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Ecology > Ecology Exam 2 > Flashcards

Ecology Exam 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Classifications of animals

A

Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores, Detritivores

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2
Q

Adaptations to the Thermal Environment (3 classifications)

A

Homotherm, Poikilotherm, Heterotherm

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3
Q

Describe a homotherm (include example and mechanism of heat regulation)

A

constant internal temperature, mammals and most birds, endothermy

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4
Q

What is endothermy?

A

oxidative metabolic heat production via respiration

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5
Q

Describe a poikilotherm (include examples and mechanism)

A

body temp changes with ambient temp, reptiles and amphibians, solar radiation

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6
Q

Describe a heterotherm (include examples and mechanism)

A

sometimes regulate body temp, bees and bats, torpor

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7
Q

What is torpor?

A

reduced energy use by remaining in a state of rest until warming occurs

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8
Q

What does the Q10 Temperature Coefficient tell us?

A

the factorial increase in metabolism per 10 degree rise in temperature

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9
Q

What does a Q10 > 0 indicate?

A

the metabolic rate is higher at higher temperatures

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10
Q

What does a Q10 < 0 indicate?

A

the metabolic rate is higher at lower temperatures

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11
Q

What is the thermal neutral zone?

A

temperature range where animals maintain constant metabolic rate

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12
Q

what kinds of species would you expect to have narrow or broad thermal neutral zones

A

narrow: tropical, humans, broad: arctic

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13
Q

What are some other animal adaptations to temperature?

A

avoiding heat spots, changes in body color/morphology, evaporative cooling

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14
Q

Evaporative cooling

A

lower body temperatures by increasing water intake to compensate for water loss. ex: cicadas

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15
Q

Adaptations to moisture

A

hypoosmotic, isoosmotic, hypoosmotic

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16
Q

Adaptations to arid environment

A

increase water use efficiency, nocturnal, infrequent urination. ex: kangaroo rat

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17
Q

Adaptations to light

A

circadian rhythm

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18
Q

what is the circadian rhythm

A

innate cycle of inactivity/activity over 24 hrs to provide synchrony with the environment, set by light and not affected by temp or chemicals

