Ecology - Introduction to ecological principles, including the distribution and abundance of organisms, population dynamics, community organization, energy flow, and nutrient cycling. 3 hrs credit. One year of introductory biology is a prerequisite.
Ecology is the study of the interrelationships between organisms and their environment.
That means that anything that influences our well being is relevant in ecology, e.g., cold, heat, food, disease, interactions with other organisms, etc. As the human population grows larger and technology provides ever more intrusive ways to affect our environment, understanding ecological principles becomes increasingly important for environmental management, species conservation, and even the quality of our lives. It also provides a basis for critical decisions, like how to vote when you have the opportunity. We will take a look at ecology from the standpoint of the individual organism, through the ways that organisms make up populations, how those populations affect each other and build communities, and finally the ecological systems that we see in nature. We will examine ecology in the following five modules.