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Biology 152 > Ecology Unit > Flashcards

Ecology Unit Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

organismal ecology

A

studies how an organisms structure, physiology, behavior meet environmental challenges; includes physiological, evolutionary, and behavioral ecology

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2
Q

population

A

group of individuals of the same species living in an area

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3
Q

population ecology

A

focuses on factors affecting how many individuals of a species live in an area

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4
Q

community

A

group of populations of different species in an area

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5
Q

community ecology

A

examines how interactions among species affect community structure and organizations

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6
Q

ecosystem

A

include organisms in an area and physical factors with which they interact

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7
Q

ecosystem ecology

A

emphasizes energy flow and chemical cycling among various biotic and abiotic

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8
Q

landscape

A

mosaic of connected ecosystems

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9
Q

landscape ecology

A

focuses on factors that generate patterns of ecosystems in the geographic region

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10
Q

biosphere

A

global ecosystem, sum of all planets ecosystem

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11
Q

global ecology

A

examines how the movement of energy and materials affects distribution and functioning of organisms across biosphere

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12
Q

What is climate?

A

long-term prevailing weather conditions for given area, principally focusing on temperature, precipitation, sunlight, and wind

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13
Q

What is the global climate largely driven by?

A

global climate largely driven by solar inputs (sun)

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14
Q

What does latitudinal variation cause?

A

latitudinal variation in sunlight intensity leads to predictable latitudinal variations in climate- sunlight and temperature

  • focus on equator
  • farther away, sun dissipated
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15
Q

What is precipitation and how does it lead to latitudinal variation?

A

precipitation is the movement of water, certain atmospheric cells arise because of different patterns of heating
-@ equator temperature and sunlight are high, warm air rises and cools so water is wrung out= big precipitation patterns, ascending moist air releases, moisture, descending dry air absorbs moisture

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16
Q

What is weather?

A

short-term conditions of the atmosphere

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17
Q

what is wind and how does it lead to latitudinal variation?

A

because the Earth rotates on an axis and is a sphere= different rates if rotation

  • at the equator rate of rotation is faster
  • near poles its much slower
  • causes: Coriolis Effect (deflection): different rates of rotation depending on location
    ex: if you threw an object at the equator it would be deflected torward the west
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18
Q

What are the 5 fundamental aspects of the globe that influence global climate patterns/modulate climate?

A
  1. Season/Seasonality
  2. Bodies of Water
  3. Mountains/Topology
  4. Microclimates
  5. Global Climate Change
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19
Q

What is seasonality and how does it influence global climate patterns?

A

seasons dictate by the Earths tilt (23.5 degrees), creates differential heating by seasons, although across latitudes we see different solar inputs they are accentuated
- June solstice: Northern Hemisphere- summer Southern Hemisphere- winter (flipped during December solstice)

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20
Q

How do bodies of water influence global climate patterns?

A

reinforce patterns and behave under Coriolis effect, tendency to help warm or cool places depending on water movement

  • can affect local climates bc mass specific heat of water is 4x greater than soils
  • so when land warmer during day warm air intermingles with the cool sea breeze (opposite during night where land is cooler and sea is warmer)
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21
Q

How do mountains influence global climate patterns?

A

ocean/body of water pushes air across mountain causing rain out events on the windward side (wetter side), these rain-out events cause the leeward side to be dry

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22
Q

How do microclimates influence global climate patterns?

A

microclimate is a local atmosphere zone where climate differs from surrounding area

  • ex: subnivera: temperature under non-compact snow is warmer than outside temperature, doesn’t change much, can sometimes lead to above freezing temps
  • ex 2: Koalas and trees, trees cool the Koalas
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23
Q

How does global climate change influence the global climate pattern?

A

causes the warming of the planet, increasing in greenhouse gases affect climate conditions, not overall warming but certain hotspots are differentially warmed

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24
Q

What causes Earths climate and “heliocentric” view

A

temperature, rain, wind

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25
Q

What is an atmospheric suture?

A

two sides doing opposite things but are connected to each other
ex: 100th meridian goes down the US where it is much drier on one side and much wetter on other side due to moutain formations and air masses. Most air comes from the gulf of Mexico and because of the Coriolis Effect so the right side of the Meridian has higher precipitation. As prevailing winds go up the sides of the moutain and moist air moves northwards and is deflected torwards east due to Coriolis effect, resulting in not a lot of moisture reaching the left side of the 100th meridian

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26
Q

What is a climate dipole?

A

climate dipoles are these climatatic patterns that appear at two different locations but undergo the opposite effect-creating this opposite polarity. For example: one place may be warmer and experience heavier rains while another place at the same time is experiencing a drought

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27
Q

What are climate modes?

A

regular fluctuations in weather and precipitation thats annual, smaller scale than climate but bigger than weather

Ex:ENSO, el Nino

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28
Q

What is phenotypic mistmatch?

A

phenotype no longer matches as adaptive traits in changing conditions
ex: snowshoe hare, has brown coat in warmer season and white coat in colder to blend in with environment,bc snowfall varied leads to periods of mismatch
-no snow but white–@ end of winter/beginning of spring
-snow on ground but brown- @ start of winter
-projected longer period during fall
+ spring season

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29
Q

What are poleward migrations?

