Fundamentals of Ecology

The University of West Florida

Instructor: Dr. Karen Pritchard Office: Bld 58 Rm 60

Phone: 474-2753 Office Hours: Tues & Thurs 12 – 3pm

Textbook: Miller, G.T. Essentials of Ecology. 4th Ed.

Textbook Companion site: http://www.brookscole.com/cgi- wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl? fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=978049512 5440&discipline_number=22

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Approximately 16.4 to 20.4 million hectares of tropical forest are being destroyed each year. Only 50% of the mature tropical forests remain!

Course Overview

Ecology is a broad subject dealing with the distribution of living organisms in time and space, and the interaction of organisms with other living things and their physical environment. This ecology course is intended for non-biology majors who have an interest in nature and their interaction with it. Although it is not a requirement of this course that you took biology or chemistry in high school, it will benefit you greatly if you have some experience with both those subjects.

This course will give you a general overview of ecological principles and how those principles influence the world around us. The viewpoint of the text, Essentials of Ecology, is anthropocentric (human-centered) for the most part. That is discouraged in advanced ecology courses, as study of ecology pertains mostly to organisms other than humans. The author's perspective will serve you well, however, because the objectives of this course are both you learning the basics of ecological theory and application, but also for you to think in an ecological context about interactions you have with nature or your physical environment on a daily basis.

We will follow closely the outline of the book throughout the course. There may be a few deviations, but for the most part the book will define the path of the class. We will cover one chapter per week beginning in week 2 of the course. The text itself is divided into three sections: humans and sustainability; environmental and ecological scientific principles and concepts; and, sustaining biodiversity. You will notice, however, that the bulk of the course material occurs in the middle section with the first and last sections, respectively, serving as an introduction to the environmental and ecological problems/science and a summary of the importance of preserving ecosystems and biodiversity.

The single most effective advertising campaign in U.S. history involved Smokey the Bear and the slogan, “Only you can prevent forest fires” in 1947! It has since helped prevent hundreds of thousands of forest trees.

Course Participation

An inherent problem with distance learning courses is students and their instructor do not have the type of face to face contact that occurs in typical lecture courses. Thus, students may have a tendency to procrastinate, putting off coursework until the end of the semester. Weekly assignments, discussions, and quizzes have been designed in this course to keep you engaged throughout the semester. You will be expected to interact with your classmates via weekly threaded discussion sessions on topics related to a given week's subject matter. Weekly quizzes will test your knowledge of material covered in a given week and three exams will test your overall knowledge of the subject material.

It may surprise you that among all nations the U.S. does NOT set aside the greatest percent of land mass. Venezuela protects the most at 22.2%, Botswana protects 17.4%, the Czech and Slovakia republics protect 15.4% while the U.S. is at 10.5%.

Course Evaluation

Your grade in this course will be determined by four things: homework assignments, discussion participation, weekly quizzes and exams. Starting in week 2, we will cover a new chapter each week. Weekly assignments will be posted under chapter headings on the course website. You will be expected to read Dr. Pritchard's introductory narratives that introduce each chapter. You then will read that week's chapter, participate in the threaded discussion during each week, and take weekly timed quizzes to test your knowledge of the material covered. Every fifth week you will have an exam covering material from the previous four weeks.

Course material will be activated on the eLearning website weekly. This will include a Chapter Overview that will layout reading, powerpoint assignment (if available), homework, and discussion assignments. Weekly threaded discussion topics will be derived from critical thinking questions posted in the discussion section of the elearning website. Review the discussion material and join the discussion each week. You may ask or answer questions on any other course-related topic during weekly threaded discussions, but the critical thinking questions are designed for you to consider practical applications of the material you learn in each chapter. Participation in threaded discussions is mandatory and will constitute 10% of your final course grade. Homework assignments for each will account for another 10% of your final course grade Weekly quizzes will be derived from content presented in a given chapter. A quiz will consist of multiple choice, true/false, or matching questions and you will be allowed 20 minutes to complete it. Quizzes will be open book but given the time restraints it will benefit you to know the chapter material prior to beginning a quiz. Quizzes will be posted on the eLearning site along with other chapter material. You may take a quiz anytime after it is activated and prior to when it is due; see course calendar for due dates. DO NOT open a quiz file prior to when you plant to take it because the eLearning software will allow you access to a quiz only once. Of the 11 quizzes, you will be permitted to drop the lowest grade. The average of the other 10 quizzes will constitute 30% of your course grade. The remaining 50% of your course grade will come from exams; see course calendar for exam due dates. There will be three exams given during the semester. You will be allowed to drop the lowest score among the three. Exams will follow the format of quizzes for the most part but will have three short answer questions in addition to 30 multiple choice, true/false, or matching questions. You will have 75 minutes to complete each exam. Exams will be open note/open book but you should not plan on being able to skim through the book to find correct answers without having learned the material. Like quizzes, timed exams will only allow you to access them a single time.

