Questions


Is the population biologically successful?
Are those genotypes equally successful? What if increase herbivory?
Within species variation

Perennial Achillea lanulosa, transplant and reciprocal transplant Natural selection by pollution
Ecological spectrum
Biosphere, Landscape, Ecosystem, Community, Population, Organism, Organ system, Organ, Tissue, Cell, Subcellular organelles, Molecules


Number and kinds of flower visited, sugar content of flower Energy loss at different temperature

Brown trout v.s. Native Galaxias


Fish → Mayfly nymph → algae

The fittest individual

those that leave the greatest # of descendants those that transport more gene to the next generation

Example

Model: an annual, only one gene, asexual reproduction, reproduce only once in life time.
Survival
10 10 10 10 10 Total
A B C D E
2 large 9 small 2 small 4 medium 5 med-small
2 seeds 1 seeds 4 seeds 5 seeds 4 seeds
4 9 8 20 20 61
G:F:S in A=6:1:1, B=1:1:6, C=1:6:1, D=1:1:1, E=1:1:2
Journals: Behavioral Ecology, Biological
Conservation, Chemical Ecology, Conservation Biology, Conservation Ecology, Ecological Application, Ecological Modeling, Ecological Monograph, Ecologist, Ecology, Environmental Management, Evolutionary Ecology, Functional Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, Journal of Wildlife Management, Landscape Ecology, Molecular Ecology, Oecologia, Oikos, Trends in Evolution and Ecology, etc.
Methods of studying ecology

To understand, describe, explain, predict and control
Scale Lab experiment, field experiment, natural trajectory experiment, natural snapshot experiment, mathematical model
Fitness


a measure of biological success
# of gene or genome put into the next generation the proportionate contribution that an individual makes to future generation


Summarizing current knowledge
Approximation and simplification


Hypotheses testing
Exploring scenarios and situations Caution in evaluation and prediction
Genotype frequency before after one generation A 10/50=0.2 4/61=0.06 B 0.2 9/61=0.15 C 0.2 8/61=0.13 D 0.2 20/61=0.33 E 0.2 20/61=0.33 Fitness = # of gene/genome put into the next generation Fitness of D&E = 20/10 = 2 Fitness of C = 8/10 = 0.8 Fitness of B = 9/10 = 0.9 Fitness of A = 4/10 = 0.4

Abiotic factors

chemical and physical environment

Biotic factors

competition, predation, mutualism, etc.

Dispersal Behavioral factors Human factors

Field experiment

sp. composition and N supply
Nutrients in the rain forest canopy

Epiphytes mats ~ ½ to 4x of the nutrient content of the foliage of the canopy trees


Industrial melanism

Natural selection by predation
Factors affecting the abundance and distribution ofical factors

evolution and speciation continental drift geological and climatic changes


Secondary production: trout >> Galax
Succession of old fields

Natural trajectory vs. natural snapshot Correlation vs. mechanism

within field comparison indicated introduced sp.↑and prairie sp.↓ as N↑

N=S+L+I dS/dt = (b-d)S -αSI dL/dt = αSI - dL - βL dI/dt = βL - dI - γI α - contact rate β - reaction rate γ - rabies-induced mortality
Merits of model
Darwinian evolution by natural selection

individual variation
variation is heritable
differential reproductive rate

the interaction between the characteristics of individual and the environment
Definition of Ecology



1866 Ernst Haeckel: the comprehensive science of the relationship of the organism to the environment 1927 Charles Elton: Scientific natural history 1963 E. P. Odum: The study of the structure and function of nature 1972 C. J. Krebs: The scientific study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms
Branches of Ecology
Chemical, Molecular, Physiological, Behavioral, Population, Community, Ecosystem, Landscape, Evolutionary, Theoretical, Conservation and management, Biodiversity
Photosynthesis, migratory birds, bats

Fox-rabies (math model)

Assumptions: no recovery or immune, no migration, random contact Biology: life span 2 yrs., 1 cub/yr, latent phase 28 days, die 5 days after becoming infectious