A

organisms attempting to track historic climate conditions, a lot of organisms doing this

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30
Q

What are organisms range of responses to changing world/climate?

A
  1. Extinction
  2. Expiration (not fully extinct but gone from historic parts of the distribution)
  3. Range- shifts (by this seeing no-analog communities, species that normally don’t interact start interacting)
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31
Q

What is a biome (biotic region)?

A

a biome is a region of distinctive plant and animal groups well adapted to physical environment of its distribution area

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32
Q

What are the two biomes?

A
  1. Terrestrial Biomes: characterized by vegetation type

2. Aquatic Biomes: characterized by physical environment

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33
Q

What is a climograph?

A

a climograph is a graphical representation of the basic climate parameters including avg. temp and precipitation at certain locations (usually shows seasonality)

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34
Q

What is an ecotone?

A

an ecotone is a transition zone or area of integration between 2 biomes (these houses lots of species that overlap)

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35
Q

How do we measure the productivity of a biome?

A
  1. primary production (NPP): production of organic compounds from atmospheric or aquatic CO2 by autotrophs
  2. Biodiversity (B): variation of living world, ranges from variability of species to diversity of dif ecosystems or biomes, usually refers to species richness OR # of species
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36
Q

What are the types of terrerestrial Biomes?

A
  1. Tropical Rain Forest
  2. Deserts
  3. Savanna
  4. Grasslands
  5. Chaparral
  6. Northern Coniferous Forest
  7. Temperate Deciduous Forest
  8. Tundra
  9. Anthrome
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37
Q

What is a anthrome?

A

anthropogenic biomes/human-caused biomes such as urban areas and agriculture

  • have capacity to shift climate characteristics (temp and precipitation)
  • urban heat island effect: idea that we have anthromes, new biomes, featuring predictable NPP and B patterns, also exhibit unique abiotic characteristics, most urban areas have reduced vegetative color + pavement leading to high solar radiation
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38
Q

What is the rain shadow effect?

A

when a piece of land is force to become a desert since the surrounding mountains have blocked precipitation. The wind goes up the mountain from the ocean this leads to rain-out events on the windward side and suchs out all of the moisture so when the wind flows on the leeward side it is much dryer since all the water had been wringed out on the other side

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39
Q

What is the Coriolis effect and how does it affect Earth’s weather patterns

A

Coriolis effects impact the weather patterns in Earth as it deflects wind as warm air rises near the equator and flows towards the poles, warm air currents are deflected to the right (east) as they move to the North

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40
Q

What is the producivity of the marine/ocean system?

A

the ocean covers 71% of the Earths surface

  • NPP is quite low since phytoplankton are photosynthetic organisms capturing carbon to photosynthesize, leaving small amount of energy after
  • B (very low) since the scale for size (ocean very big) so its very low
  • GPP (gross primary productivity): rate @ which producers within an ecosystem capture and store an amount of chemical energy as biomass in given length of time and given area, meaning carbon capture and converted into chemical energy bu time and area
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41
Q

What are the marine systems?

A
  1. Oceanic Pelagic Zone
  2. Abyssal Zone (hydrothermal vents)
  3. Coral Reefs and Kelp Forest (shallow marine biomes)
  4. Ecotone (interface of terrestrial and freshwater systems with marine environment)
  5. Freshwater systems
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42
Q

What is the loctic system?

A

moving freshwater and river continuation, rivers at headwaters look dif at the different regions

headwaters: thin, heavily shaded, nutrient inputs from terrestrial systems
- as go down see increase in producers emerge
- community shift
- at lower water quality shifts

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43
Q

What is Net Primary Production (NPP)?

A

is rate at which autotrophs produce net useful chemical energy
-while pelagic ocean most abundant biome, low overall NPP bc of scale for time and size

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44
Q

What are temporally dynamic features with NPP?

A

while some places change a lot with seasons others don’t have much variability (high NPP year around)

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45
Q

How do we explain species richness (biodiversity across biomes)?

A

we can’t pinpoint an exact region as increased NPP does not entirely explain biome diversity

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46
Q

What is the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) state?

A

there is an increase in species richness that occurs from the poles to the tropics; so the greatest level of diversity at 0 latitude but this pattern does not apply to all species

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47
Q

What are the 5 hypothesis explaining global patterns in species richness?

A
  1. Biome productivity (energy hypothesis)
  2. Biome Size (area hypothesis)
  3. Climate Stability and Predictability of Biome
  4. Age of Biome
  5. Geographic Area/ Mid-Domain effect (null-model)
    - ecologist believe that LDG is generated by several factors
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48
Q

What is the Biome Productivity hypothesis?

A

the energy hypothesis, if biome more productive= can support more species; not always the case

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49
Q

What is the Biome Size hypothesis?

A

greater area=house for more species; however many breaks in this theory as some systems at high latitudes with high species diversity

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50
Q

What is the Climate Stability and Predictability hypothesis?

A

tropical systems have very stable + high NPP, precipitation temperature and not strongly seasonal (as t and p control how productive a place is); although most species tend to occur at lower latitudes it is still insuffiencient at explaining

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51
Q

What is the Age of the Biome hypothesis

A

historic climatic features warmer which led to the distribution of diversity, tropics are a holdout for lineages and thats why high in diversity, lower latitudes are older than high; however some biomes break this pattern of LDG

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52
Q

What is the Geographic Area/ Mid-Domain effect (null model)

A

species occupy distributional range which is limited to abiotic and biotic factors, so expected in a contained environment that there will be a lot of overlap in the middle leading to this latitudinal gradient + random chance

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53
Q

What is an extinction filter hypothesis?

