Bio Exam 6 Flashcards
1
Q
Ecology
A
Analytical study of interactions between biotic and abiotic facts
that determine the distribution and abundance of species.
2
Q
Organismal (individual) ecology is the highest one (true or false)
A
False, lowest
3
Q
Ranking of ecology
A
Global, Landscape, Ecosystem, Community, Population, Organismal
4
Q
Four major abiotic
components of
climate are
A
temperature,
precipitation,
sunlight, and wind
5
Q
__________
release water and
cause high
precipitation,
_____________
A
Rising air masses, especially in the
tropics
6
Q
____________
masses create arid
climates, especially
near _________
A
Dry, descending air
30° north and
south
7
Q
If the earths rotation angle is increased how does it affect the seasons
A
Seasons would be far more pronounced
8
Q
Light intensity increases towards the
A
equator
9
Q
Why does Great Britain have subtropical plants but newfoundland have arctic? (they are one the same latitudinal line)
A
The North Atlantic subtropical gyre pushes warm ocean current to great Britain but a cold current goes down to Labrador
10
Q
Oceans dictate
A
global temperatures
11
Q
How is a rain shadow made
A
Rising air releases moisture on the windward side of a peak and creates a “rain shadow” as it absorbs moisture on the leeward side
12
Q
Microclimate
A
fine-scale differences in the environment that affect light and wind patterns
13
Q
Abiotic factors include
A
Temperature
Water
Oxygen
Salinity
Sunlight
Soil
14
Q
Biotic factors include
A
Predation
Herbivory
Competition
Mutualism
Parasitism
15
Q
As climate changes,
species that have
______ may
have smaller ranges or
could become extinct
A
difficulty dispersing
16
Q
The structure and distribution of terrestrial
biomes are controlled by
A
climate and
disturbance
17
Q
Biomes
A
major life zones characterized by vegetation type
(terrestrial biomes) or physical environment (aquatic biomes)
18
Q
climograph
A
plots the annual mean temperature and
precipitation in a region (look at a graph)
19
Q
Biomes are affected not just by average temperature and
precipitation, but also by the
A
pattern of both throughout the year
20
Q
Terrestrial biomes usually
have sharp boundaries (T/F)
A
False, they grade into each other
21
Q
Ecotone
A
The area of intergradation
22
Q
Disturbance
A
an event such as a storm, fire,
or human activity that changes a community
23
Q
Species diversity will be highest when
why?
A
disturbances are at the intermediate level
High levels of disturbance exclude many slow-
growing species
Low levels of disturbance allow dominant species
to exclude less competitive species
24
Q
Low levels of disturbance allow
A
competition to reduce diversity
25
High levels of disturbances
reduce diversity
26
Dependency of periodic disturbance example
For example, frequent fires
can kill woody plants and
maintain the characteristic
vegetation of a savanna
27
_______ is an important feature of terrestrial biomes
Vertical layering
28
What are some factors that limit distribution
dispersal (area inaccessible or insufficient time) -> behavior (habitat selection) -> biotic -> abiotic
29
Population
a group of individuals of a single species living in the same general area and are
described by their boundaries and size
30
Mark-Recapture method equation (to determine population density)
N = (sn)/x
(s) = capture, tag and release random sample of individuals
(n) = capture a second sample of individuals from same population after a period of time
(x) = how many were marked in the second capture
(N) = population size
(should get 1600?)
31
N = B + I – D – E
B - births
I - Immigration
D - Deaths
E - emmigration
32
Dispersion
the pattern of spacing among
individuals within the boundaries of the
population
33
Three types of dispersion
Clumped
Uniform
Random
34
Clumped dispersion
Resource availability, behavior
35
Uniform dispersion
Social interactions (territoriality)
36
Random dispersion
Position is independent of other individuals
37
Demography
the study of the vital
statistics of a population and how they
change over time
38
Three types of survivorship curves
Type I: Low death rates during early and middle
life and an increase in death rates among
older age groups
Type II: Constant death rate over organism’s life
span
Type III: High death rates for young and lower
death rates for survivors
39
The exponential model describes
population
growth in an idealized, unlimited
environment
40
The logistic model describes
how a population
grows more slowly as it nears its carrying
capacity
41
Carrying Capacity (K)
Maximum population size the environment can support
Varies with the abundance of limiting resources
42
Terrestrial Biome: Temperate Broadleaf Forest
Primary producer, Defining traits, animal and its adaptation
Primary producer:
Defining traits: Deciduous Trees, Distinct vertical layers, Mull soils, Ranging temperatures (0 to 35 c)
Animal: Groundhog
Adaption: Hibernation
43
What is rMax in exponential growth?
