Class Introductions:

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Class Introductions Name Educational
background Background in ecology Degree
Program at CSU advisor? Taxonomy, habitat,
and/or field of interest (i.e., Avian ecology in
the tropics, remote sensing of marine systems,
math or stats)
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• Notes posted on-line
• Email comments start on Week 2
• Please dont send as attachments

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Learn a bit about your instructors Background,
biases, perspective, strengths weaknesses
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Ecophysiology, Succession, STOMATES!, Fire
ecology, Ecosystem ecology, Herbivory,
Communities, Global and Climate Change,
Comparative global grassland ecology
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My bias, perspective weakness?
Plants Grasslands ANPP Global
change Experiments
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Class Demography Pre-grad school 2 MSc
17 PhD 12 GDPE students 21 Regular
departments or unattached FRWS 6, Biology
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Class Poll What ecological issue should a
Secretary of Global Ecological Systems first
deal with?  
Human exploitation, restoration ecology and
sustainability - 9 Global warming/climate change
- 5 Water quality/quantity 5 Agriculture -
4 Loss of biodiversity, population declines
3 Need for Environmental Education - 2 Energy
crisis/Renewable energy 1 Landuse/Development
1 Deforestation of Amazon 1 GMOs 1 Soil loss
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• Introductory Material a very quick review
• Ecology
• The past
• What are its roots?
• Why was it done?
• How was it done?

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• Today
• Why is it done?
• How is it done?
• Is Ecology like other sciences?
• How does Ecology fit in with other sciences?
• What is unique about Ecology?

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• The Historical Development of Ecology as a
  Science
•  
• Modern ecological thinking has its roots in the
  18th and early 19th century
• Natural history (back to the time of the Greek
  philosophers)
•  

• Classification schemes (Greeks, Linnaeus)
• Laboratory biology (physiology (function) and
  structure)
• Evolution (natural selection) concepts

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  These gave rise to three somewhat distinct
pathways of development in the mid-19th century
1. A physiological perspective the need to get
out of the lab and study organisms in their
natural environment - Ernst Haeckel, animal
physiologist (coined the term ecology in 1866)

• A community perspective began with plant
  geography as developed by Germans (e.g. von
  Humboldt) - focus on mapping associations and
  vegetation formations

3. An underlying evolutionary theme thanks to
Darwin (the organism and its environment)
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Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) 85 years! Best known
for the famous statement "ontogeny recapitulates
phylogeny", he also coined many words commonly
used by biologists today, such as phylum,
phylogeny, and ecology.
Also trained as a physician, Haeckel abandoned
his practice in 1859 after reading Darwin's
Origin of Species. Always suspicious of
teleological and mystical explanation, Haeckel
used the Origin as ammunition both to attack
entrenched religious dogma and to build his own
unique world view.
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Why did Haeckel feel the need to invent
Ecology? Needed to distinguish the study of
complex interrelations that organisms face in
nature (Darwins struggle for existence) from
the standard type of Biology of the day
describing the structure of organisms and
classifying them (comparative anatomy).
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Ecology as a concept or discipline did not
exactly catch on quickly! 1866 term coined
1885 Ecology used in a book title (19 yrs later)
1913 British Ecological Society founded (47 yrs
later!) 1915 Ecological Society of America
1938 An eminent philosopher of science claims
that there is no name in common use for the field
of science in which the behaviors of organisms
and groups of organisms are studied within their
environment (72 yrs later!)
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What were ecological studies like in the first
half of the 20th century?
Ecology was originally a descriptive and
qualitative discipline Pattern was observed
and a linkage to process was postulated (Pines
in the Prairie, Gates 1926 Ecology)
The ecologist, more than any other worker in
biology, continues the tradition of the
naturalist as exemplified by Charles Darwin
Paul Sears (1944)
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This naturalist tradition may be one reason why
Ecology was slow to be offered to students as a
formal part of their curriculum. Paul Sears
(1960) A quick examination of catalogs shows
that 5 out of 12 leading colleges offer no
ecology whatsoever, while the same thing is true
of 3 of 11 universities.
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Post 1960s Environmental Movement or Romantic
(nature as awe inspiring) and Political Ecology
(environmental ethics) become widespread and
popular views
This was good with respect to increasing public
awareness of the importance of ecological
interactions But.led to well-documented
confusion between Environmental Philosophy and
Ecological Science (at least for the
public) Ecologist tree hugger, save the whales,
recycle, live off the land, reject the
establishment, be organic At CSU and elsewhere
BE GREEN
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Misuse (misappropriation) of the term still
exists today Ecology in the Twentieth Century
A History by A. Bramwell (1989) about a
political movement in Europe EcoQuest convention
prior to Ecological Society of America meetings
in MemphisSelling home air and water
purifiers EcoPest pest eradication
environmentally friendly use of pesticides
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Public and medias confusion over name Does any
other science have this problem of misuse of its
name or such close association with a
philosophy!?!?
Ecology Environmentalism
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Secretary of Global Ecological Systems Nominees
The scientists Locals Dr. Melinda Laturi,
CSU Other Ecologists Dr. Chris Field, Stanford
University (3) Dr. Edward O. Wilson, Harvard
(2) Dr. Joe Berry, Stanford Dr. Gretchen Daily,
Stanford Dr. Dan Jansen, U. Penn Dr. John Harte,
UC Berkeley Dr. Nancy Grimm, ASU Dr. Camille
Parmesan, U. TX Dr. Robert Howarth, Cornell
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Other Scientists Dr. Stephen Schneider -
Climatologist Dr. George Schaller - Conservation
Biology Richard Reynolds - Fish and Wildlife
Biologist Dr. Lance Gunderson - Systems
Theory Dr. Heman Daly Ecological Economics Dr.
Gary Machlis Social Scientist Dr. Miguel
Altieri Agroecology David P. Robertson
-? Stephen Sillett -?
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Politicians and their ilk Al Gore (3 votes
The Power of the Oscar and the Nobel
Prize!) Lisa Jackson EPA Administrator

• The Environmentalists/ Natural Historians/Writers/
  Others
• Michael Pollan, naturalist writer
• Dr. Vandana Shiva Sustainable Development
  Activist
• Dr. Nancy Degman Columbia Earth Institute

• Hard to categorize
• A former graduate colleague of a ECOL 505
  student
• An actual ECOL 505 student!
• A good Bureaucrat

I see dead Secretaries Aldo Leopold,
environmentalist - 0!
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Votes 43 Ecologists, defined as likely ESA
members 30 Other Scientists (Climatologists,
Economists, etc) 17 Politicians 10
Environmentalists 0 Dead guys
For Surgeon General, would non M.D.s be
suggested?
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Ecological research today is undertaken to
(class poll)

• To increase basic understanding of natural world
  and enable predictions (basic curiosity)

• To meet societal demands for answers to
  environmental problems

• To meet management needs

• To meet conservation needs

• To meet restoration needs