all Flashcards
what is organismal ecology concerned with?
concerned with behavioural, physiological and morphological traits mediating interactions
what is a population?
group of individuals of the same species interacting in a specific geographic area
- fluctuating but measurable numbers
- variable dispersion
what does population ecology examine?
factors that limit and regulate pop size and composition
what is a community?
all individuals of all species that inhabit a particular area
what does community ecology examine?
interactions interactions among populations and how factors like predation, competition, disease, environment affect community structure and organisation
what 6 processes drive distribution and abundance?
immigration, colonisation, birth
immigration, extinction, death
what are unitary organisms?
form programmed from birth
easy to recognise genetically operate organisms
determinate structure
usually strict number of body parts
what are modular organisms?
- genetic individual (genet) begins as single celled zygote
- growth by repeated production of modules
- growth indeterminate
- structure unpredictable
- genet not dead until all modules are
in detail what are the 2 reproductive patterns?
- semelparity
- reproduce once
- lots of offspring
- parent often die - iteoparity
- several eggs/ offspring in repeated reproductive episodes
how long can some seeds remain viable for?
1600 years
what are ephemeral plants?
eg. desert plants- lifecycle usually <8 weeks reproduce in occasional years short lived usually 1 or more generations per year only during favourable periods
age. nx. Ix sx mx. Ixmx
0. 1000 1.0 0.5 0 0
1. 500 0.5 0.2 0 0
2. 100 0.1 0.5 4.0 0.5
a) what is nx?
b) what is Ix?
c) what is sx and how do you calculate?
d) what is mx and how do you calculate?
e) by calculating total of Ixmx what is this?
a) number at each stage
b) prop. of individuals that survive at each stage
c) age specific survival ( nx at 1/ nx at 0) then (nx at 2/nx at 1)
d) reproduction = number of female babies/ reproductive female
age specific fecundity
e) Ro= net reproductive rate
what does it mean for the pop. if net reproductive rate (Ro) is:
a) =1
b) <1
c) >1
a) stable, females replaced perfectly
b) fewer females–> pop decline
c) pop increase
what is a super spreader and a super shedder?
super spreader: males lots of contact to spread disease
super shedder: produces lots of infection
what is the Ro of each of these diseases and put them in order of least to most contagious?
- HIV
- mumps
- ebola
- SARS
- measles
- Hepatisis C
Hepatisis C =2 ebola =2 HIV =4 SARS =4 mumps =10 measles =18
what is the generation time and whats the equation for it?
average time between birth of individual and birth of offspring
G = total [( x) X (Ix) X (mx)] / Ro
if lots of energy is invested into reproduction one year what happens the next year?
there will be less the next year due to the energetic costs of caring for offspring
how do you work out fertility?
no. produced by one class X survival to age class
a) how do you work out Fx?
b) what is the Leslie matrix?
c) what are 3 +ves of it?
a) sxmx
b) F0 F1 F2 F3
S0 0 0 0
0 S1 0 0
0 0 S2 0
c) - derive finite pop change rate (λ) and distribution
- can identify main age specific vital rates affecting abundance and age structure
- modify analyses to include density
what is λ? and what happens in each scenario? a) λ<1 b) λ>1 c) λ=1
pop growth rate
a) pop decline
b) pop increase
c) stable pop
for exponential growth, how do we work out the change in pop size during time interval?
births in time interval - deaths in time interval
r= b-d
what was the exponential growth see in sea otters?
by 1911 decrease to few thousand
re introduced 1960s
30 fold increase in 30 years to 100,000
what is the most common determinant of K?
energy/ resource limitation
what are the 3 rules of population limitation?
- K of a habitat is the max stable population size that can be supported over time
- as density increases, per capita resource declines
- as density increases and per capita resource decline, births decline and deaths increase
what prevents unlimited pop growth?
negative feedback
resource limitation in crowded pop. can reduce reproduction
what is the logistic growth equation?
dN/dt = rN ( 1- N/K)
what 4 things can be generated by density dependence?
persistence, stability, equilibrium, individual coexistence
what are 3 assumptions of the logistics model?
- density dependence is linear
- pop. approaches carrying capacity smoothly
- K is constant
why may a pop overshoots carrying capacity in logistics model?
due to time delay before birth rate
can lead to oscillations around K
why may the growth rate be more than exponential for humans?
