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Types of habitats:
 Savannah = mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem - open canopy with enough light to reach the
ground for grasses and herbaceous plants to cover the ground
 Woodland = have trees that form a closed canopy so vegitation of the forest floor is sparse
 Grassland= open landscape with no trees and dominated by grasses
 
 Habitats are determined by temperature, water availability, and by physical disturbances and
interactions with other species
 Ecological succession = the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves
overtime
 Large herbivores shape ecosystems by creating paths to water sources, uprooting vegetation,
allowing grasslands to persist, breaking up the soil with their hooves so water can percoate deeper
and exposes ground where seedscan germinate, dung adds nutrients to the soil
 Ecosystems = systems made up of interrelated parts that interact with one another - a change to
one component of the ecosyste can change how the whole system functions
 
What is ecology?
 From oikos, the greek word for house
 Ecology = knowledge concerning the economy of nature - the investigation of the total relations
of the animals both to its organic and its inorganic envi - aka the study of all the complex
interrelationships between organisms and their surroundings
o Biotic interactions = living organisms interacting with each other
o Abiotic interactions = living organisms interacting with the physical and checmical
components of their environment
 Ecologists look to understand these interactions and identify patterns = observable, repeatable
phenomena, that determine the abundances and geographic distribution of organisms and how
matter cycles and energy flows in natural systems
 
How do we study ecology
 Ecologists observe these processes and patterns at different scales of time, space, size nd
complexity
 Heirarchy of ecological systems:
o Organism = study of individual organisms and their adaptations to specific habitats and
conditions
o Population = study of how and why the numbers of individuals of a species change
overtime
 Population = group of individuals of one species living in the same area at the
same time
 Population ecologists use tools like genetic analyses, demographic and
mathemetical modeling to understand the changes within a population and the
factors that influence their growth, decline, regulation and dynamics
o Community= study of the connections among groups of species (eg. Predation,
herbivory, competition, mutualism, parasitism), and how these interactions affect
community structure and the diversity and relative abundance of species
 Community = assemblage of populations of different species that inhabit the
same place at the same time
 o Ecosystem = study the interactions of organiss within a community and with their
physical environment as an intergrated system
o Landscape= how energy, materials, and organisms move between a mosaic of different
but connected ecosystems
o Global = study how global patterns and dyanmics are responsible for geographic
distribution and abundances of populations as well as the functioning and productivity of
ecosystem
 Focus on interactions among the earths ecosystems, land, oceans and
atmosphere
 Terrestrial biomes = the distribution of different types of vegetation that is linked to different
climate zones
o Include tundra, boreal forest, temperate coniferous forest, temperate deciduous forest,
temperate grassland, chaparral, desert, savanna, tropical dry forest, tropical rain forest,
alpine, polar
 
How does ecology contribute to conservation?
 Humans have physically altered or transformed more than 3/4 of the earths land surface
 The study of ecology plays a fundamental role in helping us understand and address these issues
at all levels
 
What is biodiversity?
 The parts that make up a living environment
 The variety of life on earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and the ecological and
evolutionary processes that sustain it
 3 main levels to biodiversity:
o Genetic diversity:
 Variation in DNA that makes up the genes of an organism
 Genetic diversity = the variety of genes within an individual and within a
population, as well as genetic variation between populations of a given species
 Genetic variation is essential to natural selection
 Lack of genetic diversity can come from reductions in population size ->
inbreeding
 In small populations there are fewer opportunities for novel, beneficial
mutations to arise, and a greater chance that particular alleles will disappear by
chance, as few individuals with those variations might die or fail to reproduce =
genetic drift
 These situations lead individuals in a small population to be more
similar (genetically, anatomically and physiologically), and therefore less able to
adapt to new or varying envi conditions
 Speciation can occur when populations of the same species become isolated
from one another and stop sharing genetic material
o Species diversity
 Species richness = number of different species in a defined area
 Species evenness= relative abundance of each species in an area
 Most freq used measures of a regions total biodiversity
 Issues bc arguments over what is a species?
 Biological definition = members of populations that actually or
potentially interbreed in nature
  Phylogenetic definition = group whose members are descended from a
common ancestor and who all possess a combination of certain defining, or
derived, traits
o Above species-level diversity
 Depends on the physical characteristics of the envi, the diversity of species
present, and the interactions the species have with each other and the envi
Why is biodiversity important?
 Species diversities increases an ecosystems stability and resilience to disturbance
 Keystone species = species that have ecologial roles that are greater than one would expect
based on their abundance
 Utilitarian reasons for valuing biodiversity - provides basic human needs like food, shelter,
medicine, and crucial services like pollination, climate regulation and water purification
 Internal reasons = inherent worth, independent of its value to anyone or anything else
 Relational reasons = important for personal and collective wellbeing bc it shapes who we are,
our relationships to each other, and our wider social norms
 
