Ecology and Related Concepts Ryan Mondy Ecology Defined -Ecology - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Ecology and Related Concepts

Ryan Mondy

Ecology Defined

• Ecology is a multifaceted and diverse

branch of science

• Commonly defined as the scientific study
• f the relationships between organisms and

their environment

• Many disciplines and scientific concepts

feed into what makes ecology both important and a science

http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/ecosystems/ecosystem-useful-n

• tes-on-our-ecosystem-with-diagram/9878/

History of Ecology

• Ecology likely arose from a need/desire to understand how and why living things

functioned the way that they were observed to do so

• The man who coined the phrase “ecology”, German Biologist Ernst Haeckel, said

“Ecology is the study of all those complex interactions referred to by Darwin as the conditions of the struggle for existence."

• Ecology became institutionalized in British and American ecological societies in

1913 and 1915, respectively.

Key Concepts in Early Ecology Still Used Today

1. Food chain or cycle (later called food web or trophic structure): the sequence by which nutrients and energy passed from plants to herbivores to predators then to various forms of decomposers and back to the inorganic environment. 2. Niche: Each species had adaptations that fitted it to a particular status in a community. 3. Pyramid of numbers: More small animals are required to support fewer large organisms in a food chain because some nutrients and energy are lost from the food chain.

Why Ecology is Important

• Understanding of Ecology is important for purposes such as maintaining

biodiversity, ensuring food supplies and cultivating healthy human/environment relations such as those required for basic health needs and resources.

• Key for a healthy environment, without considerations of human health

Why Ecology is Important

• Particularly important in the present day as humans currently have a desire to

develop infrastructural and economic systems while maintaining a degree of environmental health

• creating healthy, ecologically-based relationships between organisms in the

diverse, partially man-made environments we see so often today is paramount to maintaining healthy relationships with our resources

Maintaining Ecology in a Man Made Environment

• Imporant in our ever-developing world
• Unique challenges presented, as “natural

functions” are often lost

• Resources that are required to maintain our rate
• f economic development in turn require a

degree of healthy ecological relationships- food, cash crops, healthy air/water, timber, etc.

uvm.edu

http://urbaneco.washington.edu/wp/urban-ecosystem-signatures/

Classifying Organisms

Species- smallest classification “Since Darwin's time, biological classification has come to be understood as reflecting evolutionary distances and relationships between organisms. The creatures of

• ur time have had common ancestors in the past. In a

very real sense, they are members of the same family tree.”

http://anthro.palomar.edu/animal/animal_1.htm

Classifying Organisms- Importance for Ecology

Knowing how organisms are related- both similarly and differently, is important to understanding what makes an environment (all different types) functionally healthy

https://sites.google.com/a/canacad.ac.jp/sl-hl

• 1-biology-4-ferguson/unit-11-ecology/5-3-cla

ssification-of-biodiversity

Evolutionary Biology

• Long process of creating diversity in

living organisms

• Has provided the foundation for

modern day ecology in that the intricacies of the relationships between living things that exist today are due to millions of years of changes and developments in life

http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/sjasper/bio301L/science.ht ml

Organisms, Ecology & Human Health

Agriculture-

• The intricacies of the relationships going on at a microbial level in soil are

incredibly important to the success or failure of agricultural endeavors, and therefore human health

• Harnessing the natural abilities of a soil’s ecosystem to benefit crops can

reduce costs, promote genetic diversity and crop rotation, and greatly reduce pollution

• Currently have an agricultural system of trying to control the soil and its

ecosystem instead of working with it (monocultures, pesticides/herbicides

Organisms, Ecology & Human Health

Clean Water-

• Clean water, besides being the basis for life itself, is necessary in a great variety of

human uses.

• With massive levels of pollution taking place all around the world, especially

affecting waterways, natural filtration methods are more important than ever (filtration done by organisms living in nearly every natural body of water)

• We use water out of natural waterways for things such as irrigation, drinking water,

food prep, energy, etc.

• The ecology at the microbial level in natural water systems enables the effects of

pollution to be curbed and human endeavors requiring these water systems to carry on

Organisms, Ecology & Human Health

Clean Air-

• Air pollution in the form of CO2, Methane, CFCs and more are a recurring problem

in modern society, creating a variety of human health hazards such as respiratory diseases, cancers and overall climate change

• Luckily, there exists a network of plants and microorganisms that are built to

contain and reverse such forms of pollution

• Plants of course convert CO2 to Oxygen, and microorganisms filter various

contaminants out of the air

• Having multitudes of healthy communities of plant life and microorganisms means

we feel less effects of the many forms of air pollution currently happening all across the world

http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(14)00023-8

Ecology & Environment

• We naturally tend to look at ecology through a “how it benefits humans” lens
• It is true that many of our resources are dependent on healthy ecosystems
• However, assuming there is a general agreement that nature has value outside
• f just what it can do for humans, ecology can be seen as a crucially important

science of processes that work to maintain that value.

