximate
• What is the evolutionary history of the behavior - ultimate
• How does the behavior contribute to an animal's fitness - ultimate