General Ecology Home Page
Course Description:
A study of the interrelationships among plants, animals, and
microbes and with their environment. Basic theory of biotic
communities and ecosystems will provide insights about energy
flow, nutrient cycling, and responses to natural and human
disturbances of terrestrial, aquatic, and wetland systems. Two
lectures and one three-hour laboratory per week.
Course Philosophy:
The philosophy which guides the teaching and learning experience in General Ecology can be summarized in the following phrases:
> Community of Learners
> Biblical Environmental Stewardship
> Biology as Inquiry
> Context is Crucial
First, the course continues the emphasis upon the community of learners concept emphasized in General Botany. Second, we will draw upon a biblical environmental stewardship ethic as our means of integrating what we learn in General Ecology with how we should respond as "doers of the Word" as relates to our calling (vocation). Third, we will approach our study of ecology with emphasis upon laboratory experiences with an inquiry approach designed to stimulate curiosity, careful observation, hypothesis testing, careful measurement, and thoughtful analysis of data. Finally, we will address in more detail the concept that "context is crucial."
Ecology is the study of organisms as they interact with one another and with their environment. More than any other discipline of biology, ecology draws our attention to the principle that context is crucial. To study biology without ecology is like learning to spell without learning grammar, or attempting to become an expert at identifying notes on a musical scale without learning the rules of composing.
Likewise, there is a growing awareness among biologists of all stripes from the cell and molecular biologists to the global ecologists that context is crucial. Back in the 20th century, biologists dreamed that, by mapping the “genetic blueprint”, they would hold the key to understanding the complexity of life. But, having successfully mapped the genome of numerous species, they realize that climbing onto one mountain peak simply reveals a vast new horizon; in this case, the field of epigenetics. Now, we learn that the environmental context within which gene regulation occurs makes all the difference in how genes do their work. Likewise, the environmental context exists in dynamic interaction with living organisms at every level from molecule to ecosystem.
As George Bartholomew, physiological ecologist once stated: Every level of biological organization finds its mechanism at lower levels of biological organization and its significance at higher levels of biological organization. Welcome to a course in which you will have opportunity to study the context of life. May the ecological context lend new meaning to what you are learning at the cellular and molecular levels, as well as to raise questions that find their answers at the cellular and molecular levels.