A

disturbances have filtered out many species so species that were strongly sensitive to disturbance-created edges have likely either undergone local extinction or adapted. Meaning: regardless of species, as increase in latitude become less sensitive and more resilient to disturbances, so core species less resiliant to “filter”

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54
Q

What are the questions for behavioral ecology (tinbergen)?

A
  1. Causation: what are the stimuli that elicit a response and what physiological mechanisms mediate response? (more proximate cause-scientific)
  2. Ontogeny: how does behavior change with age and what early experiences are necessary for animal to display the behavior? (more proximate cause)
  3. Function: how does behavior affect animal’s chances of survival and reproduction? Why does animal response that way instead of some other way? (more ultimate cause-ultimate implication of behavior)
  4. Phylogeny: how does behavior compare with similar behavior in related species and how might it have begun through process of evolution? (more ultimate cause)
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55
Q

What are the types of behavior

A
  1. innate behavior: developmentally fixed, virtually all individuals in population exhibit nearly identical behaviors despite individual and environmental differences
  2. learned behavior: modification of behavior based on previous experiences
  3. mixed behavior: behavior innate but requires some learning to make it work well
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56
Q

What is a fixed action pattern? (FAP)

A

an innate behavior sequence that is indivisible and runs to completion, invariant and produced by neural network known as the innate releasing mechanisms in response to an external stimulus, sign stimulus (ex: Male stickleback fish will attack anything with right form +color–representing another stickleback until it goes away)

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57
Q

What is movement (taxis)

A

innate behavior response to directional stimulus or gradient of stimulus intensity, difers from tropism (growing torwards or away from stimuli) bc organisms has motility and can guide its own movements from or away from the external stimuli

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58
Q

What is movement (kinesis)

A

innate behavioral response to stimulus provided is NON-DIRECTIONAL (unlike taxis which is directional)

2 main types:

  • Orthokinesus: Speed of movement dependent upon intensity of stimulus
  • Klinokinesis:sinuosity (not linear) of movement is proportional to stimulus intensity
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59
Q

What are signals and communication?

A

innate behavioral responses

signal: stimulus transmitted from 1 animal to another
communication: transmission and reception of signals
ex: honey bees

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60
Q

What is an interesting aspect of honey bee signaling and communication behavior?

A

direction and duration of waggle dance are closely relayed to the direction and distance of patch of flowers

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61
Q

What is imprinting?

A

learned behavior, any kind of phase-sensitive learning thats rapid and independent of consequences of behavior
-filial imprinting: young animal acquires behavioral characteristics from parents (ex:chicks)

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62
Q

What is spatial learning?

A

learned behavior, strong selective pressures to estimable memory that reflects spatial distribution of resources
ex: wasp use landmarks to memorize location of nest

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63
Q

What is path integration (ded reckoning)?

A

learned behavior, able to continously compute present location from its path trajectory and as consequence is able to return to starting point
ex: desert ants can go long distances and return back- seem to use chemical cues from salt pans and landmarks

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64
Q

What is a cognitive map?

A

learned behavior, an internal representation of landscape in users brain, allows animal to visualize a direct and efficient pathway between 2 points in mapped area, even if it hasn’t previously used that pathway–not just humans
ex:clark’s nutcrackers

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65
Q

What is associative learning?

A

learned behavior, association of one stimulus with another
one example includes:

classical conditioning: arbitrary stimulus becomes associated with particular outcome

operant conditioning: an animal first learns to associate one of its behaviors with a reward or punishment and they tent to repeat or avoid pattern
ex: coyote gets spikes by porcupine, knows to avoid it from now on

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66
Q

What is cognition?

A

learned behavior, cognition is the process of knowing that involves awareness, reasoning, recollection, judgement of

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67
Q

What is social learning?

A

learned behavior, same species teaching other members a certain behavior ex: praire dogs and songbirds can teach one another alarm calls (dogs) or songs (songbirds)

68
Q

What is foraging ecology?

A

food-obtaining behavior including not only diet but also activities that an animal uses to search, recognize, capture, and consume food

69
Q

What is reproductive ecology?

A

behavior leading to creation of offspring, including all activities that animals use to seek, identify, choose and compete for a mate

70
Q

What is foraging profitability?

A

profit= energy in good/ (searching time+handling time)

-not only about energy but macro/micro minerals needed for animals (like sodium)

71
Q

What are non-consumptive effect?

A

Non-consumptive effects are those that reduce prey fitness, unrelated to death by consumption. Some of these effects include prey defensive and behavioral mediated effects

72
Q

What is the ghost of predators past hypothesis?

A

hardwired/innate behavior, species subject to past election for anti-predator behavior will retain anti-predator behavior if it is not too costly to do so

73
Q

How do prey avoid being found? How do they avoid capture?

