EE17

Question 1

What is ecology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of factors affecting the distribution and abundance of organisms.

Question 2

What are the 2 types of competition?

Answer 2

Scramble - all individuals get roughly the same amount. (strongly destabilizing -symmetric)
Contest - winners and losers (highly stabilizing - asymmetric)

Question 3

What is Liebigs Law of the minimum?

Answer 3

Growth in controlled, not by total amount of resources available but by scarcest resource (limiting factor)
The only limiting nutrient is the nutrient whose supply is furthest from requirement.

Question 4

What is Mitscherlichs law?

Answer 4

yield depends on all sub optimal factors not just the most deficient.
The smaller the difference between the actual value of the factor and its optimum the smaller the effect of a change in that factor.
Compensation can occur

Question 5

What are the two mechanisms for competition?

Answer 5

Exploitation - interaction through reduction of shared resource.
Interference - behavioural (eg. territory) chemical (alleopathy)

Question 6

What are the 5 stages of ecological optima of factor and their effects?

Answer 6

Subminimal
-factor is deficit
- development is impossible
Suboptimal 
-factor is in deficit 
-limits growth
Optimal 
-factor is favourable
-development is uneffected
Supraoptimal
-factor is excessive
-growth is inhibited
Supramaximal
-factor is excessive
-development is impossible.