Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards
What are the levels in biological organization?
- Sub cellular
- Cell tissue
- Organism
- Population- One species
- Community- Two or more cells interacting
- Ecosystem- Biotic and abiotic
Evolution is the organizing principle for biotic change
Name 3 solanum species
- Potato
- Tomato
- Egg plant
What is special about solanum tuberosum?
(aka potato)
Solanum- Is a green poison that is used against enemies
- Native to Andes in South America
- The eye of the potato can start a new potato
- Sexually reproduced
Why can we eat potatoes, but not oak leaves?
- We can cook the potatoes to overcome their defenses
- The oak has stronger chemical defenses that humans can’t overcome if consumed
What role does photosynthesis play?
- Makes sugars
- On a chemical budget
- Must disperse through entire plant
What does invasive mean?
Species that are rapidly expanding outside of their native range
80% of people use plants for…
Medicine
Where is New Jersey’s drinking water preserved?
South Jersey and the Pinelands
What are the 4 types of ecological services?
- Provisioning
- Regulating services
- Supporting services
- Cultural services
What does provisioning services include?
- Food- Amount of vegetables and meat we have to sustain the population
- Raw materials such as wood, oil, and fuel
- Medicinal Resources- Herbs to cure diseases
- Fresh Water
What do regulating services do?
- Notify cautions of local climate
- Carbon sequestration and storage
- Waste water treatment- Using septic systems to breakdown bacteria
- Erosion prevention- Preserving land
- Pollination
- Biological Control- We need certain species to control others
What do supporting services do?
- Habitat for Species (Species need to be in a habitat to be sustainable in a population )
- Maintenance for Genetic Diversity (Sexual reproduction with different genotypes and abilities such as dealing with temperature)
What do cultural services do?
- Recreation- People want to see the natural wonders of the world and will pay a lot of money for it
- Mental and physical health- People are more happy when they are in a nature park
- Tourism $- Mountains, waterfalls, and lakes
- Spiritual Experience- Religious people going down to the river to throw away their sins
Weeds are known as…
Ruderal plants that can withstand floods
For invasiveness, you need to reproduce at a young age and
have small seeds
The 10’s rule states that
1 in 10 of the plant and animal species brought into a region will escape to appear in the wild and become invasive
What’s lag phase?
An invasive species has a low number and not noticeable. It can be brief or last a century
What causes plant invasions?
- Disturbances
2. Nitrogen and calcium levels
Name 3 kinds of famous invaders
- Plants (Tree of heaven)
- Fungi (Dutch elm disease)
- Herbivores (Gypsy moth)
Name 2 pathways of intrduction
- Intentional
2. Accidental
What are the aspects of intentional introduction?
- Horticulture of plant collecting- Collecting plants
- Resource- Medicine, spices
- Bio-control efforts- Having one invasive specie control another
What are the aspects of accidental introduction?
- Ship ballast
- Planes, trains, and cars
- Shipping/packaging
- Shoes/clothing
How does the CSR triangle works with invasive specie traits?
*Plants can only have 2 of the 3 traits
* Usually ruderal and competitive
CSR Triangle- Evolutionary tradeoffs
Strategies:
C= competitor
S= Stress tolerator
R= Ruderal
How do Invaders Succeed?
- Enemy release hypothesis- Silene latifolia grows faster and makes more flowers away from enemies
- Evolution of increased competitive ability
- Novel weapons hypothesis- proposes that some invasive plant species gain advantages over native plants by possessing the novel allelopathic, defence, or antimicrobial chemicals.
- Altering ecosystem characteristics
- Filling empty niches
What are some invasion phases?
- Introduction
- Naturalization
- Lag phase- Where people aren’t too worried about it
- Rapid population growth and range expansion
- Range stabilization
What are the results of Invasion?
- Near monoculture- Low diversity
- Biotic homogenization- The process by which species invasions and extinctions increase the genetic, taxonomic or functional similarity of two or more locations. Has consequences.
- Near elimination of certain native species. American chestnut, American elm
- Defoliation disturbances- gypsy moth (Occurs when leafeating insect populations explode
- Economic impacts with forestry and agriculture
What makes a community invasive?
- Charles Elton argued that disturbed and species poor communities are most likely to be invaded (fires and floods)
What is the role of disturbance?
- Disturbance is important in invasions, but its role varies
- Disturbance decreases invasion in disturbance adapted communities
What is the role of species richness?
Observational data consistently shows a positive trend between species richness and invasions
What is the role of soil nutrients?
- Areas with high soil nutrients are more likely to be invaded
- In new range, spends less on defensive traits, grows faster and makes more flowers
(An example is silene latifolia) - High stress environments are least invaded
- High Stress: Alpine, desert, extreme ph, deep shade, nutrient deficient
What are the characteristics of invaded sites in NJ?
- Human use- Past and present, canopy openings, deer overabundance
- Appalachian trail
How do we get rid of them?
- No method will completely eradicate a plant
- All are time consuming and expensive
- Options: Mechanical, chemical, and biological control
What are annual species?
- Weeds and field crops that begin reproducing within a relatively short time after germination
- They produce many seeds in one or two bouts of reproduction
Die within a year. Ex: Hawaiian Silverswords
What are perennial plants?
- Woody perennials such as trees and shrubs
- Must reach a certain minimum size after a few years before reproducing and produces few seeds each time they flower, but they last a lifetime
What does monocarpic mean?
Plants that produce flowers once
What does polycarpic mean?
Plants that produce flowers more than once
What is a plant’s life history?
A plant’s schedule of birth, mortality, and growth
What does a plant’s phenology- mean?
The timing of growth and reproduction within a year
What are trade-offs?
- Caused by limited resources. - Increasing one thing leads to a decrease in something else
(If all plants had no tradeoffs then there would be countless seeds reproduced and produce continually, it would grow rapidly as well)
True or False: The cottonwood tree produces many seeds?
True
What are the advantages of large seeds?
Larger seeds contain more endosperm and take up more nutrients than smaller seeds
Producing more smaller seeds reduces…
the plants success because they grow more slowly
What did John Harper suggest?
Suggested that variation in seed size is quite limited in most plant species. (Other scientists later said that there is much more variation in seeds size)
Variable seed size is favored when…
the environment varies over time
What is inclusive fitness?
A measure of how well that individual passes on its genes
What is granivory?
Seeds predation of animals, but they mainly eat big seeds
If seeds are dispersed by wind, then there will be…
an optimal size to maximize distance traveled
What are some life history strategies?
Organisms must apportion resources amount completing demographic functions: survival, growth, and reproduction and that determines its fitness
What does vernalization mean?
- A period of cool or cold temperatures, before flowering. - - Happens to plants in northern regions
Winter annuals germinate in…
autumn and flower in the spring
What are biennials?
Flower after 2 years (Ex: Platte Thistle)
What are Semelparous Perennials?
Live a number of years before flowering (Tundra plants)