Sustaining biodiversity into the future
 There have been at least 5 mass extinctions in earths history
 Probably on the verge or in the midst of the 6th due to anthropogenic reasons
 Major threats to biodiversity = habitat loss and fragmentation, unsustainable resource use,
invasive species, pollution, and global climate change
 To conserve biodiversity, we need to be able to define what we want to conserve, ID effective
strategies, and track those strategies overtime to see if they are working
 We need to conserve earths ecosystems to sustain all levels of biodiversity
 
What is a system?
 A group of two or more interrelated, or interdependent parts that interact ovre time to form a
whole
o Includes both the elements and the processes that connect them
 Systems thinking = thinking about events or individual problems in a way that the elements and
processes of the event/problem are part of a connected and dynamic system that forms a whole
o Systems thinkers will:
 Pay attention to the parts and the whole
 Ask about relationships to other events
 Look for patters overtime (trends)
 Seek root causes: the connections between events and the underlying structure
of the system which may be driving behaviour
 Seek to see both parts and their relationship
 Asks how changing one set of parts or changing their connections can affect
other parts of the system
 Pay attention to current structures and patterns and how those change
overtime
o Use the iceberg model:
 Events = what happened eg. A species went extinct
 Patterns=what trends do we see overtime? Eg habitat loss increasing
 Structures=what influences those trends? Eg. Ecological and social costss of
habitat degradation and loss - and the biodiversity depends on it - not accounted for
in decision making
  Mental models = what about our thikning allows this to persist? Eg. The human
economy is independent of and can continue to grow despite finite natural systems
 
What does systems thinking mean for ecology and conservation?
 Systems thinking affects how we see ecosystems and all biodiversity
 Systems level views have delivered new insights into ecological processes like how changes in an
organisms abundance can alter overall ecosystem structure or function
 Human influence is often part of the system
 Bioculture = the dynamic and continually evolving and interconnected nature of people and
places
 Systems thinking provides a more complete understanding of how ecosystems function
 Systems thinking also helps us identify and solve pressing environmental problems and inform
conservation and management decisions
 Systems do not have clear boundaries - we nee to designate a boundary to focus on the factors
and interrelationships that most directly influence the behaviour we want to understand
 
Africa's Savannah Ecosystem Video
 Process = the mechanisms that generate observable repeatable phenomena
 Pattern = observable repeatable phenomena
 Habitats are nested within larger ecosystems/landscapes, and ecosystems/landscapes are
nested within biomes
 Biomes are largely defined by climate
 Savannah biome covers 20% of global land surface
o Savannah = an area of intermediate tree cover with grasses
o Savannahs are the last remaining homes for large mammal biodiversity
o Grasses and trees coexist but they compete with each other - trees can shade out
grasses, but grasses can outcompete new growing trees
 When fires come through, grasses are flamable - fires can kill tree seedlings
 So how do they coexist? - rainfall constrains savanna tree cover - max treecover
increases with rain untuil about 800mm rain - at higher rainfall the treecover is about
80% (80% and greater tree cover = a forest) but often these areas actually have less
tree cover that what would be expected based on the amount of rainfall alone
 So at really high levels of rainfall you can get closed canopy woodland,
at very low you get desert/grassland - but most sites in Africa fall somewhere in
between
 Also areas that do get a lot of rain might not get closed canopy tree
cover - why? Fires often constrain savanna tree cover
 Are abiotic factors sufficient to explain savannahs?
 Abiotic factors = rainfall, fire and soil nutrients
 Biotic factors are equally as crucial to defining the savanna biome and
ecosystems - include competition, herbivory, ecosystem engineering and
predation
 Eg proportion of tree cover was significantly reduced after the civil war,
when most of the large animals (herbivores) were removed from the ecosystem
 Who are the major biotic players?
 Plants
 Termites
 Large herbivores
  Carnivores
 People
o Take homes:
 Savannahs are globally important ecosystems, both ecologically and
economically
 The savannah biome is not determined by climate alone
 The importance of abiotic determinants is well established but a complete
account requires understanding the role of biotic interactios