Diversity Flashcards
How and why are evapotranspiration and terrestrial species diversity related
Evapo is a proxy measure of primary production which loosely correlated to species diversity (the greater the primary productivity the greater the diversity)
How do language and species diversity change with latitude why
There are less species closer to the North and South and therefore there is less language. The greater the species diversity such as at the equator the greater the language
Both are highly correlated with each other
What three metrics are used to quantify the severity of ecological disturbances
Frequency, severity, area
What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis
The area the receive an intermediate amount of disturbances have the highest diversity in comparison to low or high disturbances which experience low diversity due to competition or not being able to evolve
At what stage of succession is species diversity greatest why
In the middle stage of succession because this is where there is both r and k and the environment is optimal for both and therefore has max diversity
Community development and resource availability are equivalent
Identify three levels or organization where diversity is ecologically relevant
Genetic
Species
Ecosystem
At the ecosystem level of diversity, what do alpha, beta, and gamma diversity refer to
Alpha: diversity of species within a community
Beta: difference of species diversity between two communities
Gamma: the diversity of species between many communities in a region
Does the average territory size differ between herb and carn
They tend to be similar but the largest territories are for the herb
(No, not significantly)
But carn are much more ecologically expensive, why aren’t their territories much larger
Because they are more expensive there are less carn and therefore more resources and less land used
The mean estimate of abundance was 1000. The 95% CI estimate was reported 800-1200 animals. What does this mean
The actual mean of the endangered animal is 95% (95 out of 100 times) of the time somewhere between 800-1200
What factors would result in narrow (high precision) or wide (low precision) CIs
Natural variation: of the population of interest is truly naturally variable, then any single mean estimate will describe the population poorly and so the CI will be wide because return many differing results
Sample size: as the sample size increases an increasingly more accurate picture of how variable our population really is emerges
I) A sample of a population with normal distribution, mean 100, add 2cm
II) An estimate of mean individual size within a population is 100, 95% CI of 96-104
I) SD is an index of variability if the original data points. Says nothing about how accurate the estimate relative to the population you are studying. only tells variable data points from one experiment
II) CIs indicate a range of values within the true population value lies. Shows how accurate estimate of population values really are 95 out of 100 times estimates falls between 96 and 104
What increases or decreases biodiversity
Spatial (more or less area) Latitude (higher less lower more ) Local- Regional diversity (higher local more) Elevation (higher less lower live) Precipitation (higher more
Why no trees in prairies
Drought Dry season High ratio of evaporation to precip Flat terrain Lightning Fire
Temperate forests
More structure and therefore habitat diversity
Requires residents to be either seasonal generalists or migratory