- altered environment capacity
- resources and agricultural productivity
- health care
what principle ideas did lotka and volterra produce?
competitive exclusion and niches
what is the completion exclusion principle?
no 2 species can share the same resource or occupy the same niche
a) what is a fundamental niche and what are some ecological/physiological limits and biotic limits?
b) when is there a realised niche?
a) intrinsic requirements of a species on its own
- abiotic/weather
- food/habitat
b) when theres a change to limits due to other species being present
what does each part of the equation mean?
dN/dt = (rN1) - (rN^2/ K) - (aN1N2)
a). b). c)
d) in this equation what does it mean if the lines cross and if they don’t cross?
a) exponential growth
b) intraspecific/ -ve feedback/ density dependence
c) interspecific/-ve feedback/ effect of N2 on you (N1)
d) cross= coexistance
don’t cross= competitive exclusion
when interspecific competition is weak what can occur?
coexistence
intra»inter
what is scramble competition and what are the 2 types?
consumptive
- exploitation (depleting resources)
- preemptive (using space)
what is contest competition and what are the 4 types?
interference
- overgrowth (grows over another depriving it of light)
- chemical (toxin production)
- territorial (defending space)
- encounter (interactions directly over a specific resource)
in the bedstraw experiment in which conditions did the G.saxtile and G.sylvestre thrive in?
saxtille: acidic
sylvestre: calcareous
in detail for what 5 reasons is predation important?
- ecology
- structure and dynamics of communities - evolution
- morphology, physiology, behaviour - agriculture
- pest control - conservation
- predator control - biodiversity
- richness, eveness, diversity
give 6 predator strategies
- mobility
- timing
- space
- camouflage
- morphology
- trickery
give 5 prey defences?
- camouflage/ crypts
- inducible/ systemic defence
- habitat shifts
- aposematic colouration
- batesian and mullerian mimicry
whats the difference between batesian and mullerian mimicry and which is parallel development and which is coevolution?
- batesian: (coevolution) unpalatbale mimic harmful model - mullerian (parallel) 2 unpalatable individuals mimic each other
what are the 3 stages to the optimisation theory?
- objective: maximise or minimise?
- currency: unit to maximise (energy)
- constraints
what would be the optimisation theory for predicting diet choice?
objective: maximise profitability
currency: profitability
constraints: search and handling time
what is the contingency model of foraging and what is the equation?
- choose most profitable, ignoring search costs
- add new items until profit is less than average cost of search and handling time
profit of new item>= cost of ignoring 2 and searching for another
is the most profitable choice them most abundant?
no
a) what is the logistic consumption/ growth model?
b) why is rate low when prey density low?
c) why does consumption rate plateau?
a) -ve feedbck
rate increases then decreases
b) can’t find them
c) satiation
what % of energy is transferred from one trophic level to another?
10%
a) what does keystone predation do to diversity?
b) what does generalist predation do to diversity?
a) increases
b) decreases
what is the trophic cascade with predator at the top?
predator –(-)–> prey –(-)–> resource
resource –(+)–>predator
what are the 3 types of parasites?
microparasites, macroparasites, parasitoids
what are micro parasites + examples?
- multiply inside host
- malaria (protist)
- influenza, hepatitis (viruses)
- ringworm (fungi)
what are macro parasites + examples?
- dont multiply inside host
- reproduction still occurs
- ticks (arthropod)
- roundworm (nematode)
what are parasitoids + examples?
- larvae injected into/laid upon host feeding on body of another arthropod, killing it
- obligate killers
whats the difference between vertical and horizontal transmission?
vertical: between generation from parent to offspring
horizontal: within 1 generation between unrelated individuals
list the 3 main transition types for horizontal transmission
- ordinarily infectious disease (OIDs)
- sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
- vector transmitted diseases
what is an ordinary infectious disease and what does the graph look like?
straight diagonal line- directly proportional
-ve feedback
random contact
what are sexually transmitted diseases and what is the graph like?
number of contacts saturates/plateaus
random encounters of limited frequency
unlikely to regulate at high density
extinction may occur at low density
what are vector transmitted diseases/graph?
number of contacts first increases with density
at high density if vector pop fixed then number falls per host
what is SIR?
susceptible infected resistant
in terms of disease what does Ro tell us and how do you work it out?
tells us average number of people who will catch a disease from one contagious person
= transmission rate/ recovery rate
what is the parasite cycle in grouse and what do the parasites do to the bird?
