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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: [email protected]

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…