Info on cards

1
Info on cards

• 1. Name, email address
• 2. 2 or 3 identifying characteristics - to help
  me get to know you.
• 3. As best as you know, what is ecology about?
• 4. Your perspective is ecology important or
  relevant to your life and/or future career?

2
Course Goals

• 1. Develop an understanding of the major concepts
  in ecology
• 2. Develop an understanding of pattern, mechanism
  and scales in ecology.
• 3. Develop an understanding of how the scientific
  process is employed in ecology.
• 4. Develop an understanding of how ecology can be
  applied to environmental problem-solving.
• 5. Develop skills in
• - synthesizing ideas
• - critical thinking
• - applying knowledge to novel situations

3
Blooms taxonomy of learning

• Basic knowledge ? memorizing facts, processes
• Secondary comprehension ? understanding
  illustrating facts
• Application ? generalizing to other situations
• Analysis ? understanding why, breaking the
  problem down
• Synthesis ? making connections
• Evaluation ? use knowledge critically to assess
  information

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Who cares?
5
This is your world
6
Global changes

• Atmospheric CO2
• - direct effects
• - climate change

• Nutrient cycles

Species invasions
Land use change - type - intensity
Loss of biodiversity
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For example

• http//www.climatecrisis.net/trailer/
• vs.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vXttV2C6B8pU

8
Course structure

• See syllabus

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Homework Goals

• - experience reading scientific literature
• - practice synthesizing and applying ideas youve
  learned in lecture and textbook reading to novel
  situations
• - learn how to approach test questions and real
  life problems
• - encourage direct participation in learning.

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Extra credit talks

• Kate Lajtha, W 4/11, 4 pm, BI 234, Playing in
  DIRT long term experiments to understand soil
  organic matter
• Nalini Nadkarni, W 4/18, 4 pm, BI 234, View from
  the top the role of the forest canopy in
  rainforest ecosystems

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Content structure

• 3 Issues
• Elevated CO2 and climate change
• Loss of biodiversity
• Human population growth
• Start with pattern
• How measured?
• How general?
• Question driven investigation of mechanisms
• Progressively deeper levels
• Integration across levels of ecology
• How to test scientifically?

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What is ecology?
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Is this ecology?
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Or this?
15
Ecology a hierarchy of complexity
Physiological ecology adaptations for resource
acquisition and dealing with environmental
stresses
16
Physiological ecology temperature
17
Physiological ecology water availability
18
Physiological ecology light availability
19
Physiological ecology the integrated organism
20
Ecology a hierarchy of complexity
Population ecology - population growth,
distribution, and regulation for a certain species
Physiological ecology
21
But no cactus is an island
Population ecology abundance and distribution
22
Population ecology population growth
and regulation
23
Population ecology life histories
24
Ecology a hierarchy of complexity
Community ecology - interactions among multiple
species
Population ecology
Physiological ecology
25
Community ecology mutualism
26
Interactions among species predation, herbivory,
parasitism
27
Community ecology competition
28
Community ecology diversity
29
Community ecology disturbance and succession
30
Ecology a hierarchy of complexity
Ecosystem ecology - fluxes of energy and
matter through the biotic and abiotic environment
Community ecology
Population ecology
Physiological ecology
31
Ecosystem ecology energy flux and production
32
Ecosystem ecology element cycles
33
Global change
34
Interactions among the levels
Ecosystem ecology
Community ecology
Population ecology
Physiological ecology