- logy—logos; study of
- eco— oikos=house
- the scientific study of relationships between organisms and their environments (Haeckel)
- NOT activism
- Key concept:
- ecological systems vary over space and time
- Solar energy input and topography shape the Earth's physical environments (Climate)
- Scales of Ecological Organization
- Organism—survival and reproduction
- Population—groups of individuals of the same species interacting
- Community—Interactions among populations of different species
- Ecosystem—communities plus their abiotic environment
- Biosphere—all organisms and environments of the planet
- What determines the environment where organisms live?
- Variations in Solar energy drive patterns of weather and climate
- Climate
- long term trends in temperature, wind, precipitation based on averages and variation measured over decades
- Determines where organisms live
- resource availability
- rate of pop. growth
- key to understanding all ecological phenomenon
- Weather
- temperature, wind, humidity and precipitation at a particular time and place (short term)
- Earth's energy budget
- energy in-solar radiation
- incoming radiation-mostly short wave-visible
- 31% reflected by clouds/surface
- 20% absorbed by atmosphere
- 49% absorbed by earth
Similar posts: