Ecology as a Science
Study of the relationships between living organisms and their environment
Of the interactions of organisms with one another
Of the patterns and causes of the abundance and distribution of organisms
Ecology as a Science
We’ll use the perspective of terrestrial plants
Basic ecology - ecological principles
Applied ecology - application of principles to practical problems
Not about advocacy, activism, or “warm fuzzies”
Ecology as a Science
Ecology is only one way of knowing about the world
Based on the weight of credible, repeatable evidence
Hard facts (how many species, how does it function) versus aesthetics, opinions (Is it beautiful?)
Diversity of Ecological Evidence
1) Observations (descriptive data)Careful monitoring within the natural
environment to detect patterns
1.3 Repeated observations can reveal information not apparent from one or a few observations (1)
Lake Mendota, WI
Diversity of Ecological Evidence
2) Field experimentsManipulative experiments in the field to
establish cause of observed patterns
Diversity of Ecological Evidence
3) Laboratory experimentsControlled conditionsSimplified systemAddress specific questions
1.4 Ecologists study patterns and processes across a wide range of scales in space and time
Scale important because of heterogeneity of habitats
1.5 The environment in a microhabitat can differ from conditions in the surrounding area
Microclimate
1.6 H.M.S. Beagle sailed from England December 27, 1831, on a five-year mission
Beginnings of plant ecology as the study of natural history
Founder of the field of Plant Ecology - J. Eugenius Warming
Plant ecology emerges in mid- to late-1800s
Plant communities (synecology)
Species,individual adaptation (autecology)
Further advances in mid-1900s
Functional ecology, physiological ecology, plant population biology
Recent rise of landscape ecology, conservation ecology