A
  • camouflage, timing/location of activity, random distribution rather than clumped OR clumped distribution to flood predator
  • run or swim away, taste bad/poison or mimicry, increase handling time (exoskeletons), protective surfaces like shells
74
Q

What is a risk landscape

A

predators can instill fear in prey so it affects later on where and how these prey behave

ex: elk and wolf, elk avoid these vegetative clear lansdcapes bc of threat

75
Q

At what latitudes are biomes generally drier? Why?

A

Biomes usually drier at 30 degrees N and S bc these places are generally very warm with high sun and little precipitation bc Hadley Cells move and suck out moisture

76
Q

What is monogamy?

A

1 female mates with 1 male; however range of levels of monogamy (how long mated), evolution of monogamy argued to have been driven by duel parental investment.

  • Species with altrical young ( not well-developed when born)
  • long juvenile periods
  • usually distributed in resource-limited systems
77
Q

What is Bateman’s principle?

A

pattern of reproductive variance greater in males than females, meaning regardless of mating system females are MORE selective sex (lot more extreme in monogamous relationships). This means that some males successful, most are not.

-due to anisogamy

78
Q

What is anisogamy?

A

Anisogamy refers to different size gametes, females usually invest more energy to produce offspring + limited as opposed to males who have unlimited supply

  • differential investment, gamete size, limited #, all contribute to females being choosier (more to lose/gain depending on mate male)
    ex: 90% birds monogamous
79
Q

Is monogamy a social or genetic mating system?

A

EPF: extra pair fertilization- meaning promiscuous mating behavior in monogamous species meaning monogamy more SOCIAL than genetic

EPF is beneficial to females bc gives them greater choice (of male mate) and increases genetic variability to choose from –however this sometimes decreases participation of parental duties of males (don’t know if they are parent or not)

80
Q

What is polygyny?

A

polygyny is when one male mates with many females, there are 3 kinds of polygyny: resource defense polygyny, mate-guarding polygyny, lek polgyny

81
Q

What is resource defense polygyny?

A

males look for the best territories with the best resources and protect them before females arrive; can also use man-made features

ex: Red Wing Blackbirds are extremely territorial and will move and attack anything with an orange/red color bc they think its another male bird

82
Q

What is mate-guarded polygyny?

A

if males not able to protect territory or resources, they can follow and guard a group of females. These males will protect the female group from other male groups, do this by going on these circuits and circling the female groups. Males have big territory while females have very small territory ex: Bighorn Sheep/Porcupines

83
Q

What is lek polygyny?

A

males will gather together rand show off their decorative features or dance in front of a group of females or one female so they can pick their mate. one defining feature of this is that 1 dominant male usually gets to mate with the most females in a lek

ex: Sage Grouse

84
Q

What is polyandry?

A

when one female mates with multiple males, rare. 2 forms cooperative polyandry and resource defense polyandry

85
Q

What is cooperate polyandry

A

several males will protect a females territory, many males with one female

86
Q

What is resource- defense polyandry?

A

reverse of cooperate, females protect smaller territories of groups of males, many males with one female

87
Q

Why is the polyandry beneficial?

A

polyandrous mating strategy offer direct (nuptial gifts, paternal care, reduced male harassment) and genetic benefits to offspring (male genes, bet hedging (likelihood of infertile or recessive alleles less costly bc lots of males), offspring niche partitioning (if offspring reared together, might have dif resource needs), disease resistance)

88
Q

What is promiscuity?

A

members of both sexes mate non-exclusively with multiple partners

ex: 2-toed sloths, mate with each other cuz territories are close together/ overlap
ex: 3 toed sloths mate via polygny so have distinct female and male territories (when u look at distribution)

89
Q

What did Endlers Guppie Experiment show?

A

male guppies very colorful when no predators present but were black and white when predators present.

Represented an important trade-off of risk of guppies from predation and sexual ornamentation, as ornamentation attractive + increases reproductive output BUT @ same time presented risk w/ predators that can detect them

90
Q

What is general consensus of population ecology?

A

rare species are common; common species are rare, majority of species that exist on earth are rare (and opposite is true-very few species are common)

-one reason so many rare species can exist is that organismal communities have been overwritten many times, however they are not insignificant as they can add to long-term exosystem sustainability

91
Q

What is population ecology?

A

is one species, in one place at one time; or a biological unit where rates and attributes occur at the individual level but have emergent properties at the level of a population. Birth, death, immigration, emigration, population size, dispersion etc. Viewed as dynamically chaning reservoirs.

  1. spatially
  2. genetically
  3. demographically
92
Q

What is dispersion?

A

pattern of individuals across space, spatial patterning. Categorize/ quantify dispersion by counting # of individuals found in the quadrants and then comparing observed frequency distribution of #’s of individual per quadrat to expected under random distribution (H0=random disperson)

  • random
  • clumped
  • unform
93
Q

What is dispersal?

A

movement of individuals

94
Q

What is Poissons distribution?

A

discrete probability of distribution that expresses the probability of a given # of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space

  • if random distribution:mean= variance (observed distribution matches the distribution expected under Poisson)
  • if clumped distribution: mean < variance (most quadrats will have values FAR from the mean, quadrats have either many or 0)
  • if unform distribution: mean> variance (most quadrats have values close to the mean, few quadrats with 0 or many)

Mean (x)=(x1+x2+x3…Xn/ n)
Varriance (how dif are our values of each observation)= summation ( x1-mean)^2..+ (xn-mean)^2 / n-1

95
Q

How do we estimate density (i.e. how many individuals exist in an area)

A

usually use:

indices: an index of density is any measurable correlative of density, correlated with count, if count low, population low (vice versa) ex:harvest records, tracks/signs, count surveys

Distance sampling: often cannot count all individuals in population but can count reasonable proportion. So if you randomly layout transsects and assume that you can detect all individuals in a landscape, you can estimate density with

D=(n)/(2)(w)(L) 
D=density
n= total # observed species
w= effective half-width of transect
L=lenght of transect
96
Q

What are indices and what 4 variables associated with?

