Definition of Ecology

Intuitive knowledge based, hunter gatherer societies

Greek Philosopher Theophrastus: “balance of nature”

Darwin: creationism cannot be right:

Fossil record, extinctions, competition, selective pressures:

“Struggle for existence” and “descent with modification”

Ernst Haeckel: coined the term Ecology

from the Greek root “Oikos” meaning “home” or “place to live”

same root as “economics or “management of household”

Haeckel’s definition: “..ecology is the study of all of the complex interrelations referred to by Darwin as the conditions for the struggle for existence.”

Branches of modern Ecological Science:

Organismal Ecology:

Distribution and Abundance of Organisms (Andrewartha, Krebs)

Plant Ecology

Plant Geographers late 1700’s

Role of climate: similarities in plant communities

Moisture, temperature, soil type

Early US plant ecology focused on succession:

development of plant communities, disturbance recovery

Plant Physiology: limiting factors

Animal Ecology

Physiological Ecology: tolerance optima

Behavioral Ecology: Sociobiology

Population Genetics and Ecology

Combination of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”

with Mendel’s inheritance mechanisms:

Adaptation and Evolution- major themes in modern Ecology

Population Genetics: Hardy and Weinberg

Community Ecology

Theoretical Ecology: mathematical models

Ecosystem Ecology; Systems Ecology:

Limnology origins

Structure and Function of Nature (Odum)

Flow of biomass and energy

Applied Ecology

Conservation Biology

Pollution Impacts

Restoration Ecology

Landscape Ecology

Ecosystem Management

Scientific Method:

Reductionism vs. holism

Emergent characteristics

Hypothesis driven- testing knowledge

Inductive Method: Descriptive/Observational Science “natural experiments”

Natural History

Deductive Method: Experimental Science

statistical/quantitative analysis

correlation vs. dependent/independent variables

replication, controls

Models: statistical, conceptual, simulation

Tools of modern Ecology

Observation-Censusing

Molecular Biology-population genetics

Biotechnology-Risk Assessment

Physiology

Histology

Remote sensing

Analytical Chemistry

Taxonomy, phylogenetics

Statistics

Geology

Paleontology

Ethology