Exam 1 Flashcards
Hierarchy of biological organization
Atoms
Molecules
Organelles
Cells
Tissues
Organs
Organ system
The word Ecology is derived from the Greek work ‘oikos’ which means
House
Hierarchy of biological realms
Organisms
Populations
Community
Ecosystems
Landscapes
Biosphere
Physiological ecology
Organismal level of ecological study
Population ecology
Population-level of ecological study
Community ecology
Community level of study (ie predation etc)
Ecosystem ecology
Ecosystem level of study (ie energy flow, food webs etc)
Global Ecology
Climate change and effects etc
Temporal variation
different times
Spatial variation
Different places
Proximate questions
Now, immediate, functional. ‘How’ questions
Ultimate questions
Evolutionarily ‘Why’ questions
Descriptive questions
‘What’ questions
What does the terrestrial ecosystem’s structure rely on?
Plants baby
Climate
Averages of temp, rainfall, lights, wind speed, hours of light
Weather
The day-to-day variation in temp, rainfall, lights, wind speed, hours of light
Seasons
Long-term predictable variation of temp, rainfall, lights, etc. Only truly outside the tropics
Why do seasons occur outside the tropics?
23-degree tilt of Earth’s axis
Troposphere
lowest layer of atmosphere, weather occurs here
Stratosphere
Lots of O3 (ozone) protects troposphere oxygen and screens out UV light
Mesosphere
Coldest, shooting stars
Thermosphere
Northern lights happen here
What is the tropopause, stratopause, and mesopause?
Where atmosphere levels meet or end. Very little mixing occurs between layers
If everywhere on Earth gets the same hours of sunlight annually, why is there a different climate?
The Equator gets more energy and the difference is magnified by different levels of reradiation
Latent heat flux
Evaporation
Sensible heat flux
Convection (heat away from you), conduction (heat to you)
Albedo
Capacity to reflect radiation
2 key concepts of the climate model:
Warm air (water) rises, cool air (water) sinks
Warm air holds more water vapor than cold air
Intertropical Convergence Zone
Belt of moisture and rain in the tropics w/o much wind between the 2 Hadley cells
Which of the following statements is false?
a) increased CO2 in the atmosphere is likely to cause decreased ocean pH
b) some populations of penguins are declining because of spring snowmelt floods nests
c) spring phytoplankton bloom of diatoms is dependent on the annual cycle of the ice forming and melting
d) benthic inverts show a strong correlation between water temp and early development timing
e) there is less snow in the Antarctic now as the climate warms
e) there is less snow in the Antarctic now as the climate warms
Identify the mismatched pair
a) pteropods = marine mollusks threatened by ocean acidification
b) salps = food chain dead end
c) durophagous species = predators adapted for eating hard shell prey
d) krill = adults forage on algae under the ice sheets
e) algal forests = expanding with the eroding ice shelves
d) krill = adults forage on algae under the ice sheets
The ACC
a) helps to mix Antarctic biota with species from more temperate conditions to the North
b) generally found hugging very close to the Antarctic coats except along the Antarctic Peninsula
c) moves in an East to West direction around the South pole
d) naturally upwells at the Antarctic Peninsula’s western shore, making for a productive ecosystem
e) all of the above
d) naturally upwells at the Antarctic Peninsula’s western shore, making for a productive ecosystem
King crabs are normally confined to deep basins in the Antarctic because
a) of competition w/ other species found on the shallower continental shelves
b) there they can overcome the deadly effects of magnesium narcosis
c)the basin water is colder than neat the surface and they can’t tolerate warm waters
d) that’s the only place their food can live
e) none of the above
b) there they can overcome the deadly effects of magnesium narcosis
Adelie penguin populations are
a) increasing as the sea ice disappears and they have greater access to fish
b) decreasing in part because they breed earlier than the other penguins and are susceptible to spring nest floods
c) helped out by the increased snow bc it provides greater insulation
d) increasing bc of deceased completion with other penguin species
e) basically unaffected
b) decreasing in part because they breed earlier than the other penguins and are susceptible to spring nest floods
Which of the following has not been a pandemic disease?
a) flu
b) cholera
c) bubonic plague
d) AIDS
e) rabies
e) rabies
A zoonotic is
a disease transmitted from animals to humans
Air cell between 0 and 30 degrees
Hadley cell
air cell between 30 and 60 degrees
Ferrel cell
Air cell between 60 and 90 degrees
Polar cell
Global air currents cause 0 to be
Wet
Global air currents cause 30 to be
Dry (Sahara Desert)
Global air currents cause 60 to be
Wet (not as much as equator tho)
Westerlies are
Winds coming from North pole and going West
Global air currents cause 90 to be
Cold and dry
Easterlies are
Winds coming from South pole and going East
West Coast currents are
Cold
East coast currents are
Warm
T or F, ITCZ goes around the equator perfectly all year round
False
Why does ice float and water at the bottom of the lake never freezes?