A

function of abundance but also function of variables associated with:

  • environment: maybe ability to detect nest was dif. on plantation that rain forest= bias, so density off
  • time: behavioral components where animals more/less detectable during certain periods
  • observer: not seeing organisms, variation + quality of observer may difer
  • population: maybe @ low density, index low, at higher density able to detect more (cuz know what they are looking for)

-relationship between index and true density not ALWAYS a linear function

97
Q

What are mark-recapture techniques?

A

bc we cannot count all individuals in a population but can catch a reasonable proportion; capture random sample and mark as unique individuals, allowing those individuals to mix back into population and then recapture a 2nd round of individuals

2 equations:

r/c= m/N or N=mc/r (just rearranged)

r= # marked (t1) and recaptured (t2)
c= total # captured in t2
m= # marked (t1)
N= population size
98
Q

What is the Lincoln Petersen Estimator (marking) and what are the 3 assumptions?

A

estimates density has 3 assumptions:

  1. Marked and unmarked have equal probability of capture
    - excludes trap shy-reluctant to go back (overestimate population size) or opposite trap happy (underestimate population size)
  2. Complete Mixture after release
  3. Closed population
    - no births, deaths, immigration, emigration
    - usually shorter time periods (not longer bc cannot fulfill assumption)

r/c= m/N or N=mc/r (just rearranged)

99
Q

What is the basics of population growth-the exponential (instantaneous equation)?

A

dN/dt= rN , equation shows instantaneous growth of population @ a specific point in time
so: when r= -∞ = declining; r=0=stationary; r=+∞=growing

100
Q

What is the basics of population growth prediction given population size in discrete time (i.e. size of population ACROSS time)

A

N(t+1) = N(t)λ λ=B, I, D, E

λ<1=declining
λ=1=stationary
λ>1=growing

N(t+1)=N0e^rt

r= -∞ = declining
r=0=stationary
r=+∞=growing

101
Q

What is the difference between lambda λ and little “r”

A

r is called the intrinsic/instantaneous increase, able to express balance between inflow and outflow (b-d). Used in continuous differential equation formulation

λ is called the finite rate of increase. It is a factor by which the population is multiplied per (chunky, discrete) time unit, used in discrete population projections

r=ln(λ) and λ=e^r

102
Q

When do populations grow exponentially, 4 reasons?

A
  1. when invading or colonizing a new + highly favorable environment (ex:invasive, non-native species)
  2. when rebounding from massive crash
  3. at the start of a bounded population (ex: logisitic population growth)
  4. when develop novel adaptation to cope w/ habitat
103
Q

What are the 3 assumptions of exponential growth?

A
  1. no immigration or emigration
  2. constant birth and death rates across time (every year the same) and individuals (no selection, no age structure)
  3. no time lags- population responds instantly to changing N

–many populations do NOT grow exponentially

104
Q

What is negative density dependence?

A

decline in population growth with increasing population size bc of reduced survival and reproduction

  • habitats can’t support infinite amount of organisms bc limited resources
  • competition for resources (intraspecific-among same species) leading to: predation, physiological (intrinsic) factors, territoriality, disease
105
Q

What is positive density dependence (allee effect)?

A

population growth rates low when population size is small (low reproductive success + survival) so an increasing population size is required to see increasing growth rates

  • usually associated w/ disruption of social or mating systems avoiding predation, food axquisition, due to impacts of low number of individuals
  • ex: too few individuals to find mates and at low densities population growth slow bc hard to reproduce
  • ex 2: survival decreases with lower number of individuals in a population
106
Q

What is the logistic growth model, what does it not take into account?

A

accounts for density dependence (crowding) which makes it more realistic than exponential model however does NOT take account:

  1. Stoichasticity ignores “unpredictable variations”- it is deterministic
  2. Demography/ Age-sex structure: b and d are constant across ages- NOT realistic
  3. Emigration/ Immigration (dispersal): I and E are ignored, why could that be ok for some systems but not others

logistic model growth equations:
Nt=(N0e^rt)/ (1+(e^rt-1)* N0/k

dN/dt= rN (K-N)/K

107
Q

What is the stochiastic model vs deterministic?

A

stochastic model: include less predictable changes (like weather, food supply) changes and uncertainty around growth rates that alter population factors, like random events leading to uncertainty (ex: carrying capacity changes)

Deterministic: outcome determined only by inputs, nothing left to chance or incorporates uncertainties or changing conditions (outcome always the same)

108
Q

What are the 4 stochiastic factors that affect population growth?

