Introduction to
Community Ecology
Week 2 Lecture
BIOBIO 47 Spring
47 Spring 2025:Introduction
2025: Introduction to
toEcology
Ecologyand Evolution
and Evolution
Amanda W. and
Esteban andCallie
Crystal R.
Outline
1. R coding questions
2. Levels of ecological organization
3. Applying this to our nectar microbe system:
creative activity
4. Community assembly and priority effects
5. Paper discussion: Alvarez-Perez et al. 2019
Please let us know on PollEv
Course announcement
● Resources on “ggplot”
○ Demo how to plot the figures: [Link]
[Link]/
○ ggplot cheet sheet: [Link]
content/uploads/2022/10/[Link]
● Come to ANY office hours (see canvas
front page).
● My office hours: Tue 11:30-12:30, STLC213
● This Tuesday – SAPP 226. Closed-toed
shoes please.
Levels of Biological Organization
Example: Milpa, “Three Sisters”
● Traditional Mesoamerican
agricultural system with maize
(corn) grown with other species
such as beans and pumpkin
● More productive than growing
any species alone
● Also a sociocultural construct
that incorporates relationships
between farmers and the land
Example: Agroecology
Aidee Guzman
Ecological & human communities in agricultural
communities in the Central Valley
Example: Agroecology in the Central Valley
Plant-insect-fungal Community-engaged
interactions research
Mycorrhizal Fungi
Aidee Guzman Researcher sampling soil Farmer workshops
Levels of Biological Organization: Species
“[a relatively small] group of taxa that share a common ancestor”
What are traits that every
individual in this species share?
What traits differ between
species?
Maize plant
Levels of Biological Organization: Population
“a group of individuals of the same species that are living in the same area”
Geneticists would also stipulate that they are interbreeding
Maize field
• How fast is this population growing? What controls its growth?
• What is the age structure of the population?
• What is the genetic diversity within the population?
Levels of Biological Organization: Community
“populations that are residing in the same location at the same time”
Maize field with
pollinators and
soil microbes
How are species interacting?
Why are some species (and not others) found
where they are?
Levels of Biological Organization: Metacommunity
A set of interacting communities that are linked by the
dispersal of multiple, potentially interacting, species
Levels of Biological Organization: Metacommunity
A set of interacting communities that are linked by the
dispersal of multiple, potentially interacting, species
Maize field
connected by
dispersal
Levels of Biological Organization: Ecosystem
Community of organisms (biotic), also including non-living (abiotic)
components
How does the movement of carbon from soil to
the atmosphere change as species in a
community change?
Agroecological landscape
5 minutes
Activity: Apply these terms to nectar microbes
Cast of characters:
Terms to illustrate: Metschnikowia reukaufii Diplacus flower
● Species Stanford Dish
● Population A patch of Diplacus plants
● Community Pollinator
● Dispersal
● Metacommunity Nectar bacteria Nectar yeast
● Ecosystem Water
A single Diplacus plant
Acinetobacter nectaris
At your table, sketch the relationship between the terms
with the cast of characters on your whiteboard.
Community Assembly & Priority Effects
Community Assembly
● Community assembly: the study of the processes
that shape the identity and abundance of species
within ecological communities;
● Changes in species composition across space and
across time
Community Assembly in nectar microbiome
Light Temperature Water
?
Microorganisms in the nectar ?
?
Plant Pollinators
s
Mutualism
Plants Pollinators
Community Assembly
Article link
Community Assembly in the Nectar Microbiome
by pollinator
(or wind or rain)
facilitatory inhibitory Article link
Priority effects
What is a mechanism?
E.g., Metschnikowia reukaufii
What is a mechanism?
E.g., acetic acid bacteria, Acinetobacter
Priority effects
“Effects that the arrival order and initial
abundance of species have on the
development of assembling communities at
a local site (e.g., a flower). ”
Some Possible Impacts (Priority Effects): Bacteria first
➢ Affecting its ability to thrive in the floral nectar
➢ Affecting its ability to arrive in the floral nectar
Yeast first
Priority effects: Human microbiome & health
● Human microbiome is an
example of community
assembly
● Priority effects are also involved
Article link
Lab tomorrow
• Meet at SAPP 226 at 1:30PM
• Some outdoor time around Gilbert Building
• Partner matching activity
• Practicing nectar extraction from Diplacus flowers, dilution and plating
• Please read the week 2 lab protocol ahead of time