parasites in high levels so decreases reproduction and increases mortality and steal energy from the bird
- infected larvae ingested from heather
- adult worms in grouse caeca
- faeces
- eggs hatch and young embryo forms 2 moults
- encysted larvae
what is a mutualism?
where symbiosis is beneficial to both organisms involved
what is the fungal- root mutualism in micorrhizza?
sugar from photosynthetic trees to fungi
N and P to the tree from fungal decomposition
whats the difference between the 2 types of micorrhizza:
ectomycorrhiza, endomycorrihiza?
ecto: non penetrative, 10% plant families, birch, oak, pine
endo: penetrative into root cell. 85% plants
whats the difference in terms of pollination for bees and wild insects?
bees:more pollen, less fruit, bees ineffective
wild pollinators: less pollen, more fruit,
for the patch residence:
- if the distance is bigger how much time is spent there?
- in a high quality patch how much time will be spent there?
- will spend more time in a patch
- spend less time
for the patch residence what does the tangent do?
maximises ratio between resource intake and time spent foraging
what 5 things does foraging behaviour underpin?
what do these drive?
- competition
- predation
- mutualism
- disease
- structure and complexity of communities
drive patterns of abundance and distribution
within species richness what are the 3 types of diversity?
α diversity- within sites
γ diversity- in all sites
β diversity - across sites (turnover of species)
within β diversity what is the jacquard coefficient what does it compare/what is the equation?
a/ (a + b+ c) compare community composition a= species in both sites b= site 1 species not 2 c= site 2 species not 1
if sites are nested what can we predict?
predict identities of species absent in smaller sites
are S.A.R.S linear?
non linear
in species area relationship what is the equation for finding the number of species?
S= cA^z
c(intercept)
A(area)
z(exponent)
what happens to species richness with a tenfold increase in area?
species richness doubles
in the α diversity survey of coniferous woodland and pinion juniper woodland on mountain tops what happens when a 3c increase in temp?
- too warm for coniferous forests
- p-j more on mountain tops
- habitat type altitudinal shift
- reduction in habitat area
- boreal mammal communities declined
what are 2 assumptions of the response of communities to habitat change?
- no dispersal across valleys to colonise new sites
- distribution and abundance declines in prop. to habitat loss
do larger or smaller species harbour common or rare species?
large: common and rare
small: common
what are the 3 factors for a simple null model?
- pattern of nestedness lost
- same species richness per island
- species in random subsets
do mainland or islands have a shallower slope?
what does mainland SAR provide?
mainland
approximate predictor of max diversity of islands
as distance of island from mainland increases what happens to saturation?
distance increases, saturation decreases
a) what does saturation by isolation suggest?
b) as isolation increases what happens to alpha diversity?
a) that area isn’t the only factor for alpha diversity
b) declines
what does the island biogeography theory predict and who suggested it?
Mac Arthur and Wilson
predicts species richness on islands
how are island communities formed?
species arrive (immigration) species persist ( extinction)
what is the immigration rate like on an island with a) no species and b) many species
a) high immigration rate, unrepresented individuals
b) species usually already present on islands, immigration rates low
what is the extinction rate like on an island with a) no species and b) many species
a) can be no extinction, low rate
b) some local extinction, increased competition suppresses pop sizes so extinction rate increases
for extinction and immigration equilibrium model what are the 2 key predictions?
- once equilibrium reached species present usually constant through time
- new species arrive by immigration and replace/ drive to extinction resident species
when was the Krakatoa explosion and what happened?
1883
flora and fauna exterminated
rapid increase in returning species then rate slows
decline in immigration as no. of species increases
what is the immigration rate like on isolated islands?
colonisers have less chance of reaching island
immigration rates reduced
equilibrium species richness declines with isolation
what is the extinction rate like for isolated islands?
mainland pop can restock pop of island species
reduced extinction rate
equilibrium species richness increases
what is the effect on immigration for a large area/island?
bigger target for colonising species
immigration rate increases
what is the effect in extinction for a large island/area?
large islands can support larger pop
what happens to equilibrium species richness for:
a) immigration and isolation
b) extinction and isolation
c) area
a) declines
b) increases
c) increases
what happens to each of these with area and isolation?
a) immigration rate
b) extinction rate
a) increase with area, decrease with isolation
b) decrease with area, increase with isolation
when testing the equilibrium theory what are 4 key predictions to make?
