BIOL 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Species Richness, Ecosystem Services, Scientific Theory
Document Summary
State a hypothesis what you think is occurring. Guess as to an outcome and/or make a prediction. Design an experiment to test that prediction. Control is the part of an experiment that does not vary, so that other treatments can be compared to a standard and the effects of variables determined. Variable is an element in an experiment that is changed. Scientific theory - a synthesis of numerous observations (and related hypotheses) that have stood up to repeated testing and which explains a broad range of natural phenomena. Biodiversity: several ways to think of it: genetic diversity total genetic information within a population or community. Measured as number and relative frequency of all genes (and their alleles). Determining baseline info to track changes over time. A measure of the complex interactions between and among trophic levels. Incorporates the abiotic element (i. e. biogeochemical cycles; energy) . And implies how species contributions are important to ecosystem function.
