DIVERSITY OF LIFE OVER TIME

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DIVERSITY OF LIFE OVER TIME
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DIVERSITY OF LIFE OVER TIME

• Shrub versus Arrow Metaphor
• Radiation and increases in diversity
• Extinction events and decreases in diversity

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DIVERSITY OF LIFE OVER TIMEAbrupt Extinctions
and Slow Recoveries
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DIVERSITY OF LIFE OVER TIMEComplicated Causes of
Extinction

• Species
• Groups of species
• Entire ways of living
• Extraterrestrial events
• Anthropogenic causes
• Populations of that species or group of species
  no longer exist

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DIVERSITY OF LIFE OVER TIMEEndangered Species

• Species found only in a restricted geographic
  region and vulnerable to extinction
• Rate of extinction increasing. Why?
• Human population
• 9 billion in 2050.
• Resource Demands?

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ECOLOGICAL THEATER
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ECOLOGY - ECONOMICS

• Same Greek Origin Oikos
• Oeconomy 16th Century art of household
  management extended to mean political
  administration of all the resources of a
  community or state for orderly production.
• Oeconomy of nature 17th Century denote the
  grand organization and government of life on
  earth.
• Ecology 19th Century more scientific
  substitute, yet still imbued with
  political/economic/even religious view of nature.
  Earth perceived as world that must be somehow
  managed for maximum production.

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ECOLOGICAL THEATERPopulation Ecology
Cellular/Tissue Scale
Molecular Scale
Organismal Scale
Population/Community Scale
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ECOLOGICAL THEATER

• Population Ecology
• Population All individuals of the same species
  that occupy a specified area
• Community Ecology
• Community All populations in a habitat. Group
  of organisms with similar life-styles
• Ecosystem Ecology
• Array of organisms, together with their
  environment, interacting through a flow of energy
  and a cycling of materials

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Population EcologyMonarch Butterflies
Individual Monarch Butterfly (Dannaus plexippus)
1. Complete metamorphosis 2. Lay eggs on milkweed
plants 3. Distasteful to predators 4. Long
distance migration
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ECOLOGICAL THEATERPopulation Ecology
Monarch Butterfly (Dannaus plexippus)
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Population EcologyMonarch Butterflies
Non-breeding Range Michoacan Mtns, Mexico
Monarch Butterflies paint the landscape
Anything else noteworthy about this area of
Mexico?
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POPULATION ECOLOGYCharacteristics of Populations

• Definition Group of individuals of same species
  Occupying given area
• Gene pool all genotypes in the population basis
  for morphological, physiological and behavioral
  traits
• Demographics vital statistics

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POPULATION ECOLOGYAttributes/Measures/Vital
Statistics?

• Population Size number of individuals
• Population Density individuals/unit area
• Population Change (e.g., growth)
• Population Dispersion
• Population Sex Ratio
• Population Age Structure