GENERAL ECOLOGY – BI 2201

BY

DR. WAHIRA OTHMAN

 Course structure
Course name: General ecology
Course code: BI 2201
Course credit: 10 units
Contact hours: 30 hrs. for lectures and 15 hrs. for
field practical including tutorials

Time and venue: Monday 10.00 - 12.00 at CLT1 &

Thursday 10.00 – 13.00 SLT 2

Number of weeks: 15 weeks & 1 week preparation

followed by 2 weeks for University examinations

Course prerequisite: High School Biology, Introductory

Botany and Plant anatomy & Physiology
 Course objectives
• Recognize and describe the major groups,
functions, and interaction of organisms in an
ecosystem.
• Explain the interrelationships between plants and
animals in energy and nutrient transfer. Eg
nutrient transformations in food webs found in a
given ecosystem
• Describe effects of various disturbance factors on
the habitat and its organisms.
• Illustrate how general ecological principles can be
applied to understand the life of any species
 Learning Outcomes
• Upon completion of the course, students shall be
able to:-
– Illustrate the interrelationship among organism and
the interrelationship between organism and the
environment.
– Describe energy and nutrient cycles and infer how
those cycles influence organism and the environment.
– Relate ecological concept to various disciplines within
and outside biology.
– Gain an appreciation of the contexts and challenges
associated with ecological and environmental
management.
– Use of ecological and environmental field techniques
in the field for investigations.
 Course content
This course will cover the following
areas:
• Concepts and definitions in ecology
• Categories of ecology
• light energy, soils and weathering,
nutrients and nutrient cycling
• terrestrial and aquatic and biomes,
• population growth and regulation,
 Course content…
• life history pattern, predation, herbivore,
parasitism mutualism
• Communities and ecosystems: development
and structure, ecosystem and energy flow
competition.
• Trophic levels and food webs.
• Introducing students to systematic
Morphology, Physiology,
• Ecology (lifetables).
 Teaching strategies
Diverse teaching and learning strategies will be
employed including:
• Lectures,
• independent-studying,
• tutorials,
• class discussion and presentation
• Quizzes and assignments
 Field trips/Practical

• Visiting Zanzibar terrestrial and Marine

ecosystems in Unguja.

• Specifically this will include study visits in

various conservation areas in Unguja
 Course assessment
- Evaluation will be by both coursework and final
University exam.
-Coursework carry 40% which involves:
• 7.5%: Field report write-up
• 7.5%: Assignments + Quizzes
• 20%: Tests
• 5%: Class room Presentation
- Final University exam: carry 60%
 LITERATURES
Text book
• Molles, M. C. Ecology: Concepts and Application, 2nd
edition. McGraw Hill, Boston MA. 2002.

References
• Colinvaux, P. Ecology 2. New York: John Wiley and
Sons1995.
• Cox, G.W. Laboratory Manual of General Ecology, 7th
edition. McGraw Hill, Boston. 1996.
• Kormondy, E. J. Concepts of Ecology, 4th edition.
Prentice-Hall, New Jersey. 1996.
• Krohne, D. T. General Ecology, Wadsworth Publishing
Company, Belmont, California. 1998.
• Murray B. G. Population Dynamics: Alternative
Models, Academic. Press, New York, 1979
 Lecture one

INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL ECOLOGY

Definition and concepts of ecology
• Origin of word ecology: derived from Greek word
"Oikos" (“family household”) home, or place to
live and logy = study of - by Germany zoologist
Ernst Haeckel (1866,)
What is ecology?
• Is the scientific study of interaction between
organisms and their environment.
• Environment composed of Non living (Physical
and chemical) and living (biotic) components of
organisms’ surroundings.
 Continue….
• Relationships include interactions with the
physical world as well as with members of the
same and other species
• Ecology also focused on the study of the
processes that determine the distribution and
abundance of plants, animals and microbes in
natural and human-modified environments
• In this context, ecology can be studied at various
scales/levels/hierarchy of which reflects
different categories/branches/ecological
systems of ecology.
 Scales of ecology
• Individual organisms: How do environmental
factors affect individuals and how individual
(structure, physiology and behaviour) respond
to the environment - Is Physiological ecology
• Populations: group of individuals of a single
species that occupy in a given area. Eg
population of lion, zebra etc
• Communities: Natural assemblage of
population of different species living and
interacting within an area. It concerned with
interactions among populations that affect
distribution and abundance.
• Ecosystems : composed of biotic community and
their physical environment. Each ecosystem has
unique combination of physical conditions (eg
soil, topography) and associated sets of plants
and animal population (community)
• Landscapes: Interactions among different types
of ecosystems exists in broader spatial context.
- Are spatially heterogeneous geographic areas
characterized by diverse interacting patches or
ecosystems.
- At land space scale communities and ecosystems
are linked through processes like dispersion of
organisms and exchange of materials and energy
Biomes: broad scale geographical regions having
similar geological and climatic conditions
supports similar types of communities and
ecosystems. Eg tropical rainforest, etc
Biosphere: Global sum of all ecosystems.
Ecological processes of the Earth. Zones of life
on earth
NB: Ecologists study at intermediate scales.
 What scale is best to be studied by
ecologist
• Organism interact with the environment in the
context of the ECOSYSTEM
• Eco means “environment ‘and system refers
to function of the unit
• The environmental components ( lights, water,
concentration of gases, nutrients, etc,) –
influence basic physiological process crucial
for survival and growth of an organism
Branches of ecology
1. Population Ecology: is the key branch of ecology
- branch of ecology that studies the structure and
dynamics of populations.

