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Introduction

Introduction. Goals. Understand scientific process & thinking Understand basic ecological patterns and organization Create a field notebook Identify and describe plant communities, common flora and fauna of California

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Introduction

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Introduction

  2. Goals • Understand scientific process & thinking • Understand basic ecological patterns and organization • Create a field notebook • Identify and describe plant communities, common flora and fauna of California • Understand the role of evolution in driving and shaping plant & animal communities

  3. What is Science? • The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena

  4. Characteristics of Science • Methodological activity • Inquisitive • Critical thinking • Empirical evidence • Logical reasoning • Patterns

  5. Scientific Method • Observation • Question • Hypothesis • Experiment • Conclusions

  6. Hypothesis vs Theory • Hypothesis= educated guess that addresses cause and effect • Based on background information ie reasonable explanation • Testable question • Supported or not supported

  7. Theory • mature coherent body of interconnected statements • A scheme or system of ideas and statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena • A series of hypotheses that has been confirmed or established by observation or experimentation

  8. Patterns in Science • Scale aka perspective • Form and function • Unity of life • Context ie evolution

  9. Scale

  10. Scale

  11. Scale

  12. Scale

  13. Scale Ecology & evolution Organ systems & functions Cell structure & function DNA structure & function

  14. Ecological Scale • Population ecology • Community ecology • Ecosystem ecology • Landscape ecology

  15. Form and Function

  16. Form and Function

  17. Form and Function and Function

  18. Patterns of Form and Function occurs at all scales of Life

  19. Unity of life

  20. History of Life

  21. Evolution

  22. “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” Theodosius Dobzhansky

  23. Mechanisms of evolution • Natural selection • Differential reproductive success- individuals best suited for a given environment will survive and contribute more off spring to the next generation

  24. Survival of the Fittest • Competition to survive • To survive is to reproduce • Every organism is a product of evolution by natural selection, a process that favors characteristics that pay off in reproduction Daly & Wilson, 1984

  25. Woo Hoo California!!

  26. Highest point in the contiguous USMt Whitney 14,495ft

  27. Lowest Point in the Western HemisphereBadwater Death Valley -282 ft

  28. Tallest Living Organism in the World 275 ft

  29. Largest Living Organism in the World Ecology of the Sierra Nevada Summer 2011

  30. One of Oldest Living Clones in the WorldCreosote Bushes 11,700 YO King Clone 11,700 YO

  31. Oldest Living Tree in the WorldBristlecone Pines 4-4900 YO Methuselah 4,838 YO

  32. Hot & Dry Death Valley

  33. Highest Waterfall in North AmericaYosemite Falls Ecology of the Sierra Nevada Summer 2011

  34. Second Tallest Active Volcano in USMt Shasta

  35. Second most recently active volcano in lower 48Mt Lassen 1914-21

  36. Some of the largest earthquakes in the lower 48 states1906 SF 1872 Lone Pine

  37. One of the biggest explosions EVER!Long Valley Caldera 750,000 YA125 Cu Mi

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