2. Factors Limiting distributions Flashcards
The burrowing Bettong was predates by which Alien predator?
Red fox
What areas have to Bettong been forced to?
Small remote islands in the east of Australia
After foxes were removed what happened to the wallaby distribution?
Sky rocketed, no predation
Name a specialist predator?
The Canadian lynx
What does the Canadian Lynx eat?
Snowshoe hare, they are interlinked in tight 9-10 year cycles
What wiped out the endemic bird species from Hawaii?
Avian malaria
How did Hawaiian birds survive?
Moved to higher altitudes away from the parasite
How can resource competition limit the distribution of species?
The negative interaction between two organisms of the same or different species
What is interference competition?
Organisms seeking a resource harm one another in the process even if the resource is not in short supply
What is checkerboard distribution?
Species not found together but near by such as fruit pigeons in new guinea
Prey rarely limit the distribution of predators, what about predators
Predators can limit the distribution of prey
What are the master limiting factors?
Temperature moisture and light
Where are temperature ranges smallest?
Low latitudes and over oceans
What is a desert plant limited by?
Moisture
What are wet climates limited by?
Temperature
What two things can organisms to avoid predation?
Tolerate and escape
What is an ecotype?
A group of organisms within a species that is adapted to different environmental conditions
How do sizes in yarrow change with altitude?
They get smaller in height
What are the 3 photosynthetic strategies of plants?
C3 pathway, C4 pathway, Crassulacean acid metabolism
Does C3 survive better in cold or warm climates?
Cold, they are more hardy
Which plants use CAM?
Desert succulents
What is true predation?
Predators kill their prey
What is herbivory?
Herbivores eat plants but usually don’t kill them
What is parasitism?
Parasites live on or outside other organisms again not usually killing them
What scales is habitat selection important to?
Local scales
What do enimies result in
Predation, disease and competition
What is the main difference between true predation and hervivoury
Herbovoury does not kill all of the individual and can be eated again in the future
What are the most common examples of predators affecting distributions
Skilled predators vs naive prey
What is the main form of fox management
Hunting and eradication
Why are foxes effective at wiping out species and still surviving
They have a broad diet range which means they can move from
Food to food
Without interaction how do foxes also limit Wallaby growth
Wallabies are scared to move far from their homes and so limit distribution
What is the disadvantage with specialist predators
Limited to one rescource so population follows the trend of the prey
What disease to Hawaii birds face
Avian pox,
Avian malaria, plasmodium
What drove the second wave of extinction in Hawaii
Disease
What is a vector
Something that transmits something else
Where or mosquitos normally found
Low lying areas
What can present day distributions be seen as
Ghosts of disturbances pasts
What is the difference between inter and intra specific
Inter is between species and intra is within
What does the distribution of fruit pigeons in the Bismarck archipelago suggest
That certain species cannot live together
Which two invertebrates were in competition in American streams
The black fly and the net wing midge
What were the correlations of simulium and blepharicera
Negative,
Competing for space
On its own how much of its time was spent feeding ( blephicerid)
92%, 74 with simulid
What is the simulid doing to the net wing
Badgering it and harassing it
When the simulium was present how much less diatoms did the net wing feed on
27%
What is the limiting rescource with the blephicerids and simulium
Space
What are the master limiting values
Temperature moisture and light
How much of rainfall returns to the ocean as runoff
30%
What is the limiting rescource in the Sonoran desert
Water
In the great smokey smokey mountain in Tennessee why is evapoatranpiration limited
Not enough heat, plenty of water
In the great smokey mountain park what is the difference between potential et and et
Nothing they are the same
What are the two main factors a species can do when limiting factors occur
Tolerate or escape
How do animals maintain body temperature
Fuel it with food
What are passerine birds
Distributions correlate to minimum minter temperature
How can temperature effect distribution
Some birds and conforms to isotherm lines in terms do they can survive
Where does chthamalus live on shore
High on shore weak competitor
Where does balanus live on shore
Low down, good competitor
What is the weakness with balanus
Sensitive to desiccation
How can species effect their distribution
Local adaptation
What is an eco type
Group of organisms within a species that are adapted differently
Why might plants be small or changed
Stress or adaptation,
How do we tell
How does a common grader experiment work
If the seeds grow to he same as before then genetic if not stress
What is the importance with light
Cue for daily and seasonal rhythms with plants
What are the 3 pathways for plant photosynthetic pathways
C3,C4 and CAM
What is the ancestral pathway
C3, 3 carbons produced when ribulose diphosphate is combined with co2
What is c3 constrained by
Light, can only use a certain amount of light
What are c4 plants
Grasses and sedges, use phospho emolpyruvate to make energy
Where are c4 plant not found
Places with poor light
In Florida what percentage of plants are c4
80%, o% in Canada
What are Crassulacean acid metabolism plants o
CAM, deserts succulents, minimise water loss, only open stomata at night
What limited the distribution of the small mussel (mytilus edulis) in lough Ine
Small crabs, could eat only the small mussels, but other crabs could eat all of them, meaning where the small crab was located there was a decline in small mytilus
Where will prey animals survive
if they are transplanted to a location where they are protected from predators
What is the correlation between prey organisms and predators
inverse
What will happen when two species compete for one rescource
one will always be better, in the long run one species will loose out and the other will win
How is drought resistance acheived in plants
imporvement of uptake, reduction of water loss, storage of water
How did hocker predict the range of a tree using climatic data
average temp, average temp range, number of measurable rainfall days, number of rain days over 13mm, average rainfall, average length of frost free period, all over 1 month
What is the limit in vegetation as you go up a mountain
tree line
What are the 9 factors that effect tree lines
lack of soil, desiccation of leaves, short growing season, lack of snow, excessive snow, mechanical wind, excessive soil temp and drought
What are the 3 primary variables of the tree line
temperature, moisture and wind
How much does a timber line decrease in altitude for every degree north/south of the equator
75meters, except between 20-30 where it stays the same
What is the upper limit to shore set by in terms of shore life
desiccation
What range must we consider when looking at species distribution
scale, from continental to colony
Where does rapoport suggest that range sizes are smallest
at low lattitudes, rapoports rule
What are the common size of ranges reletive to other sizes in the species
small, more frequent small ranges than large ranges
What are the 3 explanations to rapoports rule
climatic variability is greatest at higher laitudes, previous glaciation meaning only species with high dispersal could populate the areas and lack of competition in polar communities
What is the relationship between distribution and abundence
species with larger distribution tend to be more abundent
What is Hanskis rule
abundance increases with distribution
what is the sampling model variation of hanskis rule
rare species are hard to find meaning they lack in abundence and occupy a small area
What is the ecological specialisation model with hanskis rule (brown)
abundent species are generalists and rare species are specialists
what happens in the decline in species abundence
normally the range decreases in size
Logically what would be more abundent, small or large species
small
