# data[].attributes.body
Other roles

# data[].attributes.body
The genus of roles consists of several species such as pedagogical technologists, principals, parents, teachers, technicians, and students. This genus exists at one trophic level in the ecology. Directly beneath is another trophic level consisting of time, space, money, and beliefs.
Species generally do not compete with each other for time, money, space and beliefs. Instead, role species have created niches whereby each species and members of species can receive sufficient time, money, beliefs and space to survive. While there is interaction, rarely is there direct competition and certainly not predation at tho strophic level. When they do compete, this competition tends to be seasonal. The seasonal competition within and between role species produces for time, timetables; for money, budgets and contracts; for space, classrooms and offices and desks; for beliefs, curriculum, including grade levels and content areas. Through this competition, role species realize niches.

# data[].attributes.body
Teaching and learning practices

# data[].attributes.body
In population ecology a population is a group of individuals of the same species inhabiting the same area.

Scientists of population ecology face the same difficulty as social scientists of metaphorical ecology, the ability to make statistical generalizations of population (species) characteristics and processes from knowledge of individual characteristics and processes within the population or species.

# data[].attributes.body
“Why are there so many kinds of animals?”

How do species interact with each other?

What are the patterns of species numbers and relative abundances? (diversity)

What controls number and relative abundance of species?

How are species in a community linked via trophic interactions?

Modes of Interaction Between Species

Competition
Predation
Herbivory
Parasitism
Disease
Mutualism

I do examine intra-species behavior -- population ecology -- perhaps through cross-case analysis of PT species in international schools. However, since my main ecological level is the school, I focus not only on community ecology but also ecosystem ecology, interactions between the living and non-living in a school ecology. I note that this primer on community ecology uses many of my key ecological metaphor terms.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Introduction to Communities and Ecosystems

What is a community?
What is an ecosystem?
What is the history of these ideas?
What questions do community ecologists ask?

History of the Community and Ecosystem Concepts

- a schism in ecology

What is a community?

assemblage of species that co-occur

coexisting species can interact

consumer/resource

interspecific competition

ecologists study subsets of all species that co-occur

Spectum of ideas about communities

Common questions asked by community ecology:

"Why are there so many kinds of animals?"

How do species interact with each other?

What are the patterns of species numbers and relative abundances? (diversity)

What controls number and relative abundance of species?

How are species in a community linked via trophic interactions?

Modes of Interaction Between Species

Competition

Resources

Competition

Types

Intraspecific and Interspecific

Interference and Exploitation

The Niche Concept

Finding Competition in Nature

Competition and Niches

Mathematical Models of Competition

Intraspecific competition

Interspecific competition

Resources:

Limited Resources (Leibig)

Limited by single resource that is most scarce

Shared Resources (Niche) --------- > COMPETITION

Types of Competition

Interference:

Direct aggressive interaction between individuals

Exploitation:

Consumption and depletion of resources

Exploitation (indirect)

Interference (direct)

Alone

Together

Intraspecific:

Competition with members of own species (conspecifics)

Interspecific:

Competition between individuals of two species (heterospecifics)

Types of Competition - Similar requirements = similar niches

Ecological Niche

Origin, early part of this century

J. Grinnell (1917, 1924)

Ornithologist

An organism's "home" or where it lives

Potential distribution in the absence of any interspecific interactions (competition, predation)

Charles Elton (1920's)

Likened species to members of a human community

Across communities there are similar roles

Each species has a role

Some roles exist across multiple communities

Dominant producer

Top vertebrate carnivore

Ecological Niche

G. F. Gause (1934)

Principle of Competitive Exclusion

Two species with identical niches cannot coexist indefinitely.

One will be a better competitor and thus have higher fitness and eventually exclude the other.

Competitive Exclusion Principle

If competitive exclusion principle is true, then how do species coexist in nature?

G. E. Hutchinson (1957)

relate fitness or reproductive success (performance) to quantitative variables related to resources (space, etc.)

n-dimensional hyper-volume

n equates the number of environmental factors important to survival and reproduction of a species.

Fundamental niche: hypervolume

Realized niche: includes interactions such as competition that may restrict the potential environments where a species may live

Competition for Space

Competition affects fitness -

Barnacles show physical separation of niches

Other organisms use slightly different resources

e.g. Galapagos finches

Character displacement -

allopatric populations

sympatric populations

Criteria for demonstrating character displacement

1. sympatric vs. allopatric character differences

2. differences must be heritable

3. differences must NOT be due to founder effect

4. character must have known effect on resource use

5. competition must be demonstrated and must be correlated with character similarity

6. differences in character must not be due to differences in resource availability

Interspecific Competition

Tom Park (1954)

Gause's

No two species that occupy the same niche can coexist

Alone

Together

Coexist? How?

Lotka-Volterra Model

Intraspecific Competition (Logistic Model)

Interspecific Competition (Lotka-Volterra model)

dN1/dt = r1N1 (K1-N1-α12N2 )/K1

intraspecific competition

intraspecific competition

α = competition coefficient

dN1/dt = r1N1 (K1-N1-α12N2 )/K1

if α12>1?

if α12<1?

