Eugene P. Odum
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“The ecosystem is the basic functional unit with which we must deal since it includes
both the organisms and the nonliving environment, each influencing the properties of the
other and both necessary for maintenance of life as we have it on Earth.”
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Early Life
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“Whenever my family visited anybody I’d disappear
under the house to study their plumbing.”
Variations in the Heart Rate of Birds: A Study in Physiological
Ecology
Odum, Eugene P., 1941. Variations in the heart rate of birds: a study in
physiological ecology. Ecological Monographs 11: 299-326
Weight
Variations in the Heart Rate of Birds: A Study in Physiological
Ecology
Odum, Eugene P., 1941. Variations in the heart rate of birds: a study in
physiological ecology. Ecological Monographs 11: 299-326
Heart Rate
Variations in the Heart Rate of Birds: A Study in Physiological
Ecology
Odum, Eugene P., 1941. Variations in the heart rate of birds: a study in
physiological ecology. Ecological Monographs 11: 299-326
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“Although the study of physiology quite logically is concerned at first with the study of the
functions of various parts, organs, and systems as separate units, the ultimate aim is an
understanding of their function in the organism as a whole. Furthermore, it is the
physiology of the whole organism that is of the greatest interest to the ecologist in
understanding how organisms are related to and function in their environments.”
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1933
The Land Ethic – Aldo Leopold “…a
fountain of energy flowing through a
circuit of soils, plants, and animals.”
1935
Ecosystem as a unit of nature – Arthur
Tansley. “Is man part of ‘nature’ or not?”
1942
The Trophic Dynamic Aspect of
Ecology – Raymond Lindeman.
Ecosystems should be examined as
“as system composed of physicalchemical-biological-processes.”
“If you want to understand a large
scale system, you have to start
with the function of the organisms
in the system”
-E.P. Odum
Fundamentals of Ecology
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Research has been directed along 3 distinct but related lines:
(1) trophic structure and metabolism of the early stages of succession on abandoned agricultural
lands (i.e. the old-field ecosystem)
(2) experiments in radiation ecology with major emphasis on the use of radio-isotopes as
"metabolic tags" (to clarify nutrient cycles and energy flow) and as "population tags" (as, for
example, to determine density and turnover of small organisms)
(3) measurements of relative abundance of game vertebrates as indices of the change in the
region as a whole as the result of the interaction of the old-fields (one-third of the land area) and
the forest areas (two-thirds of the land area).
Odum, E.P., Connell, C.E., Davenport, L.B., 1962. Energy flow of three primary comsumer components of old-field ecosystems. Ecology 43:88-96
Forb-Arthropod Food Chains in a One Year Experimental Field
-Used Phosphorus-32 tracers to study plant-arthropod
food chains.
-Where Heterotheca subaxillaris was the labeled plant,
32P was transferred readily to a number of
phytophagous insects and secondarily to the predator
fauna.
-Where only Erigeron canadensis was tagged, there
was little transfer of the isotope to the consumer
populations, with the exceptions of the ant Dorymyrmex
and the tree cricket Oecanthus.
-Very little 32P was transferred to the detritus eaters
during the 43 day period of the study.
Wiegert, R.G., Odum, E.P., Schnell, J.H., 1967. Forb-Arthropod food chains in
a one year experimental field. Ecology 48:75-83
Forb-Arthropod Food Chains in a One Year Experimental Field
“Results of this study have verified and extended the suggestion made in previous
radioisotope food chain studies (Ball and Hooper 1963, Odum and Kuenzler 1963,
Marples 1964) that the shape of uptake curves can be indicative of the trophic position
of a population of consumers in the field. Thus, populations known to be strictly
herbivorous reach a peak of radioactivity very soon after the primary producers have
been labeled, while known predators such as spiders show delayed uptake at lower
levels.”
Wiegert, R.G., Odum, E.P., Schnell, J.H.,
1967. Forb-Arthropod food chains in a one
year experimental field. Ecology 48:75-83
Population Energy Flow of Three Primary Consumer Components
of Old-Field Ecosystems
Odum, E.P., Connell, C.E., Davenport, L.B., 1962. Energy flow of three primary comsumer components of old-field
ecosystems. Ecology 43:88-96
Population Energy Flow of Three Primary Consumer Components
of Old-Field Ecosystems
Sparrow
Field mice
Grasshoppers/
Crickets
Odum, E.P., Connell, C.E., Davenport, L.B., 1962. Energy flow of three
primary comsumer components of old-field ecosystems. Ecology 43:88-96
Worlds first hydrogen bomb explosion, Eniwetok Atoll, 1952
Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef
Community on Eniwetok Atoll
Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef
Community on Eniwetok Atoll
“All in all there is no better way to become impressed with the functional operation of a community
than to put on a face mask and explore a coral reef.” –E. Odum, Fundamentals of Ecology
Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef
Community on Eniwetok Atoll
- Total plant tissue exceeds animal
tissue by about 3 to 1
-Filamentous green algae have more
biomass than zooxanthellae by about
16 to 1
Odum, H.T., Odum, E.P., 1955. Trophic structure and productivity of a windward coral reef community on
Eniwetok Atoll. Ecological Monographs 25:291-320
Trophic Structure and
Productivity of a Windward
Coral Reef Community on
Eniwetok Atoll
-Quantitative trophic structure of the reef
community set out as a pyramid of mass
-The single coral is first a producer, to a
lesser extent an herbivore, and somewhat
a carnivore, thus giving something of a
pyramid within one coral head
Odum, H.T., Odum, E.P., 1955. Trophic structure and productivity of a
windward coral reef community on Eniwetok Atoll. Ecological Monographs
25:291-320
Trophic Structure and
Productivity of a Windward
Coral Reef Community on
Eniwetok Atoll
“…As an open system , the construction of
self regulating interactions
has
led structure
by
-Quantitative
trophic
of the reef
set outof
asthe
a pyramid of mass
selective process tocommunity
the survival
stable.”