- number of species on island reaches equilibrium
- species composition is dynamic
- large islands support more than small
- alpha diversity/ richness declines with isolation
for birds of Californian Channel Islands what is their SAR and SIR (isolation) like?
strong SAR
weak SIR
describe the experimental evidence for the equilibrium theory for defamation in Florida keys by simberloff and Wilson
small mangrove islands fumigated all terrestrial arthropods collected surveys of recolonising fauna near islands soon reached previous levels far islands still have less species than before equilibrium species richness supported slow turnover rate similar species return
give 7 limitations of the equilibrium theory of island biogeography
- slopes of extinction and immigration not known
- slopes vary between islands
- islands may not be in equilibrium
- extinction and immigration varies among species
- extinction and immigration may not be independent
- multiple immigration routes and rates (can be from mainland or other islands)
- assumes no speciation
what is the “rescue effect”
high immigration rates save species from extinction
what 2 types of processes drive species richness on islands?
ecological and evolutionary
a) what does macro ecology cover?
b) what scale is the focus over?
c) give 3 examples of it
a) covers the domain where ecology, paleobiology, biogeography and micro/macroevolution come together
b) wide temporal and spatial
c) SARs, island biogeography, latitudinal gradients
what are the 3 goals of macro ecology?
- to identify general patterns in ecological systems
- to find the processes reflected in these patterns in statistical distributions to infer presence of law like processes
- to test for repeatability of patterns in these distribution to infer law like processes
why is the macro ecology approach seen as being experimental?
can’t generate theory for global processes
who discovered the latitudinal diversity gradient, what was observed, what drives it and what are 3 exceptions?
- Alexander von humbolt
- more species at low latitude (equator) and thought temp was the cause
- masks nuanced species distributions
- gymnosperms, cycads, conifers
what does understanding global distribution of species focus on?
focuses on predicting causative factors driving variation in rates of immigration, extinction, emmigration, speciation
are climatic/ environmental factors ecology/evolution?
what can the features filter?
what re the 2 types?
- ecology
- filter species that occur in an area and may determine upper limits on species richness
- energy/productivity and spatial and habitat heterogeneity
a) what can you measure energy and productivity (climatic factors) by?
b) whats the effect on ecto/endo therms and the difference between them?
a) potential evapotranspiration (PET) - the amount of water that would evaporate/transpired from saturated surface
b) ecto: extra atmospheric warmth enhances intake and use of resources
endo: extra warmth means less use of resources for body temp and more for growth and reproduction
a) what can you measure spatial and habitat heterogeneity by (climatic factor)?
b) what does the heterogeneity reflect and what can it allow to occur?
a) can look at habitat turnover (if high lots of changes in region so more species can be supported)
b) resource axis and extent of potential niches
allows for more species with smaller niches to co-occur
what can the climate and environment determine?
number of species that can coexist
what are the 3 main historical factors?
- tropical cradles of diversity
- tropical musuems of diversity
- out of tropics
how do you work out net diversification?
speciation rate - extinction rate
what is the tropical cradle factor and whats the graph like?
- tropics have rapidly spectating lineages
- speciation peak in tropics ( low latitude)
- extinction rate doesn’t change with latitude
what is the tropical museum factor and whats the graph like?
- tropics have old relictual species
- speciation rate doesn’t change
- extinction rate declines in the tropics
a) what is the out of tropics factor and whats the graph like?
b) what are the 3 phylogenetic evidence in mammals that supports this?
a) - species form in tropics and move to extra tropics
- speciation peaks in tropics
- extinction declines in tropics
b) speciation rate high in tropics, extinction rate low in tropics, net transitions out of tropics
what does evolutionary history at regional level determine?
determines gross diversity patterns
what do the processes of speciation and extinction govern?
governs the species available to form local communities
in general what are ecogeographical rules?
rules to do with variation in traits of organisms over geographical/environmental gradients
a) what is Bergmanns rule?
b) what is this common pattern driven by?
a) body size increases at high latitudes due to reduced heat loss from lower SA:V
but mechanism is based on temp gradient
b) thermoregulation, taxonomic turnover, community assembly
what are the 2 descriptive models for Bergmanns rule?
- body size declines with temp in higher taxa
- body size doesn’t vary with temp, different taxa have different temp ranges
a) what is the strongest predictor of body size in genera, families, orders
b) orders/ families at low temp have what?
a) temp
b) have widest overall temp range
for biogeography and ecology in bird size what do you find when you look at geographic distribution?
