BIS 2B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Lyme Disease, Conservation Biology, Zoonosis

• School: UC-Davis
• Department: Biological Sciences
• Course: BIS 2B
• Professor: Mark Schwartz; Sharon Strauss

Document Summary

Ecology : the study of interactions among organisms and their environment. Goal: determine the biological and physical factors that determine the distribution and abundance of species. This knowledge can be applied to environmental science and conservation biology to help solve environmental problems. Environmentalism is concern for the conservation and improvement of the natural environment. As beings inhabiting this earth, we are all inextricably connected with one another through the environment. Ecology predicts the distribution and abundance of organisms, size of populations. Extinction/increase) and communities species assemblages). and allows us to project the future. Knowing the densities for acorn, mice and deer allows us to predict big years for lyme disease. We use past events and understandings to inform expectations for the future. We use tools to make predictions- we often use mathematical relationships to help us predict future outcomes. Complex interactions between the physical and biological environment have large impacts on humans, and on biodiversity and ecosystems.