A
  1. Environmental stoichasticity: annual changes in population due
  2. Catastrophes: fire, floods, intense droughts, storms occur occasionally + have large impact on individuals and environment ex: carrying capacity changes, resets population to low level
  3. Demographic stochasticity: natural and unpredictable, fluctuations in b and d and sex ratios
    ex: Last 6 dusky seasides sparrows were all male (unpredictable, random chance lead to extinction)
  4. Genetic stochasticity: unpredictable changes in populations due to inbreeding and inbreeding depression
    - changes in genetics have important implications of population ecology
109
Q

What are the 4 effects of demography?

A
  1. patterns of morality in species (dif organisms have dif mortality curves)
  • type 1: survival high in beginning until reach max lifespan
  • type 2: constant proportion of individuals dying @ same time
  • type 3 lots of early on mortality @ infanthood/right after birth
  1. patterns of mortality in same species, bc of fig patterns in survivorship (ex:males and females dif survorship)
    - difs between male and female survivorship (f live more) is universal in most organisms
  2. Sex ratios: skewing of sex ratios
  3. Patterns of Natility:peak age in reproductive output
110
Q

What is the Trivers-Willard sex ratio hypothesis:

A

females skew sex ratio according to maternal conditions

  • F push torwards males in good conditions, F in bad
  • skewing of sex ratio @ birth by females ultimately bc of mating systems in mammals as most are polygnous
  • F can produce fit male to make more and more offspring
  • sex ratio. skew tends to increase w/ age
  • bird skew toward male, mammals to female
111
Q

What are the supporting hypothesis to explain differences in sex ratio skews among birds and mammals?

A
  1. Chromosome hypothesis: heterogametic sex is likely to experience high mortality, in mammals heterogametic sex is males (XY) vs females (XX), while birds M (XX) and F (XY); so heterogametic sex susceptible to deleterious recessive alleles causing increased mortality
  2. Reproduction/Dispersal: female birds spend more time in nest so subject to greater mortality rates
    - mammals, polygonous mating system so males undergo competition for access to reproductive output which increases mortality rates
  3. Intraspecific competition: mammals polygonous mating system, sexual dimorphism increases in mammals (m bigger than f) so large body creates more energetic cost which increases mortality
112
Q

what is dispersal?

A

permanent movement away from an existing population or away from parent organism, not migration ( as thats the seasonal movement from breeding to wintering grounds + return to breeding)

113
Q

what is a metapopulation?

A

assemblage of multiple local populations connected by immgration + emigration/dispersal

114
Q

What is a local population?

A

set of individuals with a high probability of interacting

-metapopulations pull local populations together via dispersal

115
Q

What is a matrix?

A

a matrix is an area of unsuitable habitat surrounding patches

116
Q

What is a classic metapopulation?

A

in a classic metapopulation, each individual of subpopulation has a non-trivial risk of extinction (chance of going locally extinct), so operate in viable system, if one population goes extinct it can be rescued (reinforce persistence of 1 another)
-b,d,i,e all vary in subpopulations- have own independent demographics and trajectory

117
Q

What is a source-sink dynamic?

A

have one large source: 1 large growing subpopulation, but that population cannot keep up with birth rates due to limited resources, so individuals disperse to smaller subpopulations where birth rate is LESS THAN death rate
- source patches (b>d), (ie),, have space to recieve individuals bc not growing
-

118
Q

What is a patchy population?

A

like classic but a lot of exchange of individuals that demographic fate of overall metapopulation linked, so dispersal between sub-populations so tight so b and d rates difficult to distinguish; operate more like structured population but still metapopulation bc of dispersal linking them together (like single unit basically)

119
Q

What is an island population?

A

there is weak connectivity between subpopulations, distance very large, so emigration and immigration rates very low (approaching 0), * not assured if 1 subpopulation goes extinct that it will be rescued

120
Q

Why are metapopulations of particular interest to ecologist?

A

dispersal is an important to process that links populations, illustrates the importance of spatial configuration of a population and landscape features, and why metapopulations can persist even if local populations go extinct

121
Q

What is the equilibrium theory of island biogeography?

A 
# of species on an island reflects a balance between rate @ which new species colonize and rate @ which populations of established species become extinct
-islands that far away have least colonization, smaller islands have greater extinction, big islands near mainland have most species
122
Q

What is a dyadic pair? (community ecology)

A

relationship between two species, can be good or bad

  • predation: (+,-)
  • mutualism: (+,+)
  • competition: (-,-) interactions negative between species, use same resources so presence of 1 isn’t good bc use same resources
  • commensalism: (0,+) benefit to one, no cost/neutral to other
  • amensalism: (0,-) interaction of one species has negative cost to other, neutral to other ex:allelopathy: walnut tree exude toxins into soil, stunt growth of nearby trees (negative effect on other neighboring trees, none to walnut trees nearby or itself)
123
Q

What is exploitative competition?

A

involves using up a resource but species don’t interact directy, but presence of one has negative affects on other ex: cattle and prairie dogs, both consume grasses/ bushes/shrubs

124
Q

What is interference competition?

A

involves behavioral interractions that keep others from gaining access (like interspecific killing in carnivora)-among similar species (both carnivores)
ex: hyena and lion, wolf and coyote

125
Q

What is preemptive competition?

A

occurs when individuals use space that then becomes unavailable to others (barnackes in rocky intertidal and cavity nesting birds), ex: European starlings nest prior to other cavity nesting birds, starlings get there earlier so preemptively prevent other birds from nesting in those cavitites

126
Q

What is Gause’s Competition Exclusion Principle?