- mass highest at low temp
- small species are in species rich area
- large species in species poor area
what is Allens rule?
observed appendage length in closely related species of endothermic vertebrates increased in hotter environments
which is better at conserving or dissipating heat: shorter or longer appendages?
short: conserve
long: dissipate
for Allens rule what was found for variation in bill size?
bill size declines with latitude and altitude
bill size increases with min temp
what is Jordans rule?
no. of vertebrae in marine fish increases with higher latitude
could be related to body size
strong pattern in migrant fish
what is thorsons rule?
what type of developers are more likely to become isolated?
dominat mode of development changes from palagic (larvae dispersal) to direct development ( no dispersal) at high altitudes
- direct, isolate and speciate at high altitudes
what is the glogers rule/
pigmentation darker in hot and humid zones
what is rapoports rule?
species ranges may become smaller at low altitudes
if 4 small reserves have the same species types as 1 large reserve which is better and why?
1 large reserve better for biodiversity as adding more sites doesn’t increase the number of species
if small reserves differ in community composition to 1 large reserve which is better and why?
small reserves for better biodiversity as protects more species is there is turnover between sites
allows for escape from diminishing return
what did Quinn and Harrison find when looking at island biogeography data sets?
that many small islands accumulate species faster than 1 large island
what 4 area types did lomolino study to protect species and what were his 2 key findings?
- smallest to largest, largest to smallest, optimal choice, randomly picking reserves
1. optimal choice needed less land to represent all species once
2. smallest to largest and largest to smallest are comparable to one another
what % of global land surface is in protected areas?
11.5%
what happens if sites chosen for protected area are only based on local species richness (alpha)?
the role of community dissimilarity is ignored (beta)
where should a site for a protected area be placed?
usually opportunistically on and no one wants, where the complementary sets of species are protected
a) if you could only pick 1 site to protect what type would be best?
b) if 2?
a) the most species rich
b) the ones that cover the largest range of species
a) how many hotspots are there and what % of lands surface is this?
b) what % of worlds plant species are here?
c) what % of worlds terrestrial invertebrates are here?
a) 34- 2.3%
b) >50%
c) 42%
what is reverse proximity?
several reserves close together better than several far apart
what is reverse connectivity?
reserves connected by habit corridors better than unconnected
what is reverse shape?
compact shapes better for minimising boundary length
do buffer zones aid reserves?
reserves surrounded by buffer zones are preferable
is the edge area ratio higher for many small or 1 large?
or for elongated or compact?
many small
elongated
why is minimising edge area ratio in reserve design desirable?
protects as much core habitat as possible given fragmentation
what is the allee effect?
small pop size can get into trouble
births=deaths
correlation between pop size/density and mean individual fitness
if the probabilities of extinction for small reserves are all independent of each other how do you work out the total extinction risk?
the % chance for each small site multiplied by each other
(=50% X 50% X 50%…)
and compare to prob. for large reserve
if the probabilities of extinction for small reserves are all dependent of each other how do you work out the total extinction risk?
if 1 goes they all go total extinction= prob. of one site going extinct so is only the one prob. =(50%) compare to large reserve
for several small sites to have the best chance of species persisting what does it depend on?
depends on if environmental conditions are correlated among sites and on the proximity of sites relative to spatial scales of disturbance
what can dispersal between several small sites mean, especially if an event such as a fire occurs?
dispersal increased persistence time by allowing recolonisation and revery, perhaps from one of the other sites
if you are designing several small reserves what kind of sites would you choose? (2 factors)
- sites far enough apart that disturbances act on sites independently
- close enough to allow for dispersal and recolonisation
for the question of S.L.O.S.S (single large or several small?) what are 4 answers to this
- several small better for max diversity
- several small better for pop. to persist longer if independent disturbances
- single large to minimise -ve impacts of edge effect
- single large for a large pop and long term persistence
what 3 things is palm oil used for?
food, pharmaceuticals, biofuels
from 1999-2008 what was the increase in area of oil palm/
56%
what is the capital for oil palm deforestation?