Under what conditions will species coexist?

Community Structure Part I

What is community structure?
How is species abundance defined?
How is species diversity defined?

Preston's distribution of commonness and rarity - most species are of intermediate abundance

Effect of sample size on lognormal distribution

Causal Mechanisms for lognormal distribution

Random (statistical expectation)

Niche partitioning (competition)

Utility of lognormal distribution -

Species Diversity -

Species Richness -

Species Evenness -

Quantification of Species Diversity

Shannon-Weiner Index

H' = Σ pi loge pi

Weaknesses

Can't tell if differences due to richness or evenness

Can't compare unequal sample sizes use rarefaction

Rank abundance curves -

plot relative abundance vs. abundance rank (most to least)

What controls Species Diversity?

Depends on Scale

Spatial: Local versus Regional

Temporal: Individual, Populations, Interactions, Evolutionary

Local

Chance extinction

Competition

Predation (consumer/resource)

Habitat Selection (niche)

Regional

Local Scale Controls

1. Environmental Complexity complexity diversity

complexity diversity

So, must know something about species requirements to predict environmental influence

Example: Robert McArthur's forest birds

What kind of local control is involved in this example?

Example: the paradox of the plankton

Must think about their physiology and Leibig's Law

What kind of local control is involved in this example?

Example: Terrestrial plant diversity

What kind of local control is involved in this example?

So, if organisms are competing for a limited resource, what happens if competition is relieved by adding a resource?

Example: Terrestrial Plants

2. Temporal complexity (variability)

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

Example - Rocky Intertidal

Example- Prairie Dogs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Modes of Interaction Between Species Competition Resources Competition Types Intraspecific

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Interspecific Interference and Exploitation The Niche Concept Finding Competition in Nature Competition and Niches Mathematical Models of Competition Intraspecific

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is a community? What is an ecosystem? What is the history of these ideas? What questions do community ecologists ask? - a schism in ecology assemblage of species that co-occur coexisting species can interact consumer/resource interspecific competition ecologists study subsets of all species that co-occur "Why are there so many kinds of animals?"

# data[].attributes.body
Parents

# data[].attributes.body
Several definitions, including a species's function or role in its member community (Elton, 1920s).

Maybe the sum of abiotic and biotic resources a species uses in its environment. This niche enables species to sidestep direct competition. The niche is the competitive advantage. It is the antithesis of competitive exclusion.

A realized niche is not the ideal niche. A bit but not total, sustainable winning.

# data[].attributes.body
This is not only for my own management but also a reference to existing work; and the possibility to create comparison points between ecological metaphors in the education literature. In reference to the ecological metaphor, at the school level we find the local population and can clearly calculate the population DENSITY of PT species; ultimately, we can only speculate on the meta population and density of the PT species from the local, for instance, international schools in Hong Kong and Singapore, and in Asia.

# data[].attributes.body
The metaphor (or model) is an abstraction of real phenomenon for interpretation of the real phenomenon -- dialogical? Real social phenomenon is complex, and while the metaphor can capture some of that complexity, it also narrows that complexity into the most important elements. Indeed, not every detail can fit into a metaphor; besides, even if a metaphor is not absolutely accurate, like an old map, it can still be useful for guiding and advancing practice.

If there are several ecological disciplines, what kind of ecology is my model? It seems my model incorporates the disciplines of population, physiology, community and systems.

# data[].attributes.body
The ecological metaphor is appropriate to represent phenomenon in school as biological ecologies are dynamic and complex in a similar way that the social world is dynamic and complex. The metaphor, as it represents complexity, is best at showing inter-relatedness and correlation, not necessarily causality; causality could be established with one intervention, invasion or environmental factor change (i.e. introduction of PT)

# data[].attributes.body
A limit to the number of individuals any area can support. Environmental factors, food supply, competition, predation and intervention impact that number for an ecology. How does food supply impact carrying capacity? Food supply first is a density dependent factor that impacts density and ultimately carrying capacity: more food may lead to more of a species but ultimately to less food and less species. Is carrying capacity always changing as environmental factors and ecology are always changing? Does this mean evolution is inevitable?

# data[].attributes.body
Like fisherman and cuttlefish competing for fish, who are competing for the same things? People for finances? Students for iPads and outlets?

Members compete for food, space and mates. Degrees of competition impact degrees of fecundity in a species.

Competition dynamic may influence the upper limit of species population in an ecology and determines co-existence of species within an ecology. Competition may only exist when resources (food) become limited: this is scrambling for resources and competitive exclusion principle: positive correlation between decrease in (intra-species) population growth rate and decrease in resources. Similarly, if different species compete for the same resource -- competitive exclusion principle -- or in other words, occupy the same niche, inter-species competition becomes a grander intra-species competition -- perfect competition. This competition effect could lead to extinction of a species, particularly if one species is stronger than the other in a way, specifically in carrying capacity so one species (Teachers) can endure greater crowding than the other (PTs). However, intra-species competition is stronger than inter-species competition if the species are significantly different. Aspects of competition include aggression, territoriality and cannibalism.

