Lecture 1 An introduction

1. Lecture 1An introduction Principles of EcologyEben GoodaleCollege of Forestry, Guangxi University

2. Today’s class • A mystery story: frogs with many feet! • Science is providing explanations for mysteries. • What is ecology? Some big picture ideas of ecology. • Information about our course • My background • Why do you want to study ecology?

3. A mystery!（一个谜） In 1995, a school trip in Minnesota, USA found that 11 of 22 frogs they examined had major deformities.（畸形） News captured public attention: What was happening? More generally, why were Amphibian（两栖动物) populations declining?

4. Early observations • Scientists started finding abnormalities back in the 1980’s. • Found that many frogs contained Ribeiroia ondatrae（寄生虫）, a trematode flatworm parasite（一种变形性吸血寄生虫）. • Produce cysts（生产囊肿） near developing limb buds… • An early paper suggests that making such cysts (inserting beads) leads to limb deformities.

5. Observations and Experiment Pinpoint Ribeiroia（寄生性吸虫） • Johnson et al. 1999: • Surveyed 35 ponds, found only 4 with deformities, all those had the snail Helisoma tenuis, a host of Riberoira. • Controlled experiment in lab with different levels of Riberoira. Dashed line: frog deformities Full line: frog survival

6. Field experiment shows that causes of deformities may be complex（复杂） • Could pesticides（农药） be playing a role? • Kiesecker et al. 2002 do experiment where frogs are measured for their susceptibility to Ribeiroia depending on pesticide levels in pond % Limb Deform Mass Of Frog 3 ponds with pesticide, 3 ponds without. In each pond, frogs Exposed or unexposed. ponds without pesticide 3 ponds with pesticide Black bars represent condition in which frogs exposed to Riberiroia

7. And even more complexity… • Johnson et al. 2007 show that excess fertilizer leads to more algae  more snails  more Ribeiroia more frog deformities

8. A case study to introduce our study of ecology • Science is about explaining mysteries. • Ecology is the science probing connections (or interactions（交互作用）) between organisms and their abiotic and biotic environment.

9. Today’s class • A mystery story: frogs with many feet! • Science is providing explanations for mysteries. • What is ecology? Some big picture ideas of ecology. • Information about our course • My background • Why do you want to study ecology?

10. The scientific method What’s wrong with this picture? Image from: http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/.

11. Scientific method • Identify question • Why is this important to science / conservation / society / me • Make hypothesis（假设） • Hypothesis leads to specific predictions  Methods（研究方法） • Gather data (experiment or observation) • Make conclusion • Communicate conclusion • Community involved in review process • Science progresses through individual researchers contributing to overall pool of knowledge (why do we want to do something novel?)

12. Kinds of Studies • Descriptive. • Observational. Looking for correlation between different variables. • Experimental. Can more strongly suggest cause-and-effect. • Modeling.

13. Which are scientific questions? • Are patterns of evolution consistent with the presence of God? • Do babies prefer Coco Puff cereal to Fruit Loops? • Are the fulvettas (a type of bird) a good taxonomic category? • How many days do baby Orange-bellied Quetzals spend in the nest before fledging? • Take-aways: • Is the question testable? • Scientific questions not always very “heavy-weight”! • Some part of science is similar to other disciplines in that you need to make a reasonable argument (what is a good category? – it’s better than others) • Description is also part of science.

14. Experiments: Some Important Components • Control Treatments（控制处理） • Assign Treatments at Random（随机分配） • Replication • Statistical Analysis % Limb Deform Mass Of Frog “X2 = 88.16, df = 3, P < 0.001” ponds without pesticide 3 ponds with pesticide The chance of this result occurring randomly is less than 1 in 1000 Black bars represent condition in which frogs exposed to Riberiroia

15. Today’s class • A mystery story: frogs with many feet! • Science is providing explanations for mysteries. • What is ecology? Some big picture ideas of ecology. • Information about our course • My background • Why do you want to study ecology?

16. A case study to introduce our study of ecology • Science is about explaining mysteries. • Ecology is the science probing connections (or interactions) between organisms and their abiotic and biotic environment.