SE Asia
what did the oil palm industry claim about co2?
claims the plantations are effective co2 absorbers and can remove greenhouse gases from atmosphere
for using oil palm as biofuels what is a benefit and a drawback?
saves from burning fossil fuels
but expansion destroys forest
how many years will it take to replace:
- diplerocarp forest
- peatswamp forest
- 75-90yrs
- 600yrs
what have the oil palm industry say about fauna in the area?
claimed provide orang-utans with an all year food source
after first conservation to palm oil what happens to species biodiversity?
massive loss of species
key driver of global extinction crisis
a) what does functional diversity quantify?
b) what can functional diversity assess?
c) what can it account for ?
a) quantifies range and abundance of functional roles of species in a community
b) assess ecosystem functioning
c) account for concurrent changes in functional traits
what are 4 functional roles?
- food type
- body size
- foraging strategy
- bill size
what is functional richness (FRic)?
volume of functional trait space occupied by a set of species
what are ecosystem services?
provision of a natural resource- process valued by humankind
as functional diversity increases what happens to plant biomass?
increases but then plateaus
what are systems with high functional richness and functional diversity like?
- higher levels of ecosystem functioning
- more efficient resource use by communities
- improved servies beneficial to humankind
what does increasing C-storage do to functional diversity?
increases
in the study on birds and dung beetles:
a) how were each sampled?
b) whats the function of each?
c) what were the behavioural and morphological traits collected?
d) what happened to the functional richness?
e) give 3 shift in functional traits for both?
a) bird: point counts, beetles: pitfall traps
b) bird: insect predators, seed dispersers
beetles: nutrient recycling
c) behaviour: body size/ bill size, morphological: foraging strategy
d) birds: 90% decrease, beetles: 98% decrease
e) bird: more granivorous, bark gleaners, water related species
beetles; no rollers, less diet specialist species, more smaller species
by what % can forest enhance yield and profit of coffee?
20%
in the study area of 147,000 ha study looking at fruit bunch weight
a) what 4 things were looked at?
b) was their an effect on yield for forest extent and proximity on yield?
c) as elevation increased what happened to yield?
d) whats the effect of biodiversity from forest on yield?
a) - forest extent
- proximity to forest
- proximity to other features
- elevation and soil type
b) no
c) yield decreases
d) net neutral effect
what are huge expanses of oil palm at the expense of?
forest
what is a species climate niche?
specific range of climatic requirements that enable a species to survive and reproduce?
a) what are bioclimate envelope models (BEMs) used to understand?
b) what 2 things do the models allow?
a) to understand species climate niches across earth and how it may change
b) -allow you to define species climatic niches
- allow you to stimulate species distributions under present/future climate
briefly what are the 5 main steps of bioclimte envelope models?
- collect records of locations
- map current species distribution
- use distribution to infer environmental requierments
- use requirements to predict species distribution
- use BEM to predict future distributions under changing climates
in BEM how can records of locations be found? (4)
- museum collections
- wildlife enthusiast records
- research datasets
- fieldwork
what is topography?
altitude
why does understanding species climate requirements matter?
- food production
- human diseases
- species extinctions
what can vectors and diseases track?
track climate envelopes
what % of Australian flying foxes die off after a single day of exposure?
10%
all species can evolve through natural selection but what else is needed?
physiological variability in thermal tolerances of species
what is predicted from species with more varied climates?
have a broader physiological limits
when do birds have a broad thermal tolerance?
when exposed to greater climate variability
why don’t mammals have broad thermal tolerances when exposed to climate variability?
behavioural/morphological adaptations may buffer physiological limits
what did khaliq predict about spatial and temporal mismatches?
that the mismatches of species under future climate change are based on physiological tolerances
using phenotypes how do you work out lag?
optimal phenotype- predicted phenotype
how do you find the stability/equilibrium of the logistics model?
set it =0
K=N^2
what does the fact the world is warming and getting drier and wetter predicted to do?
predicted to drive species losses and gains
what is phenology and what 3 things does it include the timing of?
timing of seasonal activities of animals and plants
- migrant arrival
- appearance
- breeding
to determine if phenology has changed what 2 things need to be done?
- compare across decades of data (natural historian, monitoring surveys)
- control for confounding variables
over 57yrs how many species is UK egg laying date related to temp/rainfall for?
31/36
what 2 things do anomalies of phenological phases in Germany correlate with?
correlate with mean spring air temp and winter N.Atlantic oscillation
from 1971-2001 what have the mean arrival and departure dates of 20 migrant bird species advanced by?
8 days
over the years is there a general decrease or increase for:
- first appearance
- duration of appearance
- first breeding
- decrease
- increase
- slight decrease
what are 3 benefits of change?
