Main Objectives

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Main Objectives
1). What is ecology, what do ecologists do?
2). What are the four levels of organization
of ecology? 3). What are four main
factors that affect the distribution of
organisms?
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What is Biology??
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Study of Life-from cells, organisms, populations,
communities, ecosystems
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What is Ecology??
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1st defined in 1866 by Ernest Haeckel as the
comprehensive science of the relationship of the
organism to the environment.
Most Recent Definition 2 parts1) the
interaction between organisms and their
environment 2) the distribution and abundance of
organisms
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What is Ecology??
NEW DEFINITION COMBINED Ecology is the study of
how the distributions and abundances of
populations (and species) are determined by the
interactions of individual organisms with their
physical and biological environment.
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What Does an Ecologist Do??
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DESCRIBE before they EXPLAIN and make PREDICTIONS

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FOUR LEVELS OF ECOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
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Organism
Organismal ecology is concerned with the
behavioral, physiological, and morphological ways
individuals interact with the environment
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Population
A population is a group of individual organisms
of the same species living together in a
particular geographic area
Population ecology examines factors that affect
population size and composition
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Community
Community is a collection of all the populations
of different species that inhabit a particular
area.
Community ecology examines the interactions
between populations, and how factors such as
predation, competition, and disease affect
community structure and organization.
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Ecosystem
Ecosystem consists of the biological community
and the physical, non-living or abiotic
environmentthe rocks, soils, water and climate
in a certain area

Ecosystem ecology examines the energy flow and
cycling of chemicals among the various abiotic
and biotic components.
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What factors affect the distribution of organisms?
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4 Factors
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Dispersal
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Montane Vole (Microtus montanus)
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Long-tailed Vole (Microtus longicaudus)
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Biotic
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Abiotic
most powerful are temperature and moisture
At a certain point along this elevational
gradient, the relative importance of the two
limiting factors (temperature and moisture)
changes
Two additional factorssoil characteristics,
traceable to the parent rocks, and
topography-greatly accentuate the differences in
water stress at all elevations
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Main Objectives
1). What is ecology, what do ecologists do?
2). What are the four levels of organization
of ecology? 3). What are four main factors
that affect the distribution of organisms?