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19
Q

List from smallest to largest the classifications of decomposers

A

microfauna, microflora, mesofauna, macrofauna, megafauna

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20
Q

examples of microfauna

A

protozoa, nematodes

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21
Q

examples of microflora

A

bacteria, fungi

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22
Q

example of mesofauna

A

mites

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23
Q

example of macrofauna

A

termites

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24
Q

examples of megafauna

A

millipedes, earthworms, snails

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25
Major decomposers of animal matter (target protein)
bacteria
26
Major decomposers of plant matter
fungi
27
Why is decomposition important?
recycling of finite nutrients
28
What are the stages of decomposition?
leaching, fragmentation, mineralization
29
What is leaching?
loss of soluble sugars and dissolved compounds
30
What is fragmentation?
reduction of organic materials into smaller particles
31
What is mineralization?
all organic materials become inorganic
32
What happens to mineralized nutrients?
incorporated into microbial biomass, uptaken by plants, leached out of soil system to water/oceans
33
inorganic nutrients are ___ into organic matter
immobilized
34
organic matter is ___ into inorganic nutrients
mineralized
35
What is the rhizosphere?
the soil region immediately surrounding the roots
36
The rhizosphere has higher ___ ____ than bulk soil
microbial activities
37
What are root exudates and what do they do?
simple sugars, amino acids, fatty acids that provide nutrients and energy for microorganisms in soil
38
What is root sloughing?
roots are dying all the time and are decomposed by microorganisms
39
what are the internal factors affecting decomposition?
the quality of the litter, simple or complex compounds
40
what is the simplest but highest quality sugar for microorganisms
glucose
41
What is a population?
group of the same species that occupy a particular space at the same time that mate & produce fertile offspring
42
What is a metapopulation?
smaller, separate populations that affect one another and are linked by movement of individuals among them
43
what is a unitary population/unitary organisms?
unitary organisms have predictable and determinate life. When they die, they die
44
examples of unitary organisms
humans, bats, caterpillars
45
what are modular organisms?
Unpredictable, indeterminate life. A module is not dead until all of its component modules are dead.
46
example of modular organisms
trees, trembling aspen
47
world's largest organism species?
clone of aspen trees
48
population density: crude density
of individuals/unit area
49
population density: ecological density
individuals/amount of area available as living space
50
population dispersion: random, example
if position of each individual is independent of others or if the occupation of each spot is equally likely, intertidal clams
51
population dispersion: spaced/uniform, example
individuals evenly distributed, crops, lawn grasses
52
population dispersion: clumped, example
individuals are distributed in patches, humans
53
primary sex ratio
ratio of males to females (100) at conception
54
secondary sex ratio
ratio of males to females (100) at birth
55
what is unique about populus tremuloides (dioecious species) at different elevations?
different sex ratios
56
spacial sex segregation
male and female plants living in different areas/conditions, beneficial for species as a whole
57
physiological natality
max possible births/female under ideal conditions
58
realized natality
of successful reproduction actually occurring over a period of time
59
crude birth rate
of births/1000
60
age specific birth rate
offspring produced per unit time by females in a particular age class
61
crude death rate
of deaths per 1000
62
death rate
of deaths during a given time interval / size of population
63
horizontal/dynamic life table
following a cohort of individuals until they are dead
64
dynamic/composite life table
constructed by pooling several horizontal life tables
65
vertical life table
constructed by sampling individuals of different ages during a single time period
66
type 1 survivorship (examples)
most organisms die late in life (many mammals, annual plants)
67
type 2 survivorship
steady decline in numbers (some birds, lizards, turtles)
68
type 3 survivorship
huge decline in young (invertebrates, perennials)
69
geometric population growth (examples)
growth in populations where generations don't overlap (annual plants, insects)
70
exponential growth (examples)
growth in populations in which generations do overlap (trees, bacteria, humans)
71
why can't exponential growth continue forever?
limited resources and harm to environment
72
logistic growth (sigmoidal curve)
Population grows rapidly, slows, and stops at carrying capacity, K
73
lotka-volterra model
adds a coefficient to account for the competitive effect of another species (alpha)
74
interspecific competition: co-existence
no species is competitive enough to drive out the other species
75
interspecific competition: exclusion
one species completely outcompetes others and leads to exclusion of those species
76
What is Gause's Principle / Competitive Exclusion Principle?
Two competing species with with identical ecological requirements cannot occupy the same area
77
what is the corollary for Gause's Principle?
if two species co-exist they must have ecological differences
78
Why can successful invasive exotic species outcompete native species?
lack of natural enemies, high reproductive rate, highly adaptive
79
what is allelopathy
Production and release of chemical substances that plants release that inhibit growth of other plant species
80
example of allelopathy
black walnut produces juglone
81
resource partitioning with competition
interspecific competition narrows range of resource utilization for each species involved
82
resource partitioning examples
plant roots extend to different regions of soil, farblers eat off different parts of trees
83
niche definition
The fundamental role of the organism in its community - what it does, how it relates to its food and enemies by charles elton
84
what is an organism's hypervolume
an organism’s niche consists of many physical and environmental variables, each can be considered a point in multi-dimensional space, that space is called hypervolume
85
fundamental niche (potential)
An individual or species free from interference of another could occupy the full hypervolume or range of variables to which it is adapted
86
realized niche (actual)
Conditions under which an organism actually exists
87
niche relationships
can be disjunct, overlapping or adjacent
88
niche overlap leads to ____
competition
89
what is niche compression?
contraction of habitat resulting from competition, usually one species gets a larger portion of their niche in the overlap
90
what is ecological release?
niche expansion in response to reduced interspecific competition
91
what is niche shift
adoption of changed behavioral and feeding patterns by competing populations to reduce competition
92
what is character displacement?
a long term response to niche shift
93
predation
killing and consuming of another organism
94
ecological meaning of predation
transfer of energy/nutrients
95
the outcome of predator-prey interactions depends on
Reproductive rates of predator and prey, adaptive capacity of predators to respond to increase in prey density, carrying capacity for prey population in the absence of predation

Ecology (3 decks)

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