Welcome to EEB 100 (part II):
Introduction to Ecology
Instructor: Alison Lipman, Ph.D. Ecology
Lecturer, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Co-founder / President SELVA International
Email: alipman@ucla.edu
Office: Mira Hershey 320
Office Hours: Tuesday 12:30-2:00 or by appt.
Amazon Forest, Bolivia
My Amazon
Work…
River Turtle Conservation: Bolivia, IUCN, SSC, Red-listing group
Wildlife Rehab Parque Machia, Bolivia
Wild Harvested Acai, Comunidad de Porvenir, Bolivia
Amazon Exchange Program Noel Kempff Mercado NP Bolivia
Eco Education, Indigenous Communities del Bajo Paragua
Before in LA…
Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly Project & Habitat Mapping
Habitat Restoration: Palos Verdes, Santa Monica Mountains
Native Plant Propagation: Palos Verdes, Santa Monica Mountains, Theodore Payne, Tarweed Native Plants
Bioassessment, Water Quality Studies, Santa Monica Mountains
Now in LA…
Native Garden Coalition
California Friendly Gardens: HOWs,
EcoGardens, & Research
Fight Against Plastics
Farmer’s Markets’ Sustainability
Course Info
• Be sure to check the course website for
additional readings/videos.
• This class is not podcasted, so check posted
notes, and take your own!
– Posted notes will not contain all pics for ease of
printing and copyright.
Have a question?
**First read your syllabus!
Contact your TAs: • Questions related to lab or grading
Email me: • Questions about class logistics
• Appointments to meet in person (if you have a conflict with
office hours)
• Brief clarification of lecture material that your TA cannot
answer
Expect 1-2 days to receive a response, longer on weekends
Use my office hours for: • In depth questions about material
• To come chat about ecology, conservation, etc!
Course Material / Final Exam
• Use my lecture notes as an outline.
• Refer to the textbook for more detail.
• I will follow the textbook, as long as I like it!
• Be sure to read the assigned Ecological Applications!
• All assigned videos and articles will also be included.
• I care about concepts, NOT pointless details (e.g. dates, names, difficult terms)
Tips to help you succeed in this course
• Do readings before coming to lecture.
• Come to lecture – there will be quizzes!
• Actively take notes during lecture.
• Attend office hours – don’t wait until it’s too
late!
Classroom Courtesy
Cell phones are toxic- to the natural environment AND the learning
environment, so please turn off in lecture and discussion!
Lecture 1: Intro to Ecology What is it? What’s it good for? Why study it?
“Spaceship Earth” (K. E. Boulding)
Earthrise is a photograph of the Earth taken by astronaut William Anders in 1968, during
the Apollo 8 mission. Nature photographer Galen Rowell declared it "the most influential
environmental photograph ever taken."
Overview https://vimeo.com/55073825
What is Ecology?
• ECO- – from Ancient Greek οἶκος (oikos, “house, household”)
• -LOGY – from the Greek verb λέγειν (legein, "to speak") the study of [a
certain subject]" (Wiktionary)
• Ecology is the scientific study of our home/environment
Our textbook
says…
“Ecology is the study of the relationship
between organisms and their environment.”
Ecology is…
• The study of any and/or all interactions
involving organisms (life) and their
environment.
Ecology is Science
• Ecology is the science most disrespected by
the media, our government, and the public.
• Has being an ecologist become an act of
political revolution?
• Why does our government disrespect ecology
as a science?
An Interdisciplinary /
Collaborative Science
• Population Ecology
• Community Ecology
• Ecosystem Ecology
• Landscape Ecology
• Evolutionary Ecology
• Physiological Ecology
• Conservation Ecology
• Restoration Ecology
• Human Ecology
• Plant Ecology
• Animal Ecology
• Etc.
History of Ecology • 18th - 19th century widespread exploration to
discover and claim the natural world – Darwin and Wallace and others travel the
world cataloging nature
– Biogeography and evolution
• 20th century – e.g., geochemical cycling, biosphere, succession, and population dynamics
• Today people focus more and more on human ecology – How are humans impacting the environment
and what can we can do to protect it?
http://environment-ecology.com/history-of-ecology/132-history-of- ecology.html#Timeline_of_ecologists
The Human Impact
(Fig. 5.9 from Chapter 5 of Global Glacier Changes, courtesy United Nations Environment
Programme.)
The downward curve
2014, Anomalies from 20th C average http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-monitoring/
Ocean Acidification
Some local problems…
Human Impact on the Environment
• Population growth & an ever-growing demand for resources has led to: – Decline in resources (land,
water, food, air, materials)
– Biodiversity loss
– Climate change
– Pollution
• We need to: – Redefine our relationship
with nature
– Stop resource decline in order to save life on Earth
Theoretical Ecology
• Knowledge for the sake of knowledge
• It’s interesting to know how long it takes for
detritus to rot, what soil organisms do in the soil,
why birds make such long migrations, etc.
• Background information that is the basis of
Applied Ecology.