John Muir (1838-1914) is considered the father of conservation in the US. He was an ardent naturalist and was the founding president of the Sierra Club, which remains one of the most popular and powerful eniromentalist organizations in the US.

Course Goals and Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course you should be able to:

1. Describe human impact on nature.

2. Explain the underlying biological and chemical principles of ecology.

3. Define how energy and matter flow and cycle in our environment.

4. Use charts, figures, narrative descriptions and other appropriate technical writing and oral communication tools when exploring and discussing ecological related information.

5. Recognize the source and derivation of ecological terminology.

6. Employ scientific processes when addressing everyday problems.

7. Place a greater emphasis on the processes used to conduct scientific investigations and the results of these investigations.

8. Read and understand newspaper and television reports on current ecological research and development and recognize the social/ethical issues associated with these advances in ecology.

9. Willingly contribute your ideas and understandings of ecology to current issues. 10. Justify personal decisions based upon information and ethics which are consistent with what is known from ecology.

“Nothing about life makes sense unless it is in the light of evolution.” Theodosius Dobzhansky

Course Outline:

C hapter Learning Objectives

1 Environmental Problems, Their causes, and Sustainability Students will be able to: 1) Distinguish between environmentalism and environmental science; define Earth capital and solar capital. 2) Draw an exponential growth curve; distinguish between exponential growth and linear growth. 3) Distinguish among renewable resources, potentially renewable resources, and nonrenewable resources. 4) Describe the tragedy of the commons. 5) Distinguish between point sources and nonpoint sources of pollution. 6) Distinguish between pollution prevention and pollution cleanup. 7) Summarize the root causes of environmental problems. 8) Define environmental worldview. 9) Evaluate the sustainability of human societies at this point in time.

2 Science, Systems, Matter and Energy Students will be able to: 1) List four typical inappropriate characterizations of science. 2) Distinguish between frontier science and consensus science; accuracy and precision; science and technology. 3) Define environmental science. 4) Define model. 5) Draw a simple, generalized system. 6) Explain how negative feedback loops and positive feedback loops can be coupled to maintain stability. 7) Describe how the environment is a complex system and how effects of changes in the system are often delayed. 8) Define matter. 9) Describe the structure of the periodic table of the elements. 10) Define chemical formula. 11) Distinguish between high-quality matter and low- quality matter. 12) Describe how the law of conservation of matter governs normal physical and chemical changes. 13) Describe why the law of conservation of matter and energy is necessary to govern nuclear changes. 14) Define energy. 15) Summarize the first and second laws of energy and give one example to illustrate each. 16) Describe the implications of the law of conservation of matter and the second law of energy for high-waste, matter-recycling, and low- waste societies.

3 Ecosystems: Components, Energy Flow, and Matter Cycling Students will be able to: 1) Define ecology. 2) List the characteristics of life. 3) Distinguish among lithosphere,hydrosphere, atmosphere, and ecosphere. 4) Distinguish between an open system and a closed system. 5) Define abiotic components of an ecosystem. 6) Summarize the law of tolerance. 7) Define biotic component of an ecosystem. 8) Distinguish between food chains and food webs; grazing food web and detrital food web. 9) Evaluate which ecosystems show the highest average net primary productivity and which contribute most to global net primary productivity. 10) Describe the historical development and distinguishing features of three approaches ecologists use to learn about ecosystems: field research, laboratory research, and systems analysis. 11) Define ecosystem service. List five examples of ecosystem services.

4 Evolution and Biodiversity: Origins, Niches, and Adaptation Students will be able to: 1) Distinguish between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. 2) Define species. 3) List major steps which have occurred in Earth's chemical and biological evolution. 4) Compare the gradualism model and punctuated equilibrium hypothesis. 5) Describe connections among mutations, adaptations, differential reproduction, and biological evolution. 6) List four limits of adaptation to change. 7) Summarize three common misconceptions about evolution. 8) Describe biodiversity in terms of speciation and extinction. 9) Summarize how humans have tinkered with evolutionary processes; nature's lessons that can be adopted as principles for more sustainable lifestyles; and ways that humans can restore and rehabilitate ecosystems.

