Ecology

1. Ecology Study of the interactions between organisms and the environment

2. Ecology----pg 1082-3 • Organism/species: One organism • Organismal Ecology: species structure, physiology, behavior, and evolution. • EX: Javelina behavior adaptation: use caves for shelter, active at night, live in groups for protection • Population: Group of individuals of same species living in an area • Population Ecology: Focuses on factors that affect how many individuals of a species live an area • EX: Black Footed Ferret population outside Seligman, AZ

3. Community ecology: an assemblage of populations of many different species that inhabit the same area • Community Ecology: focus on biotic interactions: predation, disease, competition, etc. • Ecosystem: all the abiotic factors and the entire community of species • Ecosystem Ecology: focus on energy flow and chemical cyclingbetween biotic/abiotic components • Landscape: Array of ecosystems • Landscape Ecology: focus on exchange of energy, materials and organisms among the ecosystems that make up a landscape • Biosphere: sum of all the planet’s ecosystem. Portion of Earth inhabited by life

5. Ecology vs EnvironmentalISm • Ecology studies the interaction between biotic and abiotic organisms • Environmentalism advocates for the protection or preservation of the natural environment • Precautionary Principle: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” • Aldo Leopold often expressed the precautionary principle

6. Biogeography—read pg 450, 1083-top of 1084 • Studies the past and present distribution of the world’ many species. • Studies physical environment in an attempt to understand how species are distributed • Ecologists (Darwin, Wallace) began to identify patterns of distribution • EX: Continental Drift/Plate Tectonics

7. Alfred Wallace • Father of biogeography (mid/late 1800s) • British Naturalist • Co-author of the theory of evolution by natural selection • Came up with the Wallace Line: line that divides Indonesia and the distribution of animals • Western portion animals are of Asian origin, Eastern portion are of Australian origin

8. Dispersal and Distributionpg 1084 • Dispersal: • EX: • Discuss: What limits the dispersal range of organisms? (Explain Figure 50.6)

9. Figure 50.6 What limits the distribution of a species? (why species are here and not there?) Dispersal (movement)?---YES: inaccessible/not enough time NO Behavior?---YES: habitat selection, mating season NO Biotic factors?---YES: predation, parasitism, competition, disease NO Abiotic factors? ---YES: water, pH, soil nutrients, temp, light, fire, etc

10. Dispersal and Distributionpg 1084-1085 • Natural Range Expansions: • Species spread beyond their native range EX: • Species Transplants:

11. Arizona Javelina • http://www.azgfd.gov/video/javelina.shtml • Evolved in S. America, migrated north. • Javelina bones not found in AZ archaeological sites and settlers made infrequent reference to them. • Possible the peccary spread with the replacement of AZ’s native grasslands by scrub and cactus. • Range still expanding northward (in AZ, NM, TX) • Adult: 35-60 lbs, tan in color with reddish dorsal strip • Life span 7-8 years • Herd animals with herd size averaging 8-9 animals • Territory size averages 750 acres

12. Range Expansion: Collared Peccary • Range (524): • Sightings (524): • Skepticism (524): • Evidence for range expansion (524): • Earliest Distribution of peccaries (524): • Reintroduction (525): • Transplant Efforts (525): • Summary of Map (526): • Texas Expansion (527): • Reasons for range expansion (527): • Behavior adaptations (527): • 1. Read and highlight • 2. Write summary in notebook

13. Species Transfer: Elk • Read/summarize • Focus on when species died out, species transfer, and a few facts about their habitat • Draw out range