BIOL 2060 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Eastern Meadowlark, Random Number Table, Systematic Sampling
17 May 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environments, both abiotic (non-living) and biotic. Ecology should not be equated with environmental studies (which includes social, political, and ethical dimensions) or with environmentalism (i. e. , a political or advocacy movement). Ecology is the scientific discipline through which we gain objective knowledge about nature, whereas in environmental studies that knowledge is applied, often involving subjective value judgements. The first step in the scientific method is to make some observations. Describe the patterns that you see in the eastern meadowlark"s distribution and abundance. The second step of the scientific method is to make some hypotheses. A hypothesis is a potential reason or explanation for an observed pattern. Pick one of your observations about the distribution and abundance of the eastern meadowlark and make a list of hypotheses that could explain the observation. The third step of the scientific method is to make some predictions.
