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Environmental And Evolutionary Biology > Community Ecology > Flashcards

Community Ecology Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
0
Q

What is co-evolution?

A

A change in the genetic composition of one species in response to a genetic change in another. It assumes reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species

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1
Q

What are the main interactions between species?

A

Predation/ parasitism
Competition
Commensalism
Mutualism

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2
Q

What is mutualistic co-evolution?

A

Where both parties change in such a way as to enhance the effectiveness of the interaction

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3
Q

What is obligate mutualism?

A

Where the two parties become completely dependent on one another e.g. The yucca moth

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4
Q

How do monarch butterflies use milkweed?

A

They eat milkweed as larvae and store milkweed toxin which makes them distasteful to predators

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5
Q

What are the two main forms of mimicry?

A

Batesian

Mullerian

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6
Q

What are the three players in mimicry?

A

Model, mimic and dupe

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7
Q

What is batesian mimicry?

A

The palatable prey mimics the toxic model

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8
Q

What is mullerian mimicry?

A

Toxic species mimic another toxic species so both species benefit from increased protection

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9
Q

Give an example of mullerian mimicry

A

Viceroy butterfly and monarch butterfly

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10
Q

What mimicry do tiger moths use?

A

They use auditory mimicry to produce a bat like sound thus confusing them

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11
Q

What is the most advanced defence system against parasites?

A

The vertebrate immune system

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12
Q

Give an example of an avian brood parasite

A

Cuckoo

Cowbird

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13
Q

What is the principle behind an avian brood parasite?

A

It lays it’s eggs in the nest of another species causing them to raise the young at a cost to their own fitness

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14
Q

Describe the avian brood parasite the cuckoo

A

The female cuckoo lays her egg in the nest of the host species. Once the chick is hatched it removed the eggs of the host species. The cuckoo then manipulates the host in order to get an increased amount of food, with an increased call rate making up for a decreased gape width.

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15
Q

What gene drives the repeated convergent evolution of butterfly wing pattern mimicry?

A

Optix

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16
Q

What is special about the butterfly Maculinea rebeli?

A

As a pupa it infiltrates an ant colony. It manipulates the ants to feed it by begging like ant larvae and having surface hydrocarbons very similar an ant meaning they are fed directly by the ants via regurgitation. They mimic the call of the Queen ant to heighten their social status, meaning that in times of food shortage the workers feed their own young to the larvae.

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17
Q

What is an assemblage?

A

Populations that co-occur

18
Q

What is a community?

A

Populations of interacting species

19
Q

What are the two factors that measurements of biodiversity consider?

A

Species richness

Relative abundance

20
Q

What is Simpson’s index?

A

A measure of biodiversity
D=1- (pi)^2
Where p = the chance of encountering each species
I = the species

21
Q

What is the Shannon-Wiener index?

A

A very useful measure of biodiversity which gives greater weighting to more common species
H = - (pi)(logpi)
Where p = probability of encountering each species and i = species

22
Q

What consequences can a new species have an a community?

A

Disruption leading to a reduction in diversity

Control a potentially dominant species thereby enabling other species to persist

23
Q

What is a key stone species?

A

A species which plays a dominant role and has a large effect on community structure relative to it’s abundance

24
Q

Give an example of a key stone species

A

The nara vine in namibia which sustains people, animals and birds

25
Q

What effect does major abiotic disturbance have on the community?

A

Loss of individuals therefore reducing competition

Create new habitats

26
Q

What is ecological sucession?

A

As the community recovers from a disturbance the structure changes as colonising species are replaced by other species

27
Q

What is primary succession?

A

The original formation of a community from barren soil

28
Q

Succession can proceed via a variety of different pathways dependent on:

A

Size
Frequency
Severity of disturbance

29
Q

What is biogeography?

A

The study of past and present distributions of species and communities

30
Q

What is an ecozone?

A

A large scale biogeographical division, the globe is split into 6 ecozones

31
Q

What are biomes?

A

More specific biogeographical realms based on climate

32
Q

What are the three explanations for a species’ current geographic range?

A

It may have never dispersed
Pioneers may have failed to establish
The species was large but has since retracted

33
Q

Why are islands excellent for studying biodiversity?

A

They are small and discrete without slot of variables thwt contaminate other environments such as hybridisation

34
Q

What factors did macarthur and wilson suggest determined the number of species that eventually inhabit an island?

A

Rate of immigration

Rate of extinction

35
Q

Extinction and immigration rates of an island are dependent upon

A

The size of the island
Distance from the mainland
Number of species already present

36
Q

What did MacArthur and Wilson’s study in amphibians on island chains find?

A

That the larger the island the more species that are on the island

37
Q

Describe Wilson and Simberloff’s experiment

A

They created 6 experimental islands out of mangroves all 12m in diameter, off the Florida coastline. They fumigated them with a pesticide that quickly decomposed.
After 1 year all the islands had reached equilibrium, the closer an island was to the mainland the more species it was found to posess. The species present varied dramatically between the islands showing that the initial coloniser had a dramatic effect on the biodiversity of the island.

38
Q

Why is biodiversity essential for sustaining human life?

A

Intact ecosystems
Natural medicines
Source of natural variation is very important for breeding programmes

39
Q

Where is biodiversity at it’s greatest?

A

Along the equator

40
Q

What factors create more biodiversity near the equator?

A

Fewer large scale disturbances through glaciation
More local disturbances
More competition thus supporting more specialisation
More parasites and predators prevents competitive exclusion
The stable climate in the tropics may allow greater specialization
Greater primary production as a result of more solar radiation

41
Q

What is the purpose of conservation biology?

A

It aims to counter the current biodiversity crisis

42
Q

What is DNA barcoding?

A

It uses a 648 base pair region in the mitochondiral cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene to identify animals, allowing even non specialists to identify them.

Environmental And Evolutionary Biology (7 decks)

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