A

if 2 species have almost completely overlapping niches, they cannot continue to coexist- one of the 2 species will be driven to extinction ex: Paramecium bacteria

127
Q

What is a niche?

A

the sum total uses that a species makes of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment

128
Q

What is a fundamental niche?

A

niche occupancy in absence of competition

129
Q

What is a realized niche?

A

niche occupancy in presence of competition

  • if realized niche smaller than fundamental niche means that competition is limiting species distribution
    ex: two baracles species
130
Q

What is niche separation?

A

given competition, species should be under selection by evolving niches with lower overlap

  • competition drives resource us apart for 2 competing species
  • efficiency drives species together, if too far apart a whole resource is not being used, so effieiency of resources reinforce competition
  • so reason why species don’t go extinct when competing is bc they diverge in resource use but competition still maintained bc of effieicent use of resourcs
131
Q

What is character release?

A

characteristics changing in absence of competition, expand niche breathe

132
Q

What is character displacement?

A

competition displaces characters, so non-overlapping morphological characteristics limit competitive interactions

133
Q

What is phenotypic plasticity?

A

phenotype is mallable/flexible/changeable according to environment, not phenotype or phenological mismatch as phenotype is CHANGING bc of ecological reality. Not character displacement either as displacement caused by competitive interactions are heritable (ex: Galapagos finches), while plasticity is not heritable (Lamarkian heresy, ex: marine iguanas shrink to survive el nino)

134
Q

What are the types of predation?

A
  1. Herbivory: eating plants, monophagy-eating 1 plant, polyphagy eating multiple plants
  2. Insect Parasitoids: insects lay eggs on/near host that is then consumed by larvae
  3. Parasites: tapeworms, mistletoe, ticks; often high specialized
  4. Cannibalism: consumption of conspecific (eat same species), very rare, have great risk
  5. Classic Predation: consumption of heterospecies (dif species)
135
Q

Why does predation matter?

A

predation is mechanisms of natural selection, leading to

  1. crypticity (snowshoe hares turning white)
  2. cost/benefit balances in sexual selection (ex: guppy coloration)
  3. Life history evolution (age of 1st breeding, nesting strategies)
  4. anti-predation adaptations: unprofitable prey
  5. indirect effects of predation like vigilance, habitat selection, grouping, inducible effects
136
Q

What are the 3 predator functional responses (graphs)?

A

type 1: kill rate directionally proportional to prey density, meaning as population increases so does rate of killing before reaching predation cap ex: orb weaving spiders

type 2: kill rate limited @ high densities by handling time, limiting how much is consumed

type 3: kill rate limited @ very low prey desities (absence of search image-limited search time) accelerated at moderate prey densities and slowed at high prey desnties (handling time caos)

137
Q

What is a keystone predator?

A

keystone predators hold community together, presence increases overall species diversity by competitive dominance

138
Q

what is ecological release?

A

if factors that limit population removed, population may experience an ecological release (similar to character release); may lead to trophic cascade; usually when 2 preadots in system, apex removed so secondary predator increases and affects lower trophic levels

139
Q

what is trophic ecology?

A

how energy flows through ecological system taking into account biotic and abiotic factors

140
Q

What are the laws of thermodynamics?

A
  1. 1st law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be created nor destroyed only transferred or transported
  2. 2nd law: in energy exchanges if no E enters or leaves the potential energy of state will always be less than that of the initial state (entropy)
    - for ecology, each transition from autotrophs to hetertrophs is inefficient and loses energy
141
Q

What is the difference between atrophic transfers in aquatic and terrestrial biomes?

A

a lot of plants are indigestible to organisms leading to a loss of energy/biomass as move up pyramid, however for aquatic systems they are much more efficient in these transfers (algae more digestible), this leads to an inversion caused by the overall efficiencies of digestion and rate that zooplankton eat phytoplankton

142
Q

Why are the vast majority of predators (80%) larger than prey?

A

true in both terrestrial and aquatic biomes however accentuated in aquatic biomes as most predators need to engulf prey or else they will sink or be swept away; in terrestrial size constraints are less pronounced bc of hard surfaces allowing predators to catch larger prey
(ex: pack hunters, parasitoids, hunting tools)

143
Q

what is a competitive release?

A

face competitive interactions usually between SAME species or 2 equal species

144
Q

What is the food chain?

A

the simple linear hierarchy of monophagous consumers

145
Q

why do aquatic systems have greater lengths of food chain relative to terrestrial?

A

bc autotrophs in aquatic systems have greater rate of productivity and are more digestible (as don’t have to fight against gravity like terrestrial plants which use cellulose that’s not as digestible and grow much slower)

146
Q

What is the food web?

A

complex network of interactions between producers and consumers

147
Q

What is interspecific strife?

A

form of interference competition, where competitors are interfered/killed but NOT eaten

148
Q

What is intraguild predation?

A

predators hunt one another for nutrition and energy

ex: lizards and spiders

149
Q

Why is the world green?

A

Now know that world is green bc of top-down forcing.

top-down forcing: top consumers limit the secondary consumers which allow autotrophs to thrive

however used to believe reason for green was bc
bottom up-limited theory: autotrophs/primary producers dictate how many herbivores which didtate how many predators

150
Q

What is a trophic cascade?