Population increase under idealized conditions.
Under these conditions the rate of increase is at
its maximum, denoted as rmax
44
When are exponential growth curves seen?
This type of pattern can be
seen in some rebounding
populations
45
Some populations overshoot K before
settling (T/F)
True
46
Allee effect
individuals have a more difficult time
surviving or reproducing if the population size is too small
47
Conservation biologists can use the logistic model to estimate
the critical size below which populations
may become extinct
48
Traits that affect an organism’s
schedule of reproduction and survival
- Age of which reproduction begins
- How often the organisms reproduces
- How many offspring are produced during
each reproductive outcomes
49
Semelparity (big-bang)
reproduce once and die
- Highly variable or unpredictable
environments
- Salmon
50
Iteroparity (repeated)
produce offspring repeatedly
- More dependable environments
- Most amniotes
51
r-selection
- Density-independent selection
- Selects for life history traits that maximize
reproduction
52
K-selection
- Density-dependent selection
- Selects for life history traits that are sensitive to
population density
53
Density-Independent Populations
Birth and death rates do not change with
population density
54
Density-Dependent Populations
Birth rates are inversely related to
population density. Death rates are directly
related to population density
55
Density-dependent regulation factors
Competition for resources
Territoriality
Disease
Predation
Toxic Wastes
Intrinsic Factors (physiological factors)
56
Look at the age structure graphs
Okay
57
Competition (example)
(-/-) Gause's paramecium experiment
58
Strong competition can lead to
competitive exclusion
59
Ecological Niche
A species role
60
Competitive Exclusion Principle
The superior competitor can
locally eliminate an inferior
competing species.
Two species competing for the
same limiting resources cannot
coexist in the same place.
(Gause's paramecium experiment)
61
Ecologically similar species can coexist in a
community if there are
one or more significant
differences in their niches
62
Resource partitioning
differentiation of
ecological niches, enabling similar species to
coexist in a community
63
character displacement
a
tendency for characteristics to be more
divergent in sympatric populations of two
species than in allopatric populations of the
same two species (Galapagos Finches)
64
Prey defense adaptations: Coloration
◦ Cryptic (camouflage)
◦ Mimicry (Batesian vs. Mullerian)
◦ Aposematic
65
Prey defense adaptations: Physiological defenses
ex. poison to eat
66
Prey defense adaptations: Behavioral defenses
- Hiding
◦ Fleeing
◦ Schools/Herds/Groups
◦ Self-defense (i.e. fight; spray)
◦ Alarm calls
67
Herbivore adaptations
- Many herbivores insects have chemical sensors
(feet, antenna)
◦ Many mammalian herbivores use olfactory
◦ Specialized teeth
◦ Specialized digestive system
68
Plant Adaptations
- Molecular-level defense: produce chemical
compounds (trepenoids, phenolics and
alkaloids).
- Cellular-level defense: vacuoles in plant cells
can hold poisons
- Organ-level defense: modified leaves (spines)
69
Species richness
the number of different species in the community
70
Relative Abundance
the proportion each species represents of all
individuals in the community
71
Herbivory (and example)
(+/-) cow, grass
72
Predation (and example)
(+/-) Wolf, rabbit
73
Parasitism (and example)
(+/-) flea, dog
74
Mutualism (and example)
(+/+) flowers, bees
75
Commensalism (and example)
(+/0) clownfish, sea anemone
76
Facilitation (and example)
(+/+ or 0/+) Salt marsh with juncus
77
intermediate disturbance hypothesis
moderate levels of disturbance can
foster greater diversity than either high or low
levels of disturbance
78
Shannon diversity index (H)
H = –(pA ln pA + (pB ln pB) + pC ln pC + ...)
p = relative abundance
79
Why is diversity important?
