Introduction - Mountains and Plains: The Ecology of Wyoming Landscapes - page 5

PRYOR
MTS.

MADISON-
GALLATIN
MTS.

BIGHORN
BASIN

POWDER

RIVER

BASIN

WIND
RIVER
BASIN

GREEN

SHIRLEY
BASIN

GREAT
DIVIDE
BASIN

RIVER

RAWLINS
UPLIFT

HANNA
BASIN

BASIN

ROCK
SPRINGS
UPLIFT

LARAMIE
BASIN

DENVER-
JULESBURG
BASIN

WASHAKIE
BASIN

NORTH
PARK

100 km

0

100 mi

Fig. 1.2. Mountains and basins illustrated in the previous
figure. See Love and christensen (1985) for a detailed geologic
map of Wyoming. Adapted from Blackstone (1988) and Mears
(1993).

makers are provided with the best ecological informa-
tion available.
the goal of modern ecological research, as in other
sciences, is to understand patterns and processes in
nature well enough to make predictions. this includes
anticipating the effects of environmental changes on
the distribution and population sizes of all kinds of life,
and on the movement of water, nutrients, and energy.
theoretical ecologists search for generalizations that
apply everywhere. others are empirical; that is, they
focus on specific areas and address interactions asso-
ciated with, for example, specific tracts of forests and
rangelands. each approach is beneficial for the other.
Modern ecology can be divided into numerous sub-
disciplines. to illustrate, physiological ecologists work

to understand how organisms are adapted to their en-
vironment, whereas population ecologists seek to under-
stand why population sizes fluctuate through time and
vary from place to place. community ecologists focus
on the interactions among coexisting species in a spe-
cific area—the community. others study ecosystems,
defined as areas where plants, animals, and microbial
organisms interact with one another and their environ-
ment. ecosystem ecologists commonly measure flows
of energy, water, and nutrients through the soil, atmo-
sphere, detritus, and living organisms (fig. 1.6). often
the innumerable species are grouped into green plants
(the producers) that convert the energy of sunlight into
new plant material, herbivores that eat plants, carnivores
that consume other animals, omnivores that depend on