Paleohistoric biologist who stated that we can expect species to be around for roughly 5 million years, and that we must either evolve or go extinct.

wrote article for some science magazine on 4 strong reasons for a traditional focus on species: More objective and easier to study species, new medicines, help focus on stress on the environment, and the role of services on the environment from various populations

studied owl species with hybridization, and bird’s habitat and how they are living on the prairie because a new habitat opened up, that’s why they moved west b/c now the trees they liked were there.

animal ecologist who is one of two people traced back to the beginning of the study of animal ecology. Helped found the Nature Conservancy in England

a more contemporary Darwin

did work on island communities of species, and how the size of an Island related to species growth

sailed on SMS Beagle in 1831-1836. In 1859 Nov, he published his book on the origin of species. Book had two sweeping points:

1.       Life had not been created in its present form, because that would be illogical and the evidence was multifaceted

2.       Life in fact had been modified from some ancestral beginning (Natural Selection) for this to have occurred there must have been a process or some processes that changed things.

 Documenting and investigating the relationship between living organisms and their environment in a scientific matter. All experiments must be replicable, but not duplicated because you cannot duplicate time. The study of the structure and function of nature and the organisms which live in it, and how they interact.

the factors in the environment, and the interactions that determine distribution, abundance and EVOLUTIONARY success of organisms; meaning how well they can pass on their alleles. Is a process that is investigated and conventionally agreed upon, meaning that its tenable—defendable. Studies the phenomena that are testable in the real world. Should be repeatable and guided by natural laws. Is used to try and persuade others and to prove theories. Also used to archive and give credit to those who made great discoveries

National Environmental Protection Act of 1969-partially or fully funded by the government to make Environmental Impact statement, and how we should manage it.

                National Forest Management Act of 1976- to manage a viable population of vertebrates on public forests. Example to support cougars, they need certain food chains which all go back to some sort of invertebrate. To know how to support them, we need to know how they interact with their environment and the other organisms to survive—ECOLOGY!

The unit of Ecology is Species. Subspecies is a synonym for race

                Endangered Species Act of 1973: All species go extinct, but the rate at which can vary. This law required the government to make a list of animals that may go extinct.

The idea that sending out signals to others of the same species for reproduction. Meaning that just because two species may look exactly alike, but live in different areas, will not reproduce because they have different mating rituals/calls.  Most widely accept species concept.  Defines species in terms of interbreeding. Explains why the members of a species resemble one another, and differ from other species; species are groups of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups.  Even if grouse in one area look different/ eat different things than that of another area, both are still capable of interbreeding in new areas, if not then they should be separated (PSC)

Concept involving scientists who deal with naming species based on genetic components. Problem because Genotypes can change.  With this concept, there are no subspecies. If they differ, they differ genetically and are therefore their own species because they don’t look at behavior.

based solely on molecular genotypic features; looks for only differences in nucleotides.

most common form of variation in any genome on earth. If there are few differences most likely they are of the same species, if lots of differences, then most likely of different species.

gradual change in size of a species or subspecies as they interbreed. Implications of a subspecies are opportunities for the new subspecies to evolve.

1.       They are more objective than ecosystems, so species are the best way to study an ecosystem

2.       “Stress” to an ecosystem can be revealed by species investigation

3.       Species can be/ are a source of new medicine. I.E. fungi

4.       Individual species can provide pivotal roles in “services” done by ecosystem. I.E bees and pollination

prevent mating or fertilization in the first place. Prevent the male and female from coming together. Male elephant and female human example.

1.       Ecological Isolation: Populations live in different habitats and therefore are separated

2.       Temporal Isolation: Population mating occurs at different seasons or times of day for each

3.       Behavioral Isolation: Social Issues, or no sex attraction between sexes

4.       Mechanical Isolation: Structural differences between two populations

5.       Game isolation: no gamete attraction or viability

***although all these barriers are in place, species are still not hermetically sealed***

1.       Hybrid Inviability: zygotes fail to develop; natural abortion.

2.       Hybrid sterility: if the zygote develops, the gamete will most likely not be functional. The hybrid develops to full adult but has a very low chance of producing gametes on own.

3.       Hybrid Breakdown: Hybrid produces own gamete but these have even lower chance of producing offspring. Lower viability/ fertility.

***Hybrid being a fusion/union of two sex cells from two diff species***

a viable hybrid occurs here, where wind is the most prevalent means of movement that plants have

some of the earliest organisms found. They were single celled, single stranded DNA. Paved the way for most other organisms to survive

bluish green algae found on the surface of the ocean, were the ecological liberating organism, and were responsible for bringing life in the water to life on land. They did this by  changing their means of respiration from using HS + CO@ to make sugar and sulfur to using H20 and CO2 to make sugar and oxygen. Once their was a fair amount of O2 in the air, Eukaryotes could exist. The extra oxygen also then begins to absorb the radiation waves from the sunlight. This happened in a gradualistic modification

The first phase happened roughly 439 million years ago in the Paleozoic era. Because water in any organism will move from a higher concentration to a lower concentration, when the organisms left the water, they left the most important physiological aspect of life, in order to gain this water back, the plants did one of two things:

1.       develop a waxy cuticle which is hydrophobic which helps to keep the water in

2.       develop openings called stomata which give an organism the ability to open and close portals to let water in and out, this was an incredible evolutionary adaptation

about 409 million years ago or 30 million years after the first, and this was when the development of vascular tissues in plants became evident. This was important because it gave plants a way of storing water in their roots for later use, as well as other byproducts of photosynthesis like sugar. Vascular tissue also gave them the structural support needed to grow taller and compete for the light on land.

1.       Natural Selection: the biological process where members of a population survive and reproduce more successfully than others and transmit to their offspring heritable basis for such. To outcompete each other species in order to survive from generation to generation. Non-chance, non-random

2.       The organically transferred info for natural selection is transmitted in DNA, which is Tacit, however Natural Selection acts DIRECTLY on phenotypes, since that is what is exposed to the changing environment. It then indirectly acts on DNA

3.       Genetic Drift: changes in the gene pool of a small population due to chance (like bottlenecks and Founder effects) can change allele composition across time. Based on chance and is random.

4.       Gene Flow- migration of fertile individuals or transfer of gametes between populations

5.       Mutations- change in the genetic material due to replacement or deletion

1.       Individuals vary in genotype and phenotype in genetic constitution and outward expression.

2.       Organisms produce offspring that can survive in the environment

3.       Individuals vary because of genotype and phenotype and produce offspring which sets up competition for the resources of survival

1.       There is a shift of the entire polygon, keeping the vertical line down the middle it will shift away from whichever phenotype is not favored. This is the most frequently occurring type of selection

1.       most uncommon, where individuals in the middle are favored against usually due to natural disaster or other environmental changing event. Could eventually cause the birth of a new species

plant ecologists

Willdenow: talked about how climate influenced distribution of plants

VH: how characteristics of plants correlated with nature

Warming: Plantesam author, looked at specifics like water and temp