What is ecology?
 Relationships between (organisms) ecosystems & the environment
 Encarta  study of relationships between organisms & their bio & phy
environment
biotic
abiotic
 relationships between organisms
 Human component?
 Ecology  Environmentalism
 Organisms & their environment among organisms, flux between organisms
& energy cycles.
2. What kinds of approaches are taken by ecologists, as exemplified by the
stories in Chapter 1, in answering questions about nature? To what levels of
organization does the field of ecology apply?
Approaches
Laboratory/field (e.g. bumble
bee)
inventories
Formulating?/hypothesis
 Scientific method
Historical change
Paleoecology (e.g. Davis) tree
rings
Theoretical models
Experiments
e. g. watersheds
Levels
Organism

Populations

Communities

Ecosystems
3. What is soil?
Draw a rough diagram of a soil profile, and explain why there are layers, and
what the characteristics are of each.
A
B
C
bedrock
Top surface
Influenced by:
Climate
Relief
Organisms
Parent material
4. Why are the biomes distributed on earth as they are?
What role does topography play in biome distribution?
Latitudinal distribution of rainfall
- e.g. deserts
Topography – rain-shadow desert
Elevational changes in plant communities
Temperature
Vegetation
Pressure
Rainfall
Oxygen
Proximity to large body of H2 0
annual distribution of sunlight
(tilt of earth)
5. What features distinguish deserts?
How many of them are there in North America, and how do these deserts differ
from one another?
Latitudinal distribution  descending dry air
Rain Shadow
Interior
Costal deserts
E>P
rainfall
Temp
NA: Great Basin
Mohave
- Tehuacan
Sonoran
Chilivahan
Variable-win.
- win
- all in Mex
- win & sum
- sum
Cold
Warm
Hot
Hot
Hot
Lowe, C. 1974. Vertebrate of Arizona
6. What are some of the changes brought about by human activity in biomes?
Develop a list of human-caused change in terrestrial biomes that is NOT
exhaustive, but instead is restricted to the most important changes for the
biomes you chose to read about.
DISCUSSION BOARD
TROPICAL RAINFOREST
deforestation
& erosion
TROPICAL DRY FOREST
agriculture
TROPICAL SAVANNA
DESERT
burning
overgrazing
irrigation
overgrazing expansion
TEMPERATE WOODLAND
deforestation
TEMPERATE GRASSLAND
farming (ferhlizn)
TEMPERATE FOREST
agriculture
urbanization
deforestation
hunting
BOREAL FOREST
deforestation
hunting
TUNDRA
erosion (mining)
oil drilling
30 N
Deserts @ 30 N & 30 S
Rain shadow
Cold coastal deserts (fog)