Exam 2 Flashcards
What methods are used for estimating population size? When would you use each method?
Box plots: count all organisms in a given box/area. Good for sessile organisms
Line-transect: count all individuals seen on a given walking distance. Good for fast, widely scattered or hard to find species.
Capture, mark, recapture (Lincoln-Peterson model): collect initial sample, tag, release, recollect and use ratio of tagged and untagged to estimate population
What are the assumptions of the Lincoln-Peterson model? (4) What are the consequences of violations?
N=nM/x
- Marked and unmarked individuals are captured at random
- if marked individuals more likely to be caught, N will be underestimated - No birth or death between initial marking and recapture
- if birth and death happen, more individuals will be unmarked leading to an overestimate of N - No immigration or emigration
- immigration: new individuals entering pop–> overestimate of N
- emigration: individuals leaving population –> underestimate of N likely - Marks are persistent/cannot be overlooked
- if marks able to be undone will lead to less marked individuals–> overestimate of pop
Common patterns of dispersion (distribution)?
Random
Regular
Clumped
Causes of Random dispersion?
Neutral interactions between individuals
Causes of Regular dispersion?
Antagonistic interactions between individuals or local depletion of resources
Causes of Clumped dispersion?
Attraction between individuals or attraction of individuals to a common resource
Shrub dispersion changes with age/size example
Young shrubs: clumped dispersion due to seeds not dispersing far away, and at safe sites, and due to asexual reproduction
As shrubs get older dispersion becomes more regular as shrubs compete for resources in soil through root systems
What are the 7 types of rarity? (really 3 + combos)
- Restricted Geographic range
- Narrow habitat tolerance
- Small local population
- 1 & 2
- 1 & 3
- 2 & 3
- all three
When do you use exponential growth vs geometric growth?
Assumptions for both?
geometric: reproduction rate is constant, non-overlapping generations or discrete breeding seasons
exponential: continuous reproduction
Assumptions: environmental conditions are constant, all individuals reproduce and survive equally well or there is a stable age distribution
How is per capita rate of increase related to body size?
As body size increases, per capita rate of increase will decrease. This has to do with it taking more resources to create larger offspring and more resources needed per individual
Cohort analysis
Follow single group of animals all born at same time until their death. Useful for plants and sessile organisms
Static analysis
Look at survival and reproductive rates of individuals of each age group. Good for long living or relatively mobile species
Age Distribution
way of estimating age-specific survival and reproductive rates.
Calculate difference in proportion of individuals in each age class, assumes differences are due to differences in mortality
can help indicate if a population is shrinking or growing based on proportion young and old individuals
What are density-dependent factors?
food supply; places to live (burrows, etc); effects of predators (bison example), parasites, and diseases
What are density-independent factors?
temperature, precipitation, catastrophic events
Consequences of crowding
- less food
- aggravates social strife
- promotes spread disease
- attracts attention of predators
Survivorship curves (types I, II, and III)
type I: high survivorship for most of life then sharp decline (humans)
type II: near linear survivorship no matter age (some birds, fish, etc.)
type III: low/fast initial survivorships at young ages then slows later in age (MOST COMMON TYPE). seen in plants and smaller organisms
What do you need to estimate population growth rates from a life table?
You need to know the net reproductive rate across all age classes (Ro), the survivorship (lx), and fecundity (Fx)
r = ln(Ro)/T Ro = sum(lx*Fx) T = sum(x*lx*Fx)/Ro
What does r tell us about birth rates, death rates, and immigration or emigration?
r = births - deaths
What does r tell us about birth rates, death rates, and immigration or emigration?
r = births - deaths
What is the difference between Sx and lx?
Sx is the survivorship per age group (so the probability of survival from x to x + 1 : Nx+1/Nx
lx is the overall survivorship (the percent survival rate from age 0 to age x) : lx+1 = Sx*lx
What is the inflection point of the logistic growth model represent?
Population growth rate is highest here (K/2). Represents shift from higher growth rate to lower growth rate