BIOL 4120
Principles of Ecology
Dafeng Hui
Office: Harned Hall 320
Phone: 963-5777
Email: dhui@tnstate.edu
Introduction of instructor

Education Background
• Ph.D. in Botany (Ecology), University of
Oklahoma
• MS in Biostatistics and Quantitative
Genetics, Yangzhou University, PR China
• BS in Agronomy, Yangzhou University,
PR China

Post-doc research experience
• University of Oklahoma
• Duke University (Field experiment)
• Auburn University (Modeling)
Introduction (cont.)

My research interests
• Global change ecology (e.g., how elevated CO2
and temperature influence plants and soils)
• Ecosystem ecology (carbon, water and nutrient
cycling in grasslands, forests etc.)
• Biostatistical applications in biological sciences
(data analysis, synthesis)
• Web pages: http://faculty.tnstate.edu/dhui

My teaching interests
• Biostatistics (or Biometry)
• Ecological modeling
• Ecology
Student information

Please introduce yourself:
• Your name
• Junior or senior?
• Major
• Courses you’ve taken that are
relevant to ecology
• Courses you have this semester
• Any other thing else you want to
share
Course information
Office hours: MWF 11:30 am - 2:30 pm; T Th 12:00-2:30 pm;
or by appointment
Textbook: Elements of Ecology, 6th ed., Smith, T. H. and Smith,
R. L. 2006. Pearson/Benjamin Cummings, Inc.
ISBN10: 0805348301, ISBN13: 9780805348309
Lab manual: Ecology on Campus, 1st ed., Kingsolver,
Robert. 2006. Person/Benjamin Cummings, Inc.
ISBN10: 0805382143, ISBN13: 9780805382143
Lectures
1.Preparation – read
the textbook
2.Download and print
the lecture outline for
notes at
http://faculty.tnstate.
edu/dhui/biol4120
3.Supplementary
materials – Dr.
Ganter built a web
site for this course:
http://www.tnstate.e
du/ganter/Ecology
Attendance
Required for both lecture and
laboratory
0.5 point for each absence (lecture)
Grading policy


The overall grade for the course will
be based on the standard TSU pointto-grade scale.
The distribution of points is:
• Exams: 50%
• Final: 10%
• Laboratory: 25%
• Presentation: 10%
• Attendance: 5%
Homework, Lab report, Exam, Paper and summary
Introduction
0.1 What is ecology?
0.2 Why do we need to study Ecology?
0.3 How to study ecology?
0.1 What is Ecology ?
Ecology: ~ Greek word oikos (family
household) +logy (study of)
The scientific study of the interactions between
organisms and their environments.
Ernst Haeckel, 1866
The study of the relationships, distribution, and
abundance of organisms, or groups of organisms,
in an environment.
S.I. Dodson, 1998
What is Ecology NOT?



Environmental Science (i.e., the study of
man's effect on natural systems)
Environmentalism (activism, aim to
improving the environment).
Resource management
•
•
•
•
Wildlife
Fisheries
Soil Resources
Forestry
0.2 Why study Ecology?




Intellectual curiosity (explain phenomena)
Ecology has important impacts on everyone's
daily lives
• Ecosystem services and goods
Huge impact of humans on global
ecosystems--ecology holds key to predicting
our future.
to understand some of the natural laws that
impose limitations on the interaction of
organisms (including humans) with their
living and nonliving environment.
0.3 How to study ecology?


Ecology employs the scientific method.
scientific method is a system of
observation that is "formalized", which
means that it is done is such a way that
one can reproduce the observations under
the same conditions.
Scientific Method
1.
2.
3.
Make observations.
Generate a question (s)
Generate a hypothesis (tentative
answer)
- formulate a testable prediction
4.
5.
6.
Design an experiment to test the
prediction
Accept or reject hypothesis. (Not
“prove”)
Start again
Scientific Method
For Example: Productivity and nutrient (N) in prairie
grasslands of North America
Observation and Hypothesis
Data collection, Test
(observational, laboratory and field experiments, modeling)
Field experiment
experiments have some elements
in common:
Treatment Groups: nitrogen,
irrigation; number of species etc
Control Groups: no N applied
Randomization: randomly
assign a treatment to a plot
Replication: several plots for
same treatment.
Cedar Creek LTER site, Uni. Of
Minnesota (Fig. 1.3)
Estimation and prediction

Models:
• Abstract, simplified
representations of
real systems.
• Conceptual model
and mathematical
model
• Use mathematical
model to estimate
and predict.
Are there any limitations to science?

Science is Self-Correcting
• Science is limited by the ability of the
scientists to collect and interpret
data.
• New technology makes it possible for
science to correct misinterpreted
data.
• Uncertainty is an inherent feature of
science
Chapter 1. The nature of Ecology
1.1 Ecology is organized into a hierarchical
group of subdisciplines (branches)
1.2 Hierarchical Organization and emergent
Properties
1.3 Ecology is especially interdisciplinary.
1.1 Ecology is organized into a
hierarchical group of subdisciplines
Individuals
- living organisms, fundamental units of
populations and communities
Populations
- group of individuals of a species
Communities
- an assemblages of species populations
occurring together in space and time
Ecosystems
- a collection of two related components (biotic and
abiotic) that function as a unit.
Ecosystem

Consists of two basic interacting
components:
• The living, or biotic
• The Physical, or abiotic

An example
• A forest ecosystem



Biotic: plants, animals, microbes that inhabit the
forest
Abiotic: atmosphere, climate, soil, and water
Interaction: tree growths modify physical
environment. Birds foraging on insects reduce insects
and species abundance and composition.
Ecology of individuals
Individual organism forms the basic unit in ecology. It
is the individual that responds to the environment.
Behavioral ecology is the study of how behavior of
individuals affects their ability to survive and reproduce.
Since a population is composed of individuals behavior
directly impacts population level phenomena, such as
population growth rate
Physiological Ecology (or Autecology) is the study of how
physical factors, such at temperature, moisture, and light,
affect the survival and reproduction of individual organisms
Evolution Ecology is the study of environment influence on
the evolution of organisms. Natural selection, evolution of
populations.
Ecology of group of individuals
Population ecology is the study of how groups of individuals
(belonging to the same species) grow (or shrink) and reproduce.
Depending on the nature of the species, many factors (food
availability, competition, predation etc.) may affect population
growth.
Community ecology is the study of how populations from different
species interact to mutually affect each population's growth and
survival. Community structure and dynamics.
Landscape ecology – study spatial patterns and underlying
mechanisms (patches in landscape, fragmented landscape,
corridors).
Ecosystem ecology is the study of whole living systems, with focus
on the flow of energy and biomass in large scale living systems.
Conservation ecology, restoration ecology, and global
ecology.
1.2 Hierarchical Organization and
Emergent Properties

Emergent Properties:
• the set of phenomena that can be explained
only by looking at a particular hierarchical level
• e.g.: is the growth of an individual the same as
that in a group of many (population)?
The principle is a more formal statement of “the
whole is more (or less) than the sum of the
parts”.
Scaling
1.3 Ecology is especially interdisciplinary
An example, Ecology of Forest Birds: Using field
study to test theory (what allows them to co-exist?)
Robert MacArthur: competition (1958)
Douglass Morse (1980, 1989):
The End