Ecology = Conservation
But, ecology is (one of) the backbone(s) of conservation
The other backbone of
conservation:
Applied Ecology
Using science to do something real:
• How to best manage resources?
• How to restore degraded systems?
• How to conserve endangered species?
• How are we going to save life on Earth?
Applied Ecology: why I decided to become an ecologist
“Conservation” without ecology…
– Monkeys in Bolivia
– Habitat "restoration” in Los Angeles
• T. Longcore dissertation
• PVPLC & seeds
– Turtle conservation
An even worse example: Belo Monte
& all dams in lowland areas
• Belief (not based in science):
– Dams produce “green,” carbon neutral
energy
– Dams are great!
• Truth (based in science):
– Dams can produce more greenhouse gas
emissions than coal power plants with the
same energy output.
Located on the Xingu River, main tributary of the Amazon River, the world’s third largest dam
Belo Monte
Time out for part of a movie:
Damocracy
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnM
D4e6nLms
• (-2:30, 7:15-21:05)
The point is…
• We can’t stop environmental destruction & we can’t live sustainably, if we don’t understand how ecosystems function.
• Until the present, decisions in our society have been based on short-term human needs & greed/profit
• Ecology needs to become the basis of all decisions we make: – Economics
– Political
– Energy
– Resource use
– Infrastructure
– Etc.
Some Ecological Concepts…
Ecosystem
• Coined by Sir Arthur Tansley, an English botanist in 1935:
Ecological system: "biotic and abiotic
components considered as a whole." -Eugene Odum
Hierarchical Structure
© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
Landscape
How do variations in topography
and soils across the landscape
influence patterns of species
composition and diversity in the
different prairie communities?
Population
Is the population of this species
increasing, decreasing, or
remaining relatively constant
from year to year?
Community
How does this species interact
with other species of plants
and animals in the prairie
community?
Ecosystem
How do yearly variations in
rainfall influence the productivity
of plants in this prairie grassland
ecosystem?
Individual
What characteristics allow
the Echinacea to survive,
grow, and reproduce in the
environment of the prairie
grasslands of central North
America?
Biome
What features of geology and
regional climate determine the
transition from forest to prairie
grassland ecosystems
in North America?
Biosphere
What is the role of the grassland
biome in the global carbon cycle?
Slide 7
Scientific Method
• A powerful tool for understanding nature
• Minimizes bias through standardization &
repetition
• Empirical (verifiable by observation /
experience)
• Logical
• Conservative
• Isn’t the only way of acquiring knowledge!
© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
Observations
All scientific studies begin with
observations of natural phenomenon.
Question
Observations give rise to questions
that seek an explanation of the
observed phenomenon.
Hypothesis
An answer to the question is
proposed that takes the form of a
statement of cause and effect.
Predictions
Predictions that
follow from the
hypothesis must
be identified.
These
predictions
must be
testable.
Hypothesis Testing
The predictions that follow from the
hypothesis must be tested through
observations and experiments (field
and laboratory). Data from these
experiments must then be analyzed
and interpreted to determine if they
support or reject the hypothesis.
If the experiment
results agree with
the predictions,
further observations
will be made and
further hypotheses
and predictions will
be developed to
expand the scope of
the problem being
addressed.
If the experiment
results are not
consistent with
the predictions,
then the conceptual
model of how the
system works must
be reconsidered and
a new hypothesis
must be
constructed.
Slide 7
Scientific Method
1. Make observations and develop a question.
There are less turtles than before. What is leading to their decline?
Scientific Method
2. Develop tentative answers- hypotheses. • Should be guided by experience & knowledge
• Must be testable (disprovable)
• Multiple working hypotheses – don’t treat your hypothesis like an only child!
3. Design an experiment to test the hypothesis (1) Lab experiment
(2) Field Manipulative experiment
(3) Field “Natural" experiment
Scientific Method
One of my hypotheses: Human consumption is causing a decline in local turtle populations.
Scientific Method
4. Collect data
– Qualitative/quantitative
Scientific Method
5. Analyze & interpret the data.
– Statistics
Scientific Method
6. Draw conclusions from the data.
Scientific Method
7. Determine whether results support or disprove the
hypotheses.
Scientific Method
8. If the hypotheses are consistent with predictions, conduct
additional experiments to test further, or if rejected,
construct new hypotheses (and repeat process).
Scientific Theory
"A grand scheme that relates and explains many observations
and is supported by a great deal of evidence."
(Botkin & Keller 2011)
“An integrated set of hypotheses that together explain a
broader set of observations than any single hypothesis.”
(Smith & Smith 2015)
Can never be absolutely proven to be true.
Scientific Models
• Simplified constructs of nature
• Based on accumulated knowledge / data
• Models are useful to predict events, etc.
• Models are not perfect and need to be updated.
Uncertainty in Science
• Science is a continuous process.
• We will never have all the facts.
• We are limited to inspecting only a part of nature because to understand, we need to simplify.
• Human error
Ecology can be fun…