- exploit favourable clisses earlier in the year
- early access to the best nest sites and abundant food (improved survival of young)
- potential for more breeding attempts
what are 2 costs of change?
- sudden bad weather which may kill adults/young
2. temporal mismatch in food as phenology shifts in species but not food
what do warmer temps disrupt in moths?
disrupts synchrony of oak and winter moth morphology
- timing of bud Burt and egg hatching mismatched
to determine if species distribution has shifted what needs to be compared?
past and current distributions
- moved to higher latitudes/altitude/longitude?
what is the example of movement to higher latitudes in butterflies?
poleward shift due to regional warming in the UK
- 35 non migratory species
- 65% north by 35-240km
- only 3% south
whats the example of moving to higher longitude in moths?
102 moth species moved upward by average 67m
what 2 things may combine to create different predicted patterns?
temp and precipitation
a) in Australia the velocity and change in temp and rainfall 1950-2010 predicts impacts on how many bird species?
b) if only focused on poleward shifts what would be underestimated and by how much in temperate and tropic species?
a) 454
b) underestimates climate niche shifts
26% in temperate species
95% tropic species
what don’t observed shifts always match? especially for what?
don’t always match expected
especially for elevation
a) what is a microhabitat?
b) 3 examples?
c) what do they act as?
d) what can they allow species to do?
e) within them what does frogs thermal tolerance increase by?
a) fine scale (cm-m) features within a habitat
b) tree holes, leaf litter, epiphytic ferns
c) thermal buffers (ambient temp warm= microhabitats cool)
d) allows species to survive under harsh conditions
e) 2-9c
what is arboreality?
level of tree dwelling
when are temp gradients steeper and by how much?
steeper at tree scale other than elevation
- 2c from ground to canopy
- 2c per 400m elevation
when are moisture gradients steeper and by how much?
tree scale rather than elevation
- 11% ground to canopy
- 11% per 2200m
with decreasing elevation what happens to arboreality?
less of it
can species exploit microhabitats and what may it allow them to do?
can exploit favourable microhabitats
may avoid heatwaves
what is life history made up of?
rate of somatic growth and senescence
timing of birth, maturation and death
what type of reproduction for:
a) perennial plants
b) annual plants
c) lambsquarter
d) groundsel
a) itereoparous
b) semelparous
c) semelparous
d) seasonally itereoparous
in the South Africa area of flowering plants:
a) how many species
b) what % endemic
c) what % of worlds total plants are here
a) 9000 species
b) 70% endemic
c) 3% of worlds total
in what 3 ways is pop growth increased by and can they happen all at once and why?
- increased survival
- increased reproduction
- decreased generation time
no due to allocation of limited resources
what is an exponential pop and 4 conditions are needed for it tot theoretically occur?
idealised pop with unlimited environment
- few individuals
- no limiting factors
- no energy restriction
- no growth/reproduction restriction
what is the ant and tree mutualism?
ants protect trees from herbivores and trees provide ants with sugar
what 5 things drive patterns of abundance and distribution?
competition, predation, mutualism, disease, disturbance
what is species richness a balance of?
immigration and extinction
what are R selected species?
exponential growth short gestation and life span mature quickly so little parental care high mortality reproduction at an early age
what are ruderal species?
first to colonise disturbed islands
high disturbance and low stress
is the emigration rte higher for many small islands or a few large?
many small
what kind of experiment was Conells barnacle study?
abiotic experiment to demonstrate interference competition
what is demography a study of and ho is it summarised?
its a study of statistics of populations and how they change over time
summarised in life tables
what is the equation for exponential growth?
dn/dt = rN
will a population with a higher or lower intrinsic rate (r) grow quicker?
higher
what makes up life history?
traits that affect an organisms schedule of reproduction and survival
whats 2 examples of semelparous reproduction?
coho salmon, agave
what is K selection?
selection for traits that are advantageous at high densities
competition is usually stronger
what is r selection?
selection in order to maximise r ( intrinsic rate) usually in an uncrowded disturbed environment below carrying capacity
is drought stress to uncovered roots density dependent or independent ?
independent
when is a population considered to be regulated?
when 1 or more density dependent factors cause its size to decrease when large or decrease when small
what is population dynamics?
population fluctuations in size between years and places
what is a metapopulation?
where local populations are linked by immigration and emigration
what is the demographic transition?
movement from high birth and death rates to low
