ecology final Flashcards
Biodiversity – what is it and why is it important?
-variety of life on Earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and can encompass the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life.
-Provides provisioning services that provide products humans use, like lumber, fur, crops, water
-Provides regulating services that include climate regulation, flood control and water purification
-Provide cultural services that provide spiritual or recreational values
-Provide supporting services that allow ecosystems to exist, such as primary production, soil formation, and nutrient cycling.
-Important to maintain species richness and allow ecosystems to survive and recover from unpredictable catastrophes
What is a biome?
A biome is a large area characterized by its temperature and precipitation (climate). There are five major types of biomes: aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra.
Which biomes are most threatened by climate change?
Arctic tundra
What types of activities are having the most impact on biodiversity worldwide?
Overharvesting
Deforestation
Introduced species
Pollution
Terrestrial Plants: Be able to describe different methods for monitoring plants, their considerations, and which one you would most likely choose in a scenario provided to you.
What would you measure in each of those monitoring methods?
-For measuring you would use either quadrats used to measure the plant distribution and density. Or the Line intercept which is used to measure growth or increase in cover.
-Most common types of plots used for collecting plant data; quadrats,point of interest and transects.
What are Plankton
small and microscopic organisms drifting or floating in the sea or freshwater (can’t propel themselves against a current), consisting chiefly of diatoms, protozoans, small crustaceans
What are Phytoplankton
- plants (photosynthetic organisms)
- obtain their energy through the conversion of sunlight in photosynthesis
What are Zooplankton
-protozoans and animals
-feed upon other plankton, including phytoplankton and zooplankton
Algae vs Cyanobacteria. How are they similar and how do they differ?
both are photosynthetic organisms
can convert sunlight into carbohydrates, and contain chlorophyll.
are mostly aquatic organisms
Algae vs Cyanobacteria. how do they differ?
Cyanobacteria: are photosynthetic bacteria (prokaryotes) (used to be called blue-green algae), do not have a true nucleus and membrane-bound organelles
Algae: are eukaryotic and have different photosynthetic pigments
What are ciliate
Ciliate - use short hair (cilia) to move
What are flagellate
Flagellate- use whiplike flagellum to move
What are amoebas
Amoebas- use pseudopods to move
Be able to identify the different groups seen at Willowbrook Lake
The groups are: ciliophora, rotifers, cyanobacteria
Ciliophora- single celled eukaryotes with cilia
Rotifers- multicellular eukaryotes with cilia
Cyanobacteria- photosynthetic bacteria (prokaryotes) (used to be called blue-green algae)
Ciliophora
single celled eukaryotes with cilia
Rotifers
Multicellular eukaryotes with cilia
Cyanobacteria
photosynthetic bacteria (prokaryotes) (used to be called blue-green algae)
What is a plankton tow?
tool used to sample the microscopic life in the ocean. A jar is attached to the end of the net, while the two are pulled. As the tow is pulled through the water excess water will exit through the mesh netting while the plankton is trapped into the jar at the end
How far down in the water column do ecologists typically take water samples when they’re interested in phyto and zooplankton? Why?
-Up to 200m depth (euphotic zone)
-All phytoplankton and a lot of zooplankton live in the upper ocean, where there is enough sunlight to support phytoplankton, the first link in the food chain and food for many zooplankton.
-Photosynthesis requires sunlight and therefore phytoplankton are restricted to the upper 50 - 100 m of oceanic water bodies because this is the maximum depth to which sunlight penetrates the water environment.
What causes algae blooms?
Mycrocystis (Cyanobacteria), photosynthetic bacteria, cause algal blooms
What is meant by the phrase “central tendency”?
Tendency of a set of values to gather around the middle of the set. Measured by mean, median and mode.
Be able to identify the distribution of data. Is it normal? Why or why not?
You will be able to tell if a data is normally distributed if you look at the curve. If the curve is symmetrical with no screw it is normal.
How do you transform data?
Log, sqrt, rank
Be able to interpret a one and two tailed t-test.
A one tail test is looking for an increase or decrease in the parameter that you are testing. A two tail test is looking for a change in the parameter you are testing; does not specify if it’s an increase or decrease. One tail will specify that. Also you’re going to see two tails more often. In a one tail the .05 in one tail but the two tail is going to have .025 in each tail
Be able to interpret an ANOVA.
What is ANOVA stand for
Anova- analysis of variance
-1 tail test F test
-tell whether there is a significant difference between the means of two or more levels of a variable.
-The lower the probability, the more likely there is a difference between the groups
Be able to interpret a chi-square test
It’s called a goodness of fit test. Test statistic is X^2. Compares frequency data to a probability model stated by the null hypothesis. Also used for variance testing for one sample variance testing but she’s probably not asking for that here.