A

reciprocal predator-prey effects that alter the abundance, biomass, or productivity of a population, community, atrophic level across more than 1 link in a food web; the enemy of my enemy is my friend

ex: absence of sea otter (primary predator) caused sea urchins to each and eat lots of kelp; when otters present they regulate urchins and thus kelp able to grow. Reason otters declining bc of killer whales that hunt them to local extinction bc historic food source (seals and sea lions) are now less abundant and have increased search time

151
Q

What are the 2 general categories of biogeochemical cycles?

A
  1. Global-nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, sulfur

2. Local- phosphorous, potassium, calcium, too heavy to occur as gas

152
Q

What is a reservoir?

A

size of reservoir, where inorganic or organic materials is available for organisms

153
Q

What is a flux?

A

rate of movement between reservoirs, pool turnover/ exchanged rate

154
Q

What is dynamic equilibrium in water cycle?

A

“dynamic” bc water is moving from dif reservoirs and fluxing BUT is in equilibrium bc the equal size of inputs and outputs keeps system in balance

155
Q

What is the carbon cycle?

A

photosynthesis in aquatic and terrestrial biomes, into:215 Gt/year out: 219 Gt/year means fluxes are not in balance; dif number being put into and being released as human C emissions are adding more and changing overall pool size and atmospheric pool increase

156
Q

What else is changing carbon pool size besides human emissions?

A

forest deforestation, ultimately harvesting fossilized carbon are main drivers of shifts of C in atmosphere and pools causing cumulative effect

157
Q

Why is little carbon stored in the ocean in biological processes?

A

terrestrial biomes need lots of C to build structures to fight against gravity, for aquatic autotrophs don’t have that problem and instead use C for carbonate rxn

  • once in dissolved form, CO2 reacts w/ water in what are known as carbonate rxns
  • shells are made from calcium carbonate
158
Q

What is ocean acidification?

A

ongoing decrease in pH of Earth’s oceans, caused by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from atmosphere
-but increasing CO2 prevents CaCO3 from forming and creating more and more bicarbonate as creating more H+ ions which increase acidity

159
Q

What are the effects of ocean acidification?

A

shellfish, corals, phytoplankton experience reduced calcification or enhanced dissolution when exposed to elevated CO2
-C levels not at state of equilibrium:CO2 building in atmosphere, but rate @ which it is accumulating is less than rate @ which its being emitted

160
Q

What is nitrogen?

A

Nitrogen fairly abudant in Earths atmosphere it is generally unstable/unusuable unless converted (N2)

organic: N found in compounds like aa, proteins
inorganic: include ammonium (NH4+), ammonia (NH3), nitrate (NO3-), Nitrite (NO2-)

161
Q

What is the nitrogen cycle?

A

include fixation, ammonification (mineralization), nitrification, and dentrification

Fixation: when atmospheric nitrogen is converted to ammonia (NH3) by enzyme- nitrogenase
-Rhizobia and Frankia are symbiotic bacteria and can fix nitrogen in soil

Ammonification: degree to which ammonia forms ammonium ions depends on acidity of soil pH, if pH low more ammonia (NH3) molecules will be converted into ammonium (NH4+)
-when a plant/animal dies or expels waste, initially organic N, so bacteria/fungi can convert organic N within the remains back into ammonium (NH4+)

Nitrification: conversion of ammonium (NH4+) to nitrite (NO2-)

  • other bacterium oxidize nitrites into nitrates (NO3-)
  • many plants have mutualisms with mycorrhizal fungi that degrade N compounds and in aa absorption

Denitrification: reduction of nitrates back into inert nitrogen gas (N2), completing nitrogen cycle, performed by bacterial species

162
Q

What are planetary boundaries?

A

guiding human development on a changing planet

-many processes operating outside of historic means: genetic diversity, phosphorous, nitrogen

163
Q

what is biodiversity?

A

biodiversity is the variation of living world, ranging from genetic variability w/in a species to diversity of dif. ecosystems or biomes on earth

164
Q

why do we care about preserving biodiversity?

A

midst of mass extinction, recent extinction caused by humans, 6 periods of extinction

  • Ordovician
  • Denovian
  • Permian
  • Triassic
  • Cretaceous
  • Holocene/Anthropocene:geological era where humans dominate
165
Q

What is the evil quartet?

A

4 major drivers of extinction wave

  1. Habitat destruction: changing historic biome to anthrome very rapidly, species can’t co-evolve fast enough, leading cause of biodiversity loss
  2. Introduced species: bringing new species into non-historic areas, where they may have no predators and increase in frequency, may drive local species to extinction
  3. Second Extinctions: when 1 species plucked from biome, other species affected
  4. Overkill: humans most effective predator/hunter, harvest for decor/consumption
166
Q

What is the evil sextet?

A

instead of 4, there are 6 drivers (2 additional ones)
5. Climate Change: rapidly changing abiotic conditions, species reaching latitude or longitude limits under threat of extinction

  1. Extinction Synergies: 5 extinction threats don’t occur independently, can occur w/ and reinforce one another
    - drivers of extinction work together and heighten extinction probability MORE than sum of individual threats
167
Q

What is happening to extinction rates

A

projected extinction rates 10x higher than current

Biology 152 (1 decks)

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