Communities with higher diversity are
◦ More productive and more stable in their productivity
◦ Better able to withstand and recover from environmental stresses
◦ More resistant to invasive species, organisms that become
established outside their native range
80
The energetic hypothesis suggests
that length is limited by
inefficient energy transfer (90%
of energy is used at each level)
81
The dynamic stability
hypothesis proposes that
long food chains are less stable than
short ones (most data support the energetic instead)
82
Dominant Species (Definition, example, reasoning)
Definition:
- most abundant or have the highest biomass
- exert powerful control over the occurrence and
distribution of other species
Reasons:
- dominant species are most
competitive in exploiting resources
- they are most successful at avoiding
predators
Example: Sugar maples have a major impact on shading and soil
nutrient availability in eastern North America; this affects the
distribution of other plant species
83
Keystone species (difference than dominant?) Example
exert strong control on community by their niche
BUT they
are not necessarily abundant in a
community
Example: Sea otters are ks predators in the north pacific
84
Foundation species
Ecosystem engineers that cause physical changes
in the environment that affect community
structure
example: beavers
85
Bottom-Up Controls
Unidirectional influence from lower to higher trophic levels
Presence or absence of mineral nutrients
determines community structure
Affects the abundance of primary producers and thus consumers
86
Top-Down Controls
AKA Trophic cascade model
Control comes from the trophic level above
Predators control herbivores, which in turn
control primary producers
87
Nonequilibrium model
describes
communities as constantly changing after being
buffeted by disturbances
88
Vector
The transfer of pathogens can be direct or
through an intermediate species called a
vector
89
Conservation of Energy
◦ Energy can only be transformed
◦ Entropy
◦ Energy can be lost as heat
90
Conservation of Mass
◦ Matter cannot be created or destroyed
◦ Recycled within ecosystem
91
Ecology relation to conservation of energy
Energy and Matter pass from autotrophs to herbivores to
carnivores. Detritivores are consumers that derive their
energy from detritus.
92
Gross primary production (GPP)
is measured as the conversion of chemical
energy from photosynthesis per unit time
93
Net primary production (NPP)
is GPP minus energy used by primary producers
for respiration
94
NPP is expressed as
−Energy per unit area per unit time (J/m^2
*yr), or
−Biomass added per unit area per unit time
(g/m^2*yr)
95
Net ecosystem production (NEP)
a measure of the total biomass
accumulation during a given period
96
Primary production
total respiration in an ecosystem
97
A limiting nutrient
the element that must
be added for
production to
increase in an area.
98
________ are
typically the nutrients
that most often limit
marine production.
Nitrogen and
phosphorous
99
10% rule
energy transfers between
trophic levels
100
Secondary production
the amount of
chemical energy in food
converted to new biomass
during a given period of time
101
Production efficiency
the
fraction of energy stored in
food that is not used for
respiration
102
Facts about the water cycle
The oceans contain 97% of
the biosphere’s water; 2% is
in glaciers and polar ice caps,
and 1% is in lakes, rivers, and
groundwater
103
Memorize the water cycle
Bet
104
Primary consumers only eat primary producers (T/F)
True
105
Water cycle:
Importance, Forms, Where it is stored, Key processes to move them
Importance: Transportation, life necessity, habitat, chemical processes
Forms: Solid, liquid, gas
Where it is stored: mainly ocean
Key processes: Evaporation, condensation, etc.
**It is a gaseous cycle**
106
Gaseous cycles occur in the
atmosphere
107
Decomposer role
general pattern of
chemical cycling.
108
Biomagnification
the concentration of toxins in an organism as a result of its ingesting other plants or animals in which the toxins are more widely disbursed.
109
Biomagnification vs bioaccumulation
Bioaccumulation is the buildup of absorbed chemicals in an organism over time. Biomagnification is the increase in concentration of these chemicals in each organism up the food chain