Cooperation impacts small-group size population -- intra-species cooperation results in increased reproduction and survival (fecundity) of species as whole, compared to a species member operating alone. Apparently, species with intra-specific cooperation face greater extinction threat below a specific population threshhold.

Cooperation between different species is relatively rare. This is symbiosis. So my research has a place to demonstrate this in the school ecology.

Curiously, direct competition between (many) species (PTs; teachers) may also be rare because species rarely occupy the same niche; species may tend to minimize competition, such as resource partitioning, for instance, by time sharing a space, and thus creating different (realized) niches. Competition minimalization through other (cooperative) interactions such as mutualism and commensalism

# data[].attributes.headline
Environmental Factors and Limiting Factors

# data[].attributes.subject
Environmental Factors and Limiting Factors

# data[].attributes.body
Limiting factors keep populations in check. Without limiting factors, a species number would grow exponentially. What are the environmental factors (e.g. time of year; physical location; access to water; soil)? Which are density dependent (e.g. predators and disease -- more of one species leads to more of another (predator; disease) species which leads to less of the first species) and others density independent, such as disasters and temperature and weather?

Food supply!

Mate supply -- but do PTs mate?

Temperature and weather -- but is there a temperature in the school; there may be seasons; but how do I metaphorically incorporate temperature? Perhaps I don't need to. In addition, I don't understand how weather fits into my metaphor.

Space, for laying eggs or giving birth -- This might mean that curriculum is an environmental factor because the number of grade-levels impacted Sean's reproduction; and having a Chinese section impacted Scarlett's reproduction.

Environmental factors are an important consideration because although an ecology may be balanced or normalized, that doesn't mean that the ecology is static; ecologies fluctuate, per season, for instance. So species numbers also fluctuate and are seasonal: and this is a limit of my research and ecology: capturing longitude and dynamics. Population ecology research is also often quantitative to develop carrying capacity models. Yet I could develop a year-on-year graph of number of PTs in a school ecology

# data[].attributes.body
Pedagogical technologists

# data[].attributes.body
Finances

# data[].attributes.body
Time

# data[].attributes.body
Classrooms; electrical outlets; chairs; desks; iPads; Macbooks; iMovie software; Apple Tvs

# data[].attributes.body
Hiring practices

# data[].attributes.body
Performance appraisal

# data[].attributes.body
Professional development

# data[].attributes.body
Grade-levels, streams, subjects

# data[].attributes.body
Pyramid of number

Food supply

Food chain

Balance

Foreign (i.e. invasive) species

Fecundity (i.e. fertility) (e.g. speed and longevity) -- how many offspring can an individual have in a lifetime? Maybe one PT in several years. It seems low fecundity overall in species; so what are the (environmental or limiting) factors that enable a PT to reproduce successfully? We need to build cases to answer that. Furthermore, are other species in the same ecology the same?

Extinction versus longevity -- how does a PT die?

Dispersion -- where is the PT species in the school? Even or uneven distribution in ecology?

# data[].attributes.body
Administrators

# data[].attributes.body
The number of a species cannot increase forever.

The number of a species is fewer the higher the species is on the food chain (i.e. pyramid of number).

Invasive species create imbalance in the ecology. The lower the species, the greater the imbalance. Generally, sudden changes (whether by species or environmental factor) create imbalance in the ecology. Extinction is an extreme form of imbalance.

Ecological equivalency (see below)

1. Organisms undergo the same life-cycle

2. Organisms in a particular stage of the life-cycle are involved in the same set of ecological processes

3. The rates of these processes (or the probabilities of ecological events) are basically the same if organisms are put into the same environment (however some individual variation may be allowed).

Competitive exclusion principle: two species with the same niche -- in same habitat with same food requirements, for instance --cannot continue indefinitely (Gause, 1934)

Complexity theory: not all elements in the ecology need intervention for the entire ecology to change.

# data[].attributes.body
Beliefs about roles, amongst other things

# data[].attributes.body
Pedagogical Technologists (PTs), their origin stories are important as we can determine whether they were introduced (invasive) or emergent (evolved) within the ecological system. Furthermore, we can determine what species and environmental factors changed alongside the species emergence, or what changed as a result of the introduction. But first, if technology changes, and curriculum, and professional development and performance appraisal and hiring practices change, are these species or environmental factors? As an invasive species (of one, I note), was there extinction or exponential growth per ecological carrying capacity?

# data[].attributes.body
Teachers

# data[].attributes.body
Students

# data[].attributes.body
What is the hierarchy of species, in other words, the food chain? What feeds on what?

Are roles at the same hierarchical level in my food chain? They are not, because I can quantify the number of roles in a school. But they could be because they are competing for same food source

Who are the competitors, predators, carnivores, herbivores? Which are invasive, i.e. introduced, and which are emergent? Which species bears the brunt of the invasion?

What are the endangered species? Why should some species be preserved and not others? What can be done to preserve them? Bans. Reserves. Policies (to limit space, for instance in mosquitos, banning standing water, or in PTs case, curriculum change). Reduction. Slowing and hastening. Generally, do I as a researcher, or others, have some responsibility towards the ecology?