Overview
In this unit, we will explore the ways plants and animals respond to environmental change. Change comes in many forms and in a range of time scales. Consider that intertidal organisms go from being immersed by seawater (with a relatively stable temperature) to being exposed to the air (with more variable and more extreme temperatures) – twice a day. In addition to diurnal changes, organisms confront seasonal changes, episodic changes (fires, cyclones, etc.), anthropomorphic disturbances (land clearing, etc.), and global climate change.
The emphasis of the unit will be on the biological and ecological processes involved in the ways organisms respond to change, but we will also consider some of the management implications and the concept of carbon trading to minimize global change.
Before we can hope to understand the implications of a process as immense as global warming, we must understand how individual organisms manage changing conditions in natural environments and learn about the kinds of responses that are available to organisms in changing environments. We must have knowledge about the limits of an organism’s ability to successfully respond to change. In short, we need to know a lot about how organisms work before we can simply predict how an organism will respond to change, let alone manage the outcomes of change.
The first module of the unit is an overview of the physical environment and how it operates. This sets the stage for the unit.
The second module examines how terrestrial animals respond to environmental change on a seasonal time scale, and we will also discuss the implications of global warming on animals.
The third module examines the responses of vegetation to environmental change, including seasonal changes, episodic disturbances, and climate change.
In the fourth module, we will explore environmental change in marine systems, including a comparison with terrestrial systems and the consequences of rising sea levels.