Daily Newsletter April 9, 2012

Daily Newsletter April 9, 2012

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Today's Topic:  Introduction to Ecology
Ecology is a life science discipline that studies the interaction and interrelation of organisms with each other and the physical environment.  It is important to remember that Ecology is a scientific discipline seeking to understand natural phenomena in order to predict and control.  Environmentalism is a human social activity in which people advocate for policy changes dealing with environmental resources.  Ecology informs environmentalism, but they are not the same.

When we look at Ecology, we can divide the discipline into different fields:

• Population Ecology:  We look at the interactions between individuals of the same species that live in the same time and place.
• Time and place is important:  The population of Atlanta is different than the population of Denver.  This is also true of animals and plants.  Time is important, because the populations of 100 years ago may not be the same populations we see today.
• Studies of different time points are important, and constitute subfield.
• Studies of different places are used for comparison.
• You look at births vs. death, intraspecies competition (competition between members of the same species), and various aspects of the organisms life cycle.
• How would intraspecies competition play into evolution? (HINT: natural selection)
• Predator-Prey:  A sub-class of Population studies are classic predator-prey models. 
• Community Ecology:  We look at the interaction between species living in the same time and space.
• Here we have the concept of a NICHE.
• The niche is an organism's "position" in an environment; that of it as it's living space (habitat), eating (food preference), and job (function in the environment-predator, prey, consumer, etc...).
•  Every organism has its fundamental niche (what it can do), and its realized niche (what it actually does).
• Interspecies competition (between species) forces organisms into a realized niche.
• How does this play into evolution?  (Hint: Natural Selection).
• There are other aspects of community ecology (food chains, food webs) that we will look at throughout the week.
• Ecosystem Ecology:  This is where we look at the interaction between the living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of the environment
• This is where we look at energy flow through the system, as well as nutrient cycles.  We will look at nutrient cycles later in the week.
• One major emphasis is the movement of energy.
• Remember your 2^nd law of thermodynamics!
•  Photosynthesis converts Photons into Reducing Power.
• Question:  If you consume 1 mole of glucose produced from a plant, how many moles of ATP could you form?
• Question:  How many glucose molecules could you remake from the ATP generated?
• Just to make is easier:  Would you generate <More/Same/Less) glucose?
• Applied Ecology:
• Applied Ecology uses the theories produced in the previous fields to make changes in the world.
• Examples include:
• Resource Management.
• Endangered Species Management.
• Landscape Management.
• Landscape Remediation.
• Chemical/Pollutant Remediation.
• Landfills and Waste Water treatement. 

A final topic is that of coevolution, which is informed by work done in population and community ecology.  There are many examples of this phenomena in which one organism experiences a change in response to a change in another organism.   Specific examples include:

• Hummingbirds and ornithophilous flowers 
• Angraecoid orchids and African moths 
• Old world swallowtail and fringed rue 
• Garter snake and rough-skinned newt 
• Acacia ant and bullhorn acacia tree 
• Yucca Moth and the yucca plant

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Daily Challenge: Coevolution
Today, you are to discuss how population and community level effects can influence the interaction between two species and result in coevolution. For this you will use the following example: The leaf-cutting ant (genus: Acromyrnex) and the farmed fungus (genus: Leucocoprinus). The ants in this example cut and chew leaves to build a medium to grow fungus. The fungus is then harvested and eaten by the colony.
Suggested Readings:
A Farming Ant and Its Fungus Are Ancient Cohabitants
Ants Are Experienced Fungus Farmers
Fungus-Farming Ants First To Find Natural Pesticides

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Optional Readings:  These three articles are presented in case you want to see other aspects of ecology.
Energy Economics in Ecosystems
The Ecology of Fire
Restoration Ecology