Final BIO122 Flashcards
Ecology
Study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment. Both biotic and abiotic.
Biotic
How organisms interact with each other.
Interspecies vs intraspecies interactions.
Interspecies
- Predator/prey interactions
- Competition with other species
Intraspecies
- Mating behavior
- Herd dynamics
- Distribution
- Competition within the species
Abiotic
How organisms interact with physical factors.
Physical factors influence attributes of a species.
Some hierarchical levels of life:
Global ecology, landscape ecology, ecosystem ecology, community ecology, population ecology, organismal ecology.
Example: Global ecology - How are ecological changes altering Earth?
How has ecology had a great influence over our understanding of evolution?
Considering aspects of ecology (i.e. competition) led to the theory of natural selection.
Why do organisms live where they do? (Population level question)
- Interactions with the environment shape organisms through natural selection.
Organisms might live in an area because they have spent many generations adapting to that environment. - Migration can bring organisms to new environments.
Organisms might live in an area that they migrate to and are “pre-adapted” for.
What determines the structure of an ecosystem? Top-down vs bottom-up (community level question).
Top-down: The abundance of apex predators determines the structure of the ecosystem.
Bottom-up: The amount for primary production (plant-growth) determines the structure of the ecosystem.
What determines how diverse an ecosystem is? (Ecosystem level question)
Tropical regions have more biodiversity than anywhere else on earth.
Polar regions have very little biodiversity.
Abiotic - extinction is less likely to happen in tropics bc rainfall and the terrain is variable.
Biotic - By chance the tropics became biodiverse and since have maintained bc of frequency of ecological interactions between species.
____ and ____ establish abiotic factors on earth.
Geology, physics
What establishes regional climate patterns?
Solar radiation.
How do seasons come about.
Seasons result from the earth’s rotation being offset from the angle of its orbit around the sun.
Tropics receive more or less sunlight year round.
How does local geology also alter climactic conditions?
Prevailing temperature, wind, and precipitations set the overall climate of a region.
Mountain ranges, bodies of water, or other features of geology can alter that climate.
Proximity to water influences…
Terrestrial Climate
What are terrestrial ecosystems mostly determined by?
Annual temperature and rainfall.
Movement of air leads to rainfall and temperature regimes for a region.
____ factors establish climates.
Abiotic
Marine ecosystem types are established by…
Availability of light and nutrients.
Very little organic matter is present deep in the ocean because…
Lack of nutrients and sun light.
Most organisms are dependent on matter that “rains down” from above.
Some deep-water ecosystems are dependent on geochemical energy.
What is behavior?
The study of how animals respond to their environment.
Includes everything from reflex movement to personality traits.
What are the four questions to thoroughly understand a behavior?
Proximate Questions: Who/what/how of a behavior (mechanistic understanding)
1. What mechanisms trigger a specific response?
2. How does the expression of a behavior develop as the animal matures?
Ultimate Question: Why of a behavior (evolutionary significance)
3. What is the ecological function of the behavior and how does it aid survival and reproduction?
4. How did the behavior evolve?
Imagine you are studying pack hunting behavior in wolves. If you asked the question: “Is pack hunting adaptive?” - Would that be a proximate or ultimate question?
a. Proximate
b. Ultimate
Ultimate
Beware of the adaptationists explanation…
Interpreting the evolution of a character by interpreting its function assumes the character evolved through adaptation, which often leads to just-so stories.
Innate behaviors are ____, ____, or ____.
fixed, hardwired, reflective.
Example of innate behavior..
Spiders that weave webs are born knowing how to weave a web.
Innate behaviors are often linked to…
survival
Do humans have innate behaviors?
Yes, reflexive
Innate behaviors are usually…
genetic traits.
Snakes that eat slugs innately have…
different odor receptor alleles.
Snakes in populations that have banana slugs will instinctively eat banana slugs from birth.
Snakes in populations without banana slugs will not eat them.
Is a behavior the result of genetics or the environment?
Can be both
Nature vs nurture tested with mice.
Mice mimic the behavior of the mice that raised them indicating gene expression changes in brains of fostered mice.
Can honeybees behavior vary depending on the evniroment?
Yes.
Honeybee behavior is determined by juvenile hormone but can vary depending on environment.
Types of learning behavior:
Imprinting
Cognition
Spatial
Associative
Social
What is learning?
Changing a behavior due to experience.
Most animals can learn some behaviors.
Do learned behaviors change with experience? What is a critical period which birds can learn who their parents are?
Yes
Imprinting
Critical period - a period of an organism’s life when it can learn a particular behavior.
Can imprint any object so long as it moves and makes noise (baby chickens).
Parental imprinting of offspring can be exploited…
- Several bird species lay eggs in the nests of other species (birds as nest parasites).
- Chicks may have innate behaviors that kill the true offspring.
- Chicks may be able to outcompete the true offspring by growing faster.
Navigation can involve a ____ map, and/or a ____ map.
spatial, cognitive
Spatial - memorizing relative locations.
Cognitive - Allows for adjustments because it is based on relative position.
Associative learning occurs when…
two stimuli are linked
Association A = B
Social learning involved ____ and ____.
observation, imitation
Predator tactics are likely learned from mothers by observation.
Is social learning necessary for human culture and brain development?
yes
Oxana Malaya abandoned by parents at 3 years old raised by dogs, acted like a dog instead of a human.
What likely explains the existence of language?
Social learning.
Dif animals make calls for predators, babies make wrong call and are corrected.