5 Climate and Terrestial Biodiversity Students will be able to: 1) Distinguish between weather and climate. 2) Describe at least five different factors which contribute to global air-circulation patterns. 3) Distinguish between a tornado and a tropical cyclone. 4) Describe an upwelling and how it might be affected by an El Niño-Southern Oscillation. 5) Define greenhouse effect. 6) Describe the general effects of the following microclimates: windward and leeward sides of a mountain, forests, cities. 7) Describe how climate affects the distribution of plant life on Earth. 8) Compare the climate and adaptations of plants and animals in deserts, grasslands, and forests. 9) Compare the biodiversity and stratification in the three major kinds of forests. 10) Describe how a mountain ecosystem is like an "island of biodiversity."

6 Aquatic Biodiversity Students will be able to: 1) Summarize the distribution of light, salt, and temperature in different aquatic life zones. 2) Evaluate the significance of the ecological contributions of the oceans. 3) Describe the characteristics and ecological significance of coral reefs. 4) Distinguish between coastal and inland wetlands. 5) List and compare the four zones of a lake. 6) Define watershed.

7 Community Ecology Students will be able to: 1) Define ecological niche. 2) Distinguish between a specialist and a generalist. 3) Distinguish among the following roles played by species and give one example of each: native species, nonnative species, indicator species, keystone species. 4) Distinguish among the following species interactions and give one example of each: interspecific competition, predation, and symbiosis. 5) List two strategies that predators use to capture their prey. 6) Distinguish among three forms of symbiotic relationships and give one example of each: parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism. 7) Define succession. 8) Summarize contributions of disturbances (such as fire) to their understanding of succession. 9) Distinguish among the following types of stability and give an example of an ecosystem which exemplifies each: inertia, constancy, resilience. 10) Summarize the theory of island biogeography.

8 Population Ecology Students will be able to: 1) List and define four variables which collectively determine population dynamics. 2) Define zero population growth. Define biotic potential. 3) Define carrying capacity. 4) Distinguish between density-dependent and density-independent checks on population growth, and list three examples of each. 5) List three types of population curves found in nature, and identify one organism which exemplifies each. 6) Distinguish between r-strategists and K- strategists, and give two examples of each. 7) Distinguish conservation biology from wildlife management. 8) List seven ways humans have modified natural ecosystems. 9) Describe the new discipline restoration ecology.

9 Applying Population Ecology: The Human Population Students will be able to: 1) Define population demography and the factors affecting human population demography and size. 2) Describe age-structure diagrams and the difference(s) between age-structure diagrams typical of developed countries versus developing countries. 3) Describe the catastrophic effects of HIV/AIDS to developing nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. 4) Describe the effect of human population size on global environmental health. 5) Describe the Rule of 70 as it pertains to doubling time of global human population. 6) Describe factors affecting human population growth and define the demographic transition hypothesis. 7) Describe human population growth over the last several hundred years and provide details of potential solutions to exponential human population growth.

10 Sustaining Biodiversity I Students will be abe to: 1) Describe human impacts on biodiversity and the importance of preserving biodiversity. 2) Define conservation biology and appreciate the importance of hot spots of biodiversity. 3) Understand the purposes for and uses of public lands in the US. 4) Describe predominant forest management ideologies and the harmful effects of deforestation to terrestrial ecosystems. 5) Define the role(s) of national parks and nature reserves in protecting representative ecosystems and preserving biodiversity. 6) Describe ecological restoration and the five principles required for successful ecological restoration.

11 & 12 Sustaining Biodiversity II Students will be able to: 1) Define species extinction and describe the three spatial scales over which extinction can occur. 2) Distinguish between threatened versus endangered in defining extinction risk. 3) Describe the role of human activities on the rate of extinction. 4) Contrast habitat loss and degradation with habitat fragmentation. 5) Describe extinction risk due to nonnative species and the best methods to control invasive species. 6) Describe the role of poaching in driving extinction rates in terrestrial biodiversity hot spots. 7) Describe the major threats to threatened and endangered species around the globe 8) Define CITES and describe other legal approaches to species protection. 9) Describe the role of the Endangered Species Act in preserving biodiversity in the US. 10) Describe the role of terrestrial wildlife sanctuaries in protecting sensitive species and habitats. 11) Describe patterns of major marine biodiversity and recommended approaches to preserving marine biodiversity. 12) Describe human impacts on marine biodiversity. 13) Define the EEZ and its importance in protecting the marine environment. 14) Describe the overfishing threat to global fish populations and potential solutions to it. 15) Describe the major threats to wetland, marsh, and freshwater habitats, as well as the importance of these habitat types and main mechanisms used to protect them.

Course Grading:

Grade determination:

Exams 50%

Quizzes 30% Homework 10% Discussion 10%

Final Grade Scale:

A 93-100%

A- 91-93%

B+ 87-89%

B 83-86%

B- 80-82%

C+ 77-79%

C 73-76%

C- 70-72%

D 60-69%

F < 60%