BIOL 2060 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Umber, Aisle, Three Steps
6 Dec 2014
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Document Summary
The study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms. Interactions can be with the biotic or abiotic environment. It focuses on larger scales of biological organization (from small to big, these are individual, population, community, and ecosystem) these higher levels are what distinguish ecology from other biological domains. What is the difference between ecology and environmentalism: there is no difference. The distribution and abundance of red kangaroos ( Macropus rufus: first step: make an observation, for any given observation, there can be a variety of hypotheses, looking at the map of the distribution of kangaroos in australia, one can make several observations, for example: Red kangaroos are most abundant in se australia. Red kangaroos are absent from the east coast of australia. Second step: propose a hypothesis: a hypotheses is a proposed explanation for an observed pattern. (a hypothesis is never a guess, it is something based on experience and theories that have already been developed.
