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Biology > Ecosystem Dynamics > Flashcards

Ecosystem Dynamics Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the three types of symbiotic relationships?

A
  • parasitic (+/-)
  • commenalistic (+/NA)
  • mutualistic (+/+)

NA = not affected

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2
Q

What are the two types of symbiosis?

A
  • obligate - one or both species depend on the other for survival
  • facultative - optional, species can survive without each other
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3
Q

What are some examples of competiton?

A
  • food
  • mates
  • resources (sunlight, water, etc.)
  • space
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4
Q

What are the two types of competition?

A
  • interspecific - different species
  • intraspecific - same species, often results in a fight to the death
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5
Q

What is an ecological niche?

A

the role an organism plays in a community

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6
Q

What is stratification?

A

The vertical distribution of different species occupying different levels in an ecosystem

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7
Q

What is the law of tolerance?

A
  • for each abiotic factor, an organism has a range of tolerance for which it can survive
  • when abiotic factors get more extreme, the niche availability becomes more marginalised
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8
Q

What is zonation?

A

A gradual change in the distribution of species across a habitat

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9
Q

What is the difference between a fundamental and realised niche?

A
  • fundamental niche is the full range of conditions and resources in which a species could survive and reproduce
  • realized niche is the actual conditions and resources in which a species exists due to biotic interactions
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10
Q

What is the difference between abundance and distribution?

A
  • abundance - number of individuals of a species in an area
  • distribution - where species is found
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11
Q

What are the three types of distribution?

A
  • clumped - in groups
  • random
  • regular - evenly spread
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12
Q

What are the advantages of clumping?

A
  • prevent dessication
  • maintain heat
  • mutual defense
  • hunting in packs
  • swarming - e.g. for mating
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13
Q

What are the advantages of regular distribution?

A
  • separates small groups of individuals
  • keeping & defending territories ensures adequate food, resting sites, and protection of young
  • limits population density
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14
Q

What are some ways that regular distribution can occur?

A
  • through competiton/aggression - keeps organisms in territories they defend
  • plants - may be due to shading or competition for food/water
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15
Q

What evidence does Aboriginal rock art provide for past ecoystems?

A
  • evidence of megafauna & other extinct species
  • from this we can infer changes in vegetation/climate
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16
Q

How is aboriginal rock painting dated?

A

Charcoal mud wasp nests can be used for carbon dating

17
Q

What evidence do rock stuctures and formations provide for past ecosystems?

A
  • banded iron formation - layers of iron rich and iron poor rock
  • red stripes are oxidised iron - oxygen rich environment
18
Q

What evidence does palaentology provide for past ecosystems?

A
  • fossils
  • stromatolites - mounds of photosyntheisising bacteria and sediment
  • cynobacteria increased oxygen in atmosphere
  • led to ozone and blocking of UV rays, allowing land-based oxygen-breathing organisms to develop
19
Q

What evidence does ice-core drilling provide for past ecosystems?

A
  • snowflakes crystallising around atmospheric particles - volcanic ash changes climate, pollen shows vegetation, greenhouse gases
  • oxygen thermometer - less heavy oxygen isotopes=colder climate
  • carbon isotopes - fossil fuel emmisions reduce carbon-14 in atmosphere
  • Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry - analyses gases in air bubbles, carbon dioxide and methane, higher levels of carbon dioxide and methane = warmer air temperature
  • thickness of annual layers - precipitation
20
Q

How is ice-core drilling dated?

A
  • radiometric dating
  • Steno’s law of superposition
21
Q

What are the theories for what caused the extinction of megafauna in Australia?

A
  • drier climate due to Laschamp excursion
  • dried up water - animals would get stuck in mud and die or die from dehydration
  • smaller animals that could travel between water sources and not sink into mud survived
  • drier climate reduced vegetation available
22
Q

What is a Laschamp Excursion?

A
  • Earth’s magnetic poles switch place
  • last one was around 42,000 years ago, same time as when megafauna went extinct
  • magnetic field was weakened & likely destroyed ozone layer - lots of UV rays entered atmosphere
  • increase in clouds cooled & dried climate
23
Q

What evidence is there that dates the last Laschamp excurison?

A
  • rings of Kauri tree
  • enrichment of radiocarbon around 42,000 years ago
  • indicates more UV rays
24
Q

What evidence is there that megafauna existed during a time where most of Australia was a rainforest?

A
  • Welsby lagoon sediment
  • sediment that is older is wetter and has more rainforest plant material
  • in this layer there is also fungi from Megafauna dung
25
Q

Why did the ancestors of the modern-day kangaroo survive but not the procoptodon?

A
  • they walked instead of hopped - they were slower and could not travel as far to water sources
  • this made them more susceptible to climate changes that reduce vegetation and water
  • footprints in Lake Callabonna shows they were striders not hoppers
  • Large bones are more adaped to increase spread of weight
26
Q

What evidence is there for reasons why the Genyornis died out?

A
  • holes & cavities in bones indicate a compromised immune system
  • likely had a lack of nutrients due to environmental factors
27
Q

What are some human-induced causes for extinction?

A
  • hunting/poaching
  • overfishing
  • habitat loss
  • loss of biodiversity
  • anthropogenic climate change
28
Q

What are ways that we can slow the decline in biodiversity?

A
  • reset economies - invest in environment
  • reduce damage from consumption - stop using rivers & estuaries as ‘sinks’ for pollution
  • make food affordable
  • reduce food waste
  • government legislation for sustainable production
29
Q

What strategies have Uganda and Rwanda used to recover Mountain Gorilla populations?

A
  • employed 200 rangers (gave employment for protection instead of hunting)
  • 3 governments worked together to legislate & enforce protection
  • tourism used to gather revenue & raise awareness
  • reduced expansion of agriculture in the region & allowed for regeneration and recovery
30
Q

Name two animals currently facing extinction due to human activity

A
  • White Rhinos
  • pangolins
31
Q

What are two types of evidence that scientists can use to predict the effects of climate change on biodiversity?

A
  • species with habitat fragmentation (like koalas) have less genetic diversity and more inbreeding
  • levels of CO2 increase temperature - reduces habitat and biodiversity of species
32
Q

What are sclerophylls?

A
  • vegetation with hard and often small leaves
  • woody, fire-resistant sclerophyll have become more common
33
Q

How has the climate impacted the types of vegetation in Australia over the past 40mil years?

A
  • lots of rainfall - less frequent and less abundant fires - rainforest vegetation (Nothofagus)
  • 15mya less rainfall - drier climate - more frequent and abundant fires - more sclerophylls and grasses

Biology (4 decks)

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