PCB 4043 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Eugene Odum, Ernst Haeckel, Biogeochemistry
15 May 2016
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Chapter 1: introduction to the science of ecology. Concept 1. 1: events in the natural world are interconnected. Even species that don"t interact directly can still be connected by shared environmental features. Ecologists ask questions about the natural world in order to understand these connections. Concept 1. 2: ecology is the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment. Ecology integrates many biological and non-biological disciplines: biological: physiology, behavior, genetics, evolution, non-biological: chemistry, geology, geography, geochemistry and biogeochemistry, Problem with the complexity in ecology- why are unifying concepts important: define science, science is not a pile of precise facts, search for systematic relations, explain function, etc, eutrophication: good example ecological process. The scientific method: important to have a hypothesis! Concept 1. 3: ecologists evaluate competing hypotheses about natural systems with observations, experiments, and models. Climate change is directional change in climate (such as global warming) that occurs over 30 years or more.