Ecology & Environment

• Ecological balance is necessary for

maintaining nature’s systems

• Ecology provides the base maintenance

for water, air, soil and overall biological health of the planet’s environments

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/soils/health/bio logy/?cid=nrcs142p2_053865

Population Dynamics of Organisms

• A large part of ecology is understanding and interpreting the intricacies and health
• f a given organism’s population, especially how it relates to a certain area and

the health of that area

Population Cont. Examples:

• Populations of species are

intimately affected by the availability of resources, presence of predators, human interaction and habitat availability, weather, and more.

http://slideplayer.com/slide/4865222/

Population Cont.

• Typical predator/prey

relationship where each population is interdependent on the

• ther

https://ipmworld.umn.edu/radcliffe-populati

• n-ecology

Population Dispersal

• Population of an organism defined as all of the organisms of a particular species

living in a given area

• The organisms in a population may be distributed in a uniform (evenly spaced),

random (no obvious reason), or clumped (grouping) pattern.

• Understanding the overall size, density and health of a population is key to

knowing what humans can do to maintain health in that population

Quadrat Method of Population Counting

• For immobile organisms such as plants—or for very small and slow-moving
• rganisms—plots called quadrats may be used to determine population size and

density.

• Each quadrat marks off an area of the same size—typically, a square

area—within the habitat.

• A quadrat can be made by staking out an area with sticks and string or by using a

wood, plastic, or metal square placed on the ground,

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-scuba-diver-scient-using-photo-quadrat-to-estimate-coral-cover-and-89256032.html

Mark-Recapture Method of Population Counting

• Used on species that move around
• When captured, usually marked with an electronic tags, bands, paints or some
• ther visible method
• When later surveys are taken, scientists examine the ratio of marked to unmarked

individuals to determine the number of individuals in a population

https://www.slideshare.net/ChristopherHassall/capturemarkrecapture-cmr-as-a-method-for-species-monitoring-at-a-landscape-scale

Ecology & Climate Change

• Climate Change is perhaps the single greatest threat to, if not the biggest agent
• f change, of current ecological patterns
• unnatural, man-made and accelerated climate change has too many negative

effects on ecology to list here

• Potential to affect every biome and defining aspects of nearly every species

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/260007153_fig5_Fig-5-Flow-diagram-of-the-impacts-of-human-activities-and-climate-change-on-R

• atan%27s

Ecology & Climate Change

• Effects of climate change on organisms are already being seen, especially in

the world’s oceans

• Fish and other marine life are having to adapt to new places, resources,
• Example: Shrimping season in the Gulf of Maine has been cancelled for a

number of years in the mid 2010’s due to what scientists have called “long term trends in environmental conditions” namely “rising ocean temperatures.”

http://slideplayer.com/slide/3515077/

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v481/n7381/fig_tab/nature10717_F1.html

Conclusions

• Ecology is a science that provides the understanding of interactions between all
• f earth’s living things and their environments
• The base maintenance that ecology provides for human resources and the

environment at large is currently under threat from human intervention in the form

• f agriculture, deforestation, urban sprawl and other forms of development
• Additionally, accelerated climate change is currently changing how organisms

interact with each other and their changing environments, threatening the integrity and effectiveness of healthy ecological relationships

• An effort needs to be made to better manage ecology, ensuring it is able to

function for a healthy environment

Works Cited

• Classifying Living Organisms. (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2017, from http://anthro.palomar.edu/animal/animal_1.htm
• Cleaning Air With Bacteria? (2009, June 10). Retrieved June 18, 2017, from

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/cleaning-air-with-bacteria

• The Gale Group Inc. (2002). Ecology, History of. Retrieved June 13, 2017, from

http://www.encyclopedia.com/plants-and-animals/botany/botany-general/history-ecology

• Ecology, History of. (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2017, from

http://www.encyclopedia.com/plants-and-animals/botany/botany-general/history-ecology

• Evolution. (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2017, from http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Evolution
• Global Energy & Environmental Law Podcast. Myanna Dellinger. South Dakota State School of Law.
• Jasper, S. (n.d.). The Science of Biology. Retrieved June 18, 2017, from

http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/sjasper/bio301L/science.html

Works Cited

• How tiny organisms make a big impact on clean water. (2013, October 15). Retrieved June 18, 2017,

from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131015123523.htm

• Koronowski, R. (2014, October 31). Scientists: Cancel Maine Shrimp Season Again Because Of Rising

Ocean Temperatures. Retrieved June 18, 2017, from https://thinkprogress.org/scientists-cancel-maine-shrimp-season-again-because-of-rising-ocean-temperatu res-c81a33ae97f4

• Population size, density, & dispersal. (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2017, from

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/population-ecology/a/population-size-density-and- dispersal

• Smith, T. M., & Smith, R. L. (2015). Elements of ecology. Boston: Pearson
• Vermont, U. O. (n.d.). University of Vermont. Retrieved June 18, 2017, from

https://www.uvm.edu/~ovpr/?Page=inquiry2016%2Fas-bees-go.php