Know when you would use all of the above statistical tests.
When to use ANOVA and chi-square
When you are given observed frequencies and expected frequencies and asked to test if the observed values come from a population of the expected values you used chi-square. You use ANOVA when you are comparing the means from more than two groups.
Stream Monitoring
What’s a run?
Runs- deep with fast water and little or no turbulence.
Riffles- shallow with fast, turbulent water running over rocks.
Pools -deep with slow water. Riffles are shallow with fast, turbulent water running over rocks.
Stream Monitoring
What’s a riffles?
Riffles- shallow with fast, turbulent water running over rocks.
Stream Monitoring
What’s a pools?
Pools -deep with slow water. Riffles are shallow with fast, turbulent water running over rocks.
What types of features help stabilize stream banks?
-live planting, bioengineering, and hard armoring.
-You may be able to stabilize shorelines or prevent erosion problems by planting appropriate types of vegetation, then allowing nature to heal itself. Costs of this approach are relatively low and can help with erosion control
-Bioengineering relies on a combination of structural components and plant material to produce a dense stand of vegetation that serves as a “living system” to protect streambanks and shorelines.
-Hard armoring includes a variety of techniques including rock riprap (large stones placed along the slope of a streambank or shoreline) and gabions (rock-filled wire baskets placed along a streambank or shoreline). Hard armoring typically involves grading the bank to a gentler slope. If done properly, these techniques provide very good protection and will work in severe situations where bioengineering will not.
What are some factors that can result in erosion?
Rainfall and wind, moving water like streams and lakes, ice; when water gets into cracks freezes expands and then melts again(this is why we have cracks in roads).
5 factors
climatic, hydrological, topographic, soil, geological and vegetation conditions
When would you expect streams to be the most polluted?
After recent rainy weather (When we get more rain, it increases the amount of nutrient and sediment pollution that gets into local streams and rivers. When it rains, stormwater runs off lawns, farms, streets and parking lots, picking up pollution and carrying it into the nearest storm drain or waterway)
Why are spotted lantern flies an issue in NY?
Spotted lantern flies are an issue in NY because they pose as mostly a threat to agricultural crops, and while they are not tree killers, they weaken trees if there’s a severe infestation. They are especially a problem in NY because they are a threat to native plants and crops in the state — including grapevines, hops, apple trees and maple trees.
How would you collect leaf litter for monitoring arthropods? How and where should you collect?
You would just scoop it up off the ground and bring it back into the lab to put under a heat lamp. You would go into the forest to collect the litter
What’s a Berlese funnel and how does it work?
-Tool used to extract insects from soil samples, including leaf litter
-It uses a heat source (in this case a light bulb) to dry the sample, forcing the insects through a screen and into a jar of preserving fluid.
What are lichens and why are they important?
Lichens are plants with a symbiotic association between a fungus and a single celled photosynthetic organism, like an alga. In the ecosystem, they fix carbon and nitrogen. Since they allow algae to live all over the world in different climates, they also provide a means to convert CO2 in the atmosphere through photosynthesis into oxygen, which we all need to survive.
Symbiosis
Any association between two species populations that live together is symbiotic, whether the species benefit, harm, or have no effect on one another.
Mutualism
A symbiotic relationship where both organisms benefit from the existence of each other.
Parasitism
A symbiotic relationship in which a symbiont lives all or part of its life in or on a living host, usually benefiting while harming the host in some way and usually having a higher reproductive potential than the host.
Intraspecific competition
- competition among individuals of the same species
Interspecific competition-
competition among individuals of different species.
Renewable resources-
resources that are constantly regenerated. Ex: plants, hone
Nonrenewable resources-
resources that are not generated. Ex: coal, oil
Exploitative competition-
-competition in which individuals
consume and drive down the abundance of a resource to the point that other individuals cannot persist.
-This occurs when individuals interact indirectly as they compete for common resources, like territory, prey or food. Seabirds eating salmon may reduce the amount of salmon available to seals.
Interference competition
when competitors do not immediately consume resources but defend them.
Occurs when organisms of the same species or of two or more different species interact directly by fighting for scarce resources, such as male seals competing for mating territory.
Allelopathy
a type of interference that occurs when organisms use chemicals to harm their competitors
Ex: knotweed
Body segmentation
head, thorax, abdomen or cephalothorax and abdomen
Legs
3 pairs with various modifications
Mouthparts
chewing, piercing, sucking, biting
Wings
2 pair with various modifications; membranous or sclerotized
How to interpret shannon weiner index
The higher the index, the more diverse the species are in the habitat. If the index equals 0, only one species is present in the community.
