Ecology

Ecology- scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment.
Biosphere- "largest of the houses" contains the combined portions of the planet in which all life exists (land, water, air, atmosphere).

-Ecologists ask questions about events and organisms that range from single individual- entire biosphere.
Species- group of organisms similar to one another. Can produce offspring.

Observing- asking questions.
Experimenting- testing hypotheses.
Modeling- models are made to gain insight into complex phenomena. Consist of data, equations, etc...

Biodiversity

Order of Complexity-
Human
Sparkey
Pheobe
Moth
Earthworm
Peaplant

-Linnaeus
-binomial nomenclature = two name naming system
-Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.
Kingdom- Plantae (one species)
and
Animalia
and
Fungi
and
Protista- 1 plant like unicelluar
- 2 plant like multicelluar
- 3 Fungi like
- 4 Animal like

Archabacteria and eubacteria

Species- all individual can breed and produce viable offspring (offspring can reproduce)
Canis familiaris (dog) Felis domesticus

Canis lupus Canis latrans

Homo sapiens (human) Lynx rufus (bobcat)
|
Kingdom- animalia
phylum- chordata
sub-phylum- vertebrata
class- mamalia
order- primate
family- hominidae
genus- homo
species- sapiens

Linneaus divided these species into groups using only physical characteristics.