Principles of Ecology

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Principles of Ecology

• What Is Ecology

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Ecology

• Is the scientific study of interactions among
  organisms and between organisms and their
  environment or surroundings.
• Ernst Haeckel, 1866

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Biosphere

• All parts of the planet where life exists
• Land
• Water
• Down 11 Kilometers
• Air
• Up 8 Kilometers

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Earths Biosphere

• Includes
• Lithosphere
• soil rocks
• Atmosphere
• gases
• Hydrosphere
• water (liquid, frozen, fresh, salt)

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Earths Biosphere

• Nothing enters
• except sunlight
• Nothing leaves
• except heat
• 1 converted into chemical energy
• 170 Billion Tons of Organic Matter per year

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Levels of Organization

• Key Concept
• To understand relationships within the biosphere
  ecologists ask questions about events and
  organisms that range in complexity from a single
  individual to the entire Biosphere.

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Levels of Organization

• Species
• Group of organisms that can reproduce
• Population
• Groups of individual that live in the same area
• Communities
• Different populations that live in a defined area

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Levels of Organization

• Ecosystem
• Collection of all organisms that live in a
  particular place, and the non-living environment
• Biome
• Group of ecosystems that have the same climate
  and dominate communities.

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Levels of Organization

• Biosphere
• Spaceship Earth
• All Living Non-Living Elements Contributing To
  Life On This Planet

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Ecological Methods

• Key Concept
• Regardless of the tools they use, scientists
  conduct modern ecological research using
• Observing
• Experimenting
• Modeling