-The single coral is first a producer, to a
lesser extent an herbivore, and somewhat
a carnivore, thus giving something of a
pyramid within one coral head
Odum, H.T., Odum, E.P., 1955. Trophic structure and productivity of a
windward coral reef community on Eniwetok Atoll. Ecological Monographs
25:291-320
Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef
Community on Eniwetok Atoll
-Linked application of ecosystems ecology with nuclear technologies
-Mutualism and stability
-System characterized not by competition and growth, but by cooperation and stability
The ecosystem is the basic unit of nature with which ecologists
must ultimately deal
-President of ESA in 1964
-Announced in Bioscience the establishment of a “new ecology” that had risen “to a front
line position in man’s thinking as a consequence of the exploitation of atomic energy, the
exploration of outer space, and the human population explosion.”
-Defined the new ecology as a “Systems Ecology” that deals with “the structure and
function of levels of organization beyond that of the individual and species”
The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
-Published in 1969 in Science
The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
P/R = Index of relative maturity of ecosystem
Decrease in energy relegated to production
Increase in energy relegated to maintenance
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The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
k-selected
r-selected
Decrease in energy relegated to production
Increase in energy relegated to maintenance
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The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
P/R Approaches 1
P/B is Low
P/R is < or > 1
P/B is High
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The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
Weblike, predominantly
detritus
Linear,
predominantly
grazing
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The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
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The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
-“In the pioneer society, as in the pioneer ecosystem, high birth rates, rapid
growth, high economic profits, and exploitation of accessible and unused
resources are advantageous, but, as the saturation level is approached, these
drives must be shifted to considerations of symbiosis(that is, civil rights, law and
order, education, and culture), birth control, and the recycling of resources.”
-The use of nonchemical pest control agriculture
-The implementation of a compartment model for landscape zoning
to be supported by landscape lawyers
-A reorientation of societies goals to be accomplished by instruction
in ecosystems ecology beginning in elementary school.
Criticism of The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
-1973, William Drury and Ian Nesbit published an article called succession that
challenged Odums ecosystem concept
-Promoted Glesonian concept of succession
Criticism of The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
-Drury and Nesbit: “Most of the phenomenon of succession can be understood
as a consequences of differential growth, differential survival of species
adapted to growth at different points on environmental gradients. There is no
strategy of ecosystem development because there is no community
control over succession.”
Criticism of The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
Criticism of The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
-Ecosystems do not function through feedbacks and are not integrated wholes.
Criticism of The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
The Pulsing Paradigm
-Abandoned the term homeostasis
-Began using the term homeorhesis
-- derived from the Greek word rheos for “stream” or “current” and means
maintenance of flow
Non-Set-Point Control
Non-Set-Point Control
Solar Radiation
Oxygen
Vegetation
Decomposers
Ecosystem
Set-Point Control
Set-Point Control
Information
Thyroid
Gland
Hormones
Metabolism
Retirement
-Retired from the University of Georgia in 1984
Retirement
-Retired from the University of Georgia in 1984
Retirement
-Retired from the University of Georgia in 1984
Retirement
-The ecosystem is a thermodynamically open system
-Ecosystems maintain stability by internal feedback
-Natural selection can occur at the level of the group and it involves mutualism as well as
interorganismal competition
-Mutualism increases when resources are scarce
-Ecosystem development is a 2 phase process, where in the 2nd stage the ecosystem is self
organized
-Since the beginning of life on earth, organisms have not only adapted to physical conditions, but
have modified the environment in ways that have proven beneficial to life in general
Books
-Fundamentals of Ecology
-Ecology
-Basic Ecology
-Ecology and Our Endangered Life Support
Systems
-Ecological Vignettes: Ecological
-Approaches to Dealing with Human
Predicament
-Essence of Place (co-authored with
Martha Odum)
-Microsoft academic search lists 65 publications and
6756 author citations
References
Craige, Betty Jean 2002. Eugene Odum: Ecosystems Ecologist and Environmentalist. University of Georgia
Press, ISBN-10: 0820324736
Engelberg, J., Boyarsky, L.L., 1979. The Noncybernetic Nature of Ecosystems. The American Naturalist 114:317324
Odum, Eugene P., 1941. Variations in the heart rate of birds: a study in physiological ecology. Ecological
Monographs 11: 299-326
Odum, E.P., Connell, C.E., Davenport, L.B., 1962. Energy flow of three primary comsumer components of oldfield ecosystems. Ecology 43:88-96
Odum, H.T., Odum, E.P., 1955. Trophic structure and productivity of a windward coral reef community on
Eniwetok Atoll. Ecological Monographs 25:291-320
Odum, E.P., 1969. The Strategy of Ecosystem Development. Science 164: 262-270
Odum, E.P., 1992. Great Ideas in Ecology for the 1990’s. Bioscience 42: 542-545
Patten, B.C., Odum, E.P., 1981. The Cybernetic Nature of Ecosystems. The American Naturalist 118:886-895
Wiegert, R.G., Odum, E.P., Schnell, J.H., 1967. Forb-Arthropod food chains in a one year experimental field.
Ecology 48:75-83