From Wednesday's lecture outline:

basic concepts related to ecological studies

Perspectives: within biology and within the curriculum here

 

Another form of perspective: the hierarchy of biological inquiry

The ecology of individuals

The ecology of populations

The ecology of communities

Human ecology and environmental issues

 

Why do we care about ecology?

 

How do we learn about ecology?

 

The scientific method.

making observations, looking for "patterns"

 

asking a question about the pattern (often, "what?" or "why?").

 

generating hypotheses (possible answers to the question)

 

making predictions

 

gathering more information: tests

 

Often, a "null hypothesis" considers if there is no affect (i.e., "pattern" is a random outcome)

 

A simple example, babies are scientists, illustrates some important truths.

the outcome of a study, even the best designed experiment, cannot prove that a hypothesis is correct.

but the outcome can tell us if a particular hypothesis is false.

scientific knowledge is continually revised on the basis of new information.

A more serious example: changing (increasing) herbivore populations in the Serengeti.

First... how would you detect such a change? What scale would you measure at?

What hypotheses might explain a change?

Evidence needed to challenge a hypothesis

Indirect measures should not be used unless necessary (e.g., the problem with measuring "fitness")

Considering all possible outcomes (be exhaustive)

Hypotheses should not overlap (exclusiveness)

 

Creativity is an essential aspect of science! Think about all interpretations before you do the experiment and play devil’s advocate... how might you be wrong.

Nuts and bolts of doing science: What type of study should be done?

Four basic approaches:

Post hoc story telling (BAD!)

Building a theoretical model

Comparative observational studies (Some good, some bad)

Experimental manipulation (Some good, some bad)

Comparative observational vs Experimental manipulation... is one better than the other?

Consider a tail feather example – two different approaches to the same question

 

Some key points to remember:

“Correlation does not mean causation”

Manipulations should not be unreasonable levels of perturbation

Combining comparative studies with experiments can get often allow the best of both worlds

How carefully should you measure things?

There is often a trade off in time, energy, and cost between precision of measurement and the number of measurements.

Optimizing is the best strategy.

 

Take home messages:

There is no perfect study - Scientists generally strive to get the best compromise among feasibility, accuracy, and reliability!

The most appropriate approach depends on your research question.

Good experimental design maximizes the amount of information, given the resources available.

Strive for the best possible compromise!

 

Key points from reading chapter 1:

Recognizing ecology as a scientific field

The general scope and scale of ecological inquiry

The importance of quantitative and statistical approaches to the study of ecology

Variation is a natural part of any ecological study... it creates challenges, but also reveals important relationships between organisms and their environment.