Introduction to Ecology
Part 1 – Designed & Edited by Joe Naumann
1
The Science of Ecology
Goals for the day





Differentiate Between Ecology and
Environmentalism and Conservation Biology
Trace History of Ecological Thought
Define Ecology Scientifically
Learn the Scientific Method
Organization of Ecology
2
The Science of Ecology
Goals for the day





Differentiate Between Ecology and
Environmentalism and Conservation
Biology
Trace History of Ecological Thought
Define Ecology Scientifically
Learn the Scientific Method
Organization of Ecology
3
Ecology vs Environmentalism
Scientific societies and
activist groups – often in
conflict with each other
 Earth First, Greenpeace,
and WWF
 Industry – e.g., GMO’s:
Pandora’s box or chicken
little?
 Individuals vs populations

or
◦ Hawaii: PETA vs Nature
Conservancy
4
Hawaii: PETA vs Nature Conservancy

Feral pigs (Sus scrofa)
◦ Integral part of native
Hawaiian Luau culture
◦ Introduced by both
Polynesians and Europeans
(2 spp)
◦ Rooting destroys many
plants
◦ Create wallows, water
collects, and encourages
mosquitoes to breed
5
Hawaii: PETA vs Nature Conservancy

Nature
Conservancy
◦ Attempting to
eradicate the pig from
their lands
◦ Uses ecological impact
of pigs as justification
for their removal
◦ Capture through noose
snare-trapping, as this
is the easiest way to
capture the animals
6
Hawaii: PETA vs Nature Conservancy

PETA
◦ Recognizes the impact
that these pigs have on
the ecology
◦ Snare-trapping is
protracted, inhumane,
and a painful way to kill
them
◦ Advocates for humane
trapping and then quick
kills
◦ Ignores financial cost
7
Hawaii: PETA vs Nature Conservancy

Resolution?
◦ Still to be found
◦ Nature Conservancy
continues to trap
A few write-ups of the
controversy are
available from the
Honolulu Advertiser
 A more general
discussion of invasives
in Hawaii is availble
from USGS

8
Key Distinctions

Ecology is a science
◦ Our focus in this course

Environmentalism is a cause
◦ With our without scientific backing

Conservation Biology is the integration of
these two
◦ Using science to support a political cause
9
The Science of Ecology
Goals for the day





Differentiate Between Ecology and
Environmentalism and Conservation Biology
Trace History of Ecological Thought
Define Ecology Scientifically
Learn the Scientific Method
Organization of Ecology
10
History of Ecological Thought
From Thoreau to modern
times
 Historically has been
literature-based
appreciation of nature
 Subsequently became
more of a descriptive
science

11
Darwinian References

“…how infinitely
complex and closefitting are the mutual
relations of all organic
beings to each other and
to their physical
conditions of life.”
◦ Origin of Species
12
The Science of Ecology
Goals





Differentiate Between Ecology and
Environmentalism and Conservation
Biology
Trace History of Ecological Thought
Define Ecology Scientifically
Learn the Scientific Method
Organization of Ecology
13
Definition of Ecology
 “To
determine the
factors that have
produced the present
distribution and
abundance of organisms”
◦ (Jonathan Krebs, 1972)
14
Factors Influencing Organismal
Distribution and Abundance

Abiotic
◦
◦
◦
◦

Climate
Topography
Latitude
Altitude
Biotic
◦ Intraspecific Interactions
◦ Interspecific Interactions
15
The Science of Ecology
Goals





Differentiate Between Ecology and
Environmentalism and Conservation
Biology
Trace History of Ecological Thought
Define Ecology Scientifically
Learn the Scientific Method
Organization of Ecology
16
Scientific Method and Hypothesis Testing

Goals:
◦ Judge good science
 Hudson River PCB
dredging
 Electromagnetic
radiation and cancer
 Sea otters, killer whales
and overfishing
◦ Do good science
17
Goals of science

Describe the patterns that are found in the
natural world
◦ Purely descriptive in nature
◦ Historically this was “ecology”, a.k.a. naturalism
 Make up explanations and then stop there

Test Explanation of Patterns
◦ This is the major emphasis of most of what we
usually call “science”
◦ Key component: TEST these explanations!