It is a collection of Animals and Plants

ecology
A. PLANT ECOLOGY: plant geographers – study
the abundance and distribution of plants, the
effects of environmental factors upon the
abundance of plants, and the interactions
among and between plants and other
organisms. In includes

Phytosociology- growth and behavior of plants

from diverse environment and describe how
plants modify their environment – Result
microenvironment

B. ANIMAL ECOLOGY- relation of the animal to

its organic as well as inorganic environment.
• It includes behavior ecology: investigate the way
animals interact with their living and non living
environment.

• Aspects of feeding relationship, population

dynamics, natural selection and evolution

• Population ecology also includes Population

genetics which is the studies of gene frequencies
and microevolution in populations

• Population ecology and population genetics are

often considered together and called "population
biology.
 2. Physiological ecology = ecophysiology
• Also called Autecology: is concerned with the responses of
individual organisms to temp., moisture, light, nutrients and
other factors of the environment.

• It includes the study of photosynthesis, plant growth and

effects of environment on growth, roles of limited nutrients
supply max min.

• Physiological relationship among plants, climate

atmosphere and soils

• Adaptation and distribution of plants and animals to water,

and chemicals (spp regulation, defense & courtship)
3. Ecosystem ecology
• Combine living organism and their physical
environment in a system called ecosystem.
• In a particular ecosystem, describe succession in
terms of energy flow, trophic levels, nutrient cycling
and models developments

5. Applied ecology: use of ecological theories and

models in helping us understanding human impact
on environment. Application of science of ecology
into real world
• Provides a bases for ecosystem and natural
resources management, preservation and
restoration. Eg pollution problem, toxic wastes,
overpopulation & habitat loss/fragmentation

3 new fields of Ecology

(1st Assignment)
• Conservation biology
• Restoration ecology
• System ecology

• Explain each branch of ecology placing special

emphasis on the meaning, origin and areas of
applicability. Show similarities and differences
from each branch of ecology
 Importance of Ecological knowledge

• The existence/sustainability of our species = our

species is rapidly changing earth’s environment, but
we don’t fully understand the consequences of
these changes (change land use, increasing nitrogen
and CO2 concentrations) – threaten the density on
earth and may endanger our life support system

• It is essential for maintaining a healthier and more

productive biosphere (Ecosphere) for the life of
human beings and other organisms.
 Importance...
• It provides (or basis) for judicious use of natural
resources often referred as conservations.
• It provides a basis for the formulation of a good or
sound conservation policy.
• Experts entrusted with natural resources should
have ecological knowledge. Such experts includes
Agriculturalists and other natural resources
scientists like botanists, zoologists, range
managers wildlife and fisheries managers e.t.c.
 How do ecologists do their work?
Although each level of ecology there is uniques
areas that can be studied, Ecologist Investigate
Nature using the Scientific methods following a
common scientific procedure – these include
1. Observation – direct, indirect, repeatable,
temporal and spatial scales
2. Define problem – questions about the
observation
3. Develop hypothesis – statement of educated
guess about what the answer of the question –
statement of cause and effect of the problem
• Predictions on the hypothesis
4. Testing of hypothesis – to see if predictions
hold true or not
- This step requires data gathering using
different ways include
• Field experiment/survey
• Lab experiment
5. Displaying and presentation of ecological data
using charts, histograms, scatter plots etc
• Lab experiment- Takes interaction out of the
nature - control groups, Replication is a
Manipulative experiment-
• Field experiments- Sometimes good controls,
Replication depends on scale, Direct
hypothesis tests
• Modeling – mathematical, use generalised
hypothesis