The document is a lecture on plant physiology and ecology given by Salman Saeed. It defines ecology as the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment. It describes ecology as having both biotic factors, such as plants and animals, and abiotic factors, like light, water, and soil nutrients. The document outlines different levels of ecological organization from the biosphere down to individuals. It provides examples of ecosystems and career opportunities for ecology graduates in areas like conservation, environmental consulting, and research.

1. Course Title:
Plant Physiology and
Ecology
Course Instructor:
SALMAN SAEED
Botany department
UNIVERSITY college of management & Sciences, Khanewal,
PAKSITAN

2. What is Ecology?

 Ecology is the scientific study of the
interactions between organisms and
their environment.
It is the science that seeks to describe
and explain the relationship between
living organisms and their environment.
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3. What is Ecology? (Cont…)




 Ecology is describing the relationships
between living organisms and their
environment.
Ecology comes from the Greek words
Oîkos= House
-λογία, -logia= Study of Life
Study of the “house/environment” in
which we live.
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4. Factors of Ecology
 There is two factors that Ecology study:

 The Abiotic Factors (non-living
components) are those inert factors of
the ecosystem, as the light, the
temperature, the chemical products, the
water and the atmosphere.
Biotic Factors (living organisms) are all
the living beings in an environment.
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5. Ecology is study of interactions
between
 non-living components in the environment…
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

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

light
water
wind
nutrients in soil
heat
solar radiation
atmosphere, etc.
AND…
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6.  Living organisms…
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
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Plants
Animals
microorganisms in soil, etc.
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7.  Ernst Haeckel, a German zoologist coined
the term Ecology in 1866.

 After that….
Danish botanist, Eugenius Warming
elaborate the idea of Ecology.
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8. Classification of Ecology
 Ecology is a broad discipline comprising
many sub-disciplines. Under this system the
subjects studies:


Ecophysiology examines how the physiological
functions of organisms influence the way they
interact with the environment, both biotic and
abiotic.
Behavioral ecology examines the roles of
behavior in enabling an animal to adapt to its
environment.
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9. Classification of Ecology (cont…)


 Population ecology studies the
dynamics of populations of a single
species.
Community ecology (or synecology)
focuses on the interactions between
species within an ecological community.
Ecosystem ecology studies the flows of
energy and matter through the biotic and
abiotic components of ecosystems.
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10. Classification of Ecology (cont…)

 Systems ecology is an interdisciplinary
field focusing on the study, development,
and organization of ecological systems
from a holistic perspective
Landscape ecology examines
processes and relationship in a spatially
explicit manner, often across multiple
ecosystems or very large geographic
areas.
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11. Classification of Ecology (cont…)

 Evolutionary ecology studies ecology
in a way that explicitly considers the
evolutionary histories of species and their
interactions.
Political ecology connects politics and
economy to problems of environmental
control and ecological change.
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12. Community
Population interactions
Population
Individual
Ecosystem
Region = Biome
Landscape
Biosphere
“Levels” of
Ecology
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13. Levels of Ecology
 Biosphere


Surface of the earth
It is the whole portion of Earth colonized
by living beings
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14. Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Region
 Group of ecosystems with the same climate and
dominant communities.
Tropical rain forest
Tropical dry forest
Tropical savanna
Temperate grassland
Desert
Temperate woodland
and shrubland
Temperate forest
Northwestern
coniferous forest
Boreal forest
(Taiga)
Tundra
Mountains and
ice caps
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15. Tropical Forest: Vertical stratification with trees
in canopy blocking light to bottom strata. Many
trees covered by epiphytes (plants that grow on
other plants).
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17. Desert: Sparse rainfall (< 30 cm per year), plants and animals adapted for
water storage and conservation. Can be either very, very hot, or very cold
(e.g. Antarctica)
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18. Coniferous forest: Largest terrestial biome on earth, old
growth forests rapidly disappearing, usually receives lots of
moisture as rain or snow.
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19. Tundra: Permafrost (Permanent frozen ground), bitter cold,
high winds and thus no trees. Has 20% of land surface on
earth.
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20. Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Landscape
 a group of ecosystems that may or may
not interact in a given region
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21. Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Ecosystem
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

A group of communities and the populations
within them embedded in a common physical
environment and tied together by physical
processes.
It refers to all the abiotic factors (physical and
chemical constituents) and all the communities
that established in a specific area.
It is a collection of organisms that live in a place
with the nonliving environment.
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22. Ecosystem


 Ecosystem is a dynamic complex of
plant, animal and micro-organism
communities and their non-living
environment, interacting as a functional
unit.
Every element of the environment have
their own ecosystem.
A dynamic ecosystem makes the
balance of nature.
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23. Ecosystem (cont…)
 Example of Ecosystem:
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24. Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Community

 A group of populations of different
species occurring in one place;
individuals of different species may
interact with each other
And all the living beings distributed into a
specific geographical area. A community
includes organisms of different species.
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25. Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Population


 A group of individuals of a given species
that live in a specific geographic area.
A group of organisms, all of the same
species, which interbreed and live in the
same area.
A group of individuals that collectively
interact to give birth to new individuals
and eventually die
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26. Levels of Ecology (cont…)
 Individual
 Group of similar organisms that can breed
and produce fertile offspring
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27. Scope and Importance
The principles of environmental biology provides
a background for understanding the
fundamental relationship of the natural
community and also the sciences dealing with
particular environment viz., forest, soil, ocean
and inland waters.
2. Many practical applications of this subject are
found in agriculture, horticulture, forestry,
limnology, oceanography, fisheries, biological
surveys, pest control, public health, toxicology,
pollution control, conservation etc.
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28. Scope and Importance
By applying certain ecological techniques, ecologists
find the causes of desertness. They investigated that
these deserts lack certain trace elements like Zinc (Zn),
Copper (Cu), and Molybdenum (Mo), so they called
them trace element deserts (Anderson and Underwood,
1959). Now they have cured their ecological diseases
and have converted them into new rich agricultural
lands.
4. There are environmental engineers and
environmental geologists who could study the
behaviour of the interior of earth and advise in matters
of construction work.
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30. Career Options
Professional opportunities for students of Ecologist can
vary widely in purpose, responsibilities and required level
of education. Career possibilities include areas such as
conservation, public health, environmental consulting,
public policy and science education.
Graduates of Ecologist programs often work for non-profit
organizations, like The Nature Conservancy, or with state
and federal government agencies, such as the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service. A PhD is usually required to for
research and college-level teaching. Check out the articles
listed below for some career ideas.
Environmental Biologist
Conservation Scientist
Biology Teacher
Research Scientist
Ecologist
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