H2O is most dense at 4 degrees Celsius
Thermocline
The narrow distance of which the temperature decreases in a body of water
The different types of organisms in a region
Richness
Relative numbers of species in a region
Evenness
Intraspecific diversity
Within 1 species
Esp between populations
indv pops accumulated different traits to suit local conditions
More diverse populations =
More stable
Causes of diversity
Vertical structure ( Kansas plains vs rainforest trees)
Stability -> specialzation (ie tropics)
Disturbance
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis
Species diversity is highest in areas of occasional disturbance (a factor that alters landscape)
Bc high species numbers and evenness
Disturbance reduces good competitors and gives others chance to colonize and coexist
Why is low disturbance bad?
Overcompition by dominant species and exclude other species
Why is high disturbance bad?
Too chaotic, only few, stress-tolerant species survive
Diversity loss due to
Overuse
Exotic spp intro
Pollution
Population alterations
Habitat alterations
Why is there higher taxa generally in marine ecosystems?
More orders and taxa
More time and stability to evolve
Richness _____ with primary productivity
Increases
T or F, islands tend to have lower diversity than comparable areas of mainland
True
Saturation number
of species on a island at the same time
Island species tend to
Get BIG or v v small
Lose dispersal abilities
Emigration and extinction rates on islands affected by
Dispersal abilities
Habitat heterogeneity
Habitat size
Spp richness bigger on land-brigde islands than oceanic islands . What is this called?
Species relaxation
50% loss of habitat =
10% loss of species
90% loss of habitat =
50% loss of species
95% loss of habitat =
75% loss of species
Evolution is
Change in allele frequencies
Adaptions are
Characteristics that result on the improved ability for an individual to survive/thrive in an environment
T or F, evolution is not directionless but has no goal
True
T or F, since the direction is determined at the time of selection and can only occur based on current conditions, an adaption can become a negative
True
Fitness
Proportional contribution of an individual to future generations
Why are adaptions imperfect?
Everything is a tradeoff and the environment changes. Also can only occur on a list that exists.
T or F, indiviudals evolve
False
Stabilizing selection
Selects against two extremes, or for the average phenotype
Compresses variability
Ex: birth weight - though skewed due to modern meds
Disruptive selection
Select against average or fo two extremes
Separates population into distinct morphs
Directional selection
Selects against one extreme or for one end of the phenotypic curve
Ex: pesticide resistance
What is the source of all genetic variation?
Mutation
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
Null hypothesis
# of limitations mean allele frequency won’t change
(flip it and say what is causing allele changes)
Phenotypic plasticity
Trait appearances differ due to environments but are genetically the same
Outbreeding depression
Can’t breed q/ someone too different
Inbreeding and outbreeding depression sweet spot is
Optimal outcrossing distance
Inbreeding depression
A decrease in allele variations leads to an increase of homozygous traits
Clinical variation
Series of ecotypes with some genetic basis
Phenotypic definition of a species and limitations
Look-alike or different
Some species are the same and have different traits
Some species look crazy similar but have different habits
Reproductive definition of a species and limitations
Most common
If 2 species can interbreed and produce fertile offspring
Open circle species (if A can breed with b and b with c, but c and breed with a)
Doesn’t work for asexual species
Phylogenetic definition of species
Common ancestor
Ecological definition of species
Different species based on behaviors or habitat etc
Allopatric speciation
Allo - differnt patric - countries
New species bc geographic isolation from ancestors
Most common form
Sympatric speciation
Speciation w/o geographical isolation due to hybridization, polyploidy, behavioral isolation, character displacement (different characteristics)
What is polyploidy?
of sets of chromosomes
Hybridization (or allopolyploidy) v cmmon in plants. Why?
Can speciate through polyploidy
Plants sedentary and pollen goes everywhere
Can self fertilize
Prezygotic mechanisms of reproductive isolation
Geographic
Ecological
Behavioral
Temporal
Mechanical
Gametic
Postzygotic mechanisms of reproductive isolation
Hybrid inviability (miscarriage)
Hybrid sterility
Hydrid breakdown (first gen fertile, future-gen not)
Allopolyploidy:
hybrid of 2 species chromosome sets
Founder effect
Start new pop w/ a small subset of the original population (zoos)
Population bottlenecks
Population significantly reduced the allele frequencies may change not due to natural selection
Variation is counteracted by
Gene flow
What does gene flow do to populations?
Homogenizes them