17. Why “ecology”? • Eco • from οίκος, oikos, "household" • Logy • λόγος, logos, "knowledge"

18. Leafcutter Ants Nest And these homes, too…

19. Big picture ideas (1) It is a science about many different levels of organization（生态水平的组织） From Molles (2008)

20. Inside the individual: molecules organelles cells tissues organs The Layers of Organization • What’s not ecology?

21. The Layers of Organization • What’s not ecology? BUT ecology is related to these layers … Endosymbiotic theory Of eukaryote cell Lynn Margulis

22. The Layers of Organization • What’s not ecology? BUT ecology is related to these layers … The ‘superorganism’ E. O. Wilson

23. How is this organism’s behavior, morphology（形态学）, physiology adaptive to its environment? Deals with traits that the individual has, or behaviours it makes Individual Organism（个体生物）

24. Population（种群） A population is a group of individuals of one species living together at the same time and place. How is the number and reproductive status of the population effected by the environment? Deals with the population … how large is it? How healthy is it?

25. Species（物种） All the individuals of all populations of a species. For our purposes, a species is a group of animals that is capable of breeding and producing fertile offspring . Ernst Mayr, the “biological species act”

26. Species interactions • Specific interactions between species: • Predator-prey interactions – food webs • Competition among species • Parasitism (one positively affected, one negatively affected) • Commensalism (one positively affected, one not affected) • Mutualism (both positively affected)

27. Community ecology（群落生态学） Now more interested in the diversity of species in any one place … why is it low in some places/times, higher at others? Now we’re beginning to compare different places (habitats or ecosystems) in the kinds of species present

28. Comparing places in overall function of the ecosystem (biomass made, nutrient cycling etc., fire resistance). Ecosystem ecology（生态系统生态学）

29. How different ecosystems interact on the landscape Landscape ecology（景观生态学）

30. Global ecology Evaluating world-wide problems such as global warming

31. Big picture ideas (2) It is a science that spans a huge range of spatial and temporal scales.（跨越时间和空间的尺度） The Sahel A hive

32. Big picture ideas (2) It is a science that spans a huge range of spatial and temporal scales. Diurnal vertical migration occurs in ocean every day Some ecologists are paleobiologists

33. Big picture ideas (3) It is an applied science（这是一门应用科学）, and it must be applied, NOW A restoration ecology class

34. Our class

35. Our learning objectives • To understand the principles of how organisms respond to your environments, populations grow and go extinct（灭绝）, species interact through food webs and mutualisms, communities are structured, and ecosystems work as systems, cycling nutrients and energy. • To learn about the environmental challenges that we will encounter in the coming century, and how ecological principles inform our solutions to mitigate and adapt to them. • To be able to describe the ideas behind mathematical ecological theories using graphs, and to appreciate their predictions and assumptions. • To sharpen listening skills, and interact in a classroom setting in English.

36. Evaluation • Comprehension test: no score but let’s you and me assess better how well you’re comprehending lectures. • Midterm, final exam • Attendance（到场） • Participation（参与讨论）

37. Lecture times: Schedule

38. Readings • Textbook (recommended) • Lecture Notes (required) • Primary readings or homework assignments (required) Cain, Bowman, Hacker Ecology 2014 (3rd Edition) Sinaeur Associates Most test questions will come from material covered in lecture and lecture notes. But there will be a few questions about primary readings, allowing you a choice in which you read.

39. My background

40. My teachers of ecology (your ‘grand-teachers’!) Peter Ashton Bill Bossert

41. Sri Lanka Sinharaja World Heritage Reserve A lowland rainforest Image from Uromi Goodale

42. Mixed-species flocks of birds Primary leader Secondary leader Following species Experiments on Alarm Calls Who Talks to Who?

43. A twist to the story: drongo mimicry Image from Harsha Sathischandra Mimicry attracts other birds towards drongos; reforms flocks Drongos are multilingual The Crested Drongo: A vocal mimic

44. Then turned to what mixed-species flocking means to conservation Forest Buffer Behavior (communication) influences flock structure, flock structure influences community. How do flocks respond to different levels of land-use? Agriculture

45. In China now for 2.5 yrs At Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, until October 2014. Continuing work on behavior, communities and conservation biology of birds.

46. Why do I consider myself an ecologist Animal behavior. Behavioral ecology: the roles of behavior in adapting an animal to its environment Behavioral Ecology Animal behavior

47. Why do you want to study ecology?

48. What can we do with ecology? • Ecologists can be of many types, usually on one level of organization (“behavioral ecologist”, “community ecologist”, “ecosystem ecologist”). • They can be academic or engage in governmental or nongovernmental organizations.

49. What can we do with ecology? • For example, ecologists work as: • In the park service, managing nature reserves. • In a public health institution, managing animal-bourne diseases.

50. What can we do with ecology? • For example, ecologists work as: • As a forester, assessing（评估） how best to manage succession after logging. • In fisheries, figuring out how many fish to take in order to have more the next year.