How to test these explanations?
◦ The Scientific Method
18
Methods of Explanation
Include those of descriptive science
 Approximately 11 Steps
 Process is repeated many times
 Can NEVER prove a hypothesis

◦ Can only reject many, leaving one as best
supported by the data
◦ “Proof” is a common fallacy

Centerpiece of this method are
Hypotheses
19
Types of Hypotheses

Null hypothesis
◦ The hypothesis of no change
◦ Often abbreviated as Ho

Alternative hypotheses
◦ Often abbreviated as Ha, Hb, etc.
◦ All must be mutually exclusive (including the
null)
◦ We accept an Ha if Ho is first statistically
rejected
 Which Ha to accept is determined by trends in data
20
Scientific Method - Steps 1-5
Observe or suspect pattern
2. Posit cause or significance of
observed difference
3. Create answerable question to
explain pattern
4. Create testable hypotheses
1.
◦ Null (Ho ) and alternate hypotheses
(Ha)
5.
Design experiment
21
Scientific Method - Steps 6-11
Collect data (descriptive stage)
7. Analyze data, primarily using
statistics
8. Evaluate hypotheses, reject Ho?
9. Make conclusions based on data
10. Note problems in current work
11. Predict future directions for
research
6.
22
An Exercise…

Recall an observation that you’ve seen
recently and think through how you
would implement the above 11 steps
23
Parts of a scientific report
Title
 Abstract - an overall summary
 Introduction - background, question, Has
 Methods - what we did
 Results - what we found, analyses results
 Discussion - interpretations, predictions
 Acknowledgements - who helped us
 References - who we cited

24
Transmission Methods in Science
 Written
report (articles, chapters, books)
◦ Traditional
 Oral
presentation
◦ Commonly used for preliminary presentation
of work to get feedback before writing it up
 Poster
◦ Visual summary of work - used at conferences
 Web
page
◦ Can use a written report & make it
interactive
25
How to Evaluate Science?
Do the data address the question?
 Is there enough data to support the claim?
 Has the study been replicated elsewhere?
 Are alternative interpretations considered?
 Is it peer-reviewed?
 Is it presented objectively?
 Are there real controls?

26
The Science of Ecology
Goals





Differentiate Between Ecology and
Environmentalism and Conservation
Biology
Trace History of Ecological Thought
Define Ecology Scientifically
Learn the Scientific Method
Organization of Ecology
27
What is the Organization of Ecology?
Ranges widely from individual to
biosphere studies
 Most of ecology happens in the current
time

◦ Proximate Explanations

Only a few fields (e.g., evolutionary
ecology and paleoecology) are concerned
with past environments and historical
time
◦ Ultimate Explanations
28
Proximate Fields
Emphasis of this course
 Examples, by scale

◦ Population
 Growth rates, PVA, Population genetics, Metapopulation
analyses, etc.
◦ Community
 Interspecific interactions, Environmental impact
statements, etc.
◦ Ecosystem
 Energy, Matter, Nutrient flow, Pollution,
29
Ultimate Fields

Evolutionary Ecology
◦ Using trees of relationship (phylogenies) to address
ecological questions
◦ E.g., evolution of swordtail length and preference in
platys

Behavioral Ecology
◦ Comparing a few closely related species to address
ecological questions

Paleoecology
◦ Attempting to recreate the ecology of ancient times
◦ One of the goals is to recreate the ancient
environment in which the lineages may have evolved
30
Proximate Fields Revisited
 Trends
down pyramid:
◦ Increase in geographic
scale
◦ From single species to
multiple species
◦ Increasing number of
ecological factors that
may be influential
◦ Decreasing certainty
in results
Population
Community
Ecosystem
31