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Plant Ecology > Final Exam Review > Flashcards

Final Exam Review Flashcards

1
Q

what is a resource?

A

something required for growth, maintenance, or reproduction that is consumed

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2
Q

what term is used to describe “the level to which a species can bring down a particular resource”?

A

R*

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3
Q

On a self-thinning graph, what are the two axes?

A

x axis: density
y axis: plant size/biomass

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4
Q

what is a zero-growth isocline?

A

the line on a graph showing the abundances of two species, where the growth of a population is zero

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5
Q

Plant secondary defensive compounds are often divided into three broad categories… name three of them.

A

alkaloids, terpenes, phenolics

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6
Q

what are the three most important characteristics of disturbances?

A

size, frequency, intensity

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7
Q

In his community ecology text, Morin suggests a hierarchy of factors that influence whihc species might become members of a given community. Name 3 of those.

A

interspecific interactions, dispersal , habitat selection

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8
Q

What term has the following definition: “the amount of carbon transformed from CO2 into organic carbon by terrestrial plants per unit area per year”?

A

productivity

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9
Q

Which of the following is the largest pool of carbon?
atmosphere, plants & soil, oceans, sediments & rocks

A

sediments and rocks

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10
Q

The immediate source of phosphorus for plants is the ____________ (process) of ________________ (source), which makes P available for plants to absorb.

A

weathering, phosphate-rich rocks

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11
Q

What is the difference between grain and extent of the patches on a landscape?

A

grain is the size of the patches, extent is the total amount of area they represent

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12
Q

When CO2 dissolves into ocean waters, it forms what compound that affects ocean acidity?

A

carbonic acid

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13
Q

what is the
prediction that is most unique to the MacArthur & Wilson
Equilibrium model (island biogeography)

A

Steady species numbers result from continuing turnover,
as some immigrate, and some go extinct

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14
Q

define the competition coefficients, alpha and beta

A

alpha: the impact an individual of species 2 has on the population of species 1
beta: the impact an individual of species 1 has on the population of species 2

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15
Q

what happens if the competition coefficient is zero?

A

the species consume entirely different resources and the Lotka-Volterra equation becomes the normal logistic equation

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16
Q

what are the axes on a zero growth isocline graph?

A

population of spp 1 and population of spp 2

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17
Q

on a zero growth isocline, what is K1, and what is K1/alpha

A

K1: carrying capacity for species 1
K1/alpha: determines the amount of species 2

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18
Q

species can coexist when…
this is shown on a zero-growth isocline when…

A
  • intraspecific competition is more limiting that interspecific competition
  • the lines cross, and K1 and K2 are smaller than K1/alpha and K2/beta
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19
Q

define competition

A

a reduction in fitness due to shared use of a limited resource

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20
Q

what is a common way to quantify the intensity of competition?

A

indices

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21
Q

what is substitutive design?

A

total density stays the same, but ratio of focal plant changes

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22
Q

what is additive design?

A

density of target species is constant, but density of neighbors is varied

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23
Q

what is response surface/additive series design?

A

frequency and density of both species are varied - better than both additive and substitutive design

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24
Q

What is the MacArthur and Tilman perspective of traits and competition?

A

different traits offer advantages in different environments, competition is based on who is best suited to the conditions, competitive hierarchies change

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25
Q

What is grime’s perspective on competition?

A

whoever grows fastest and gains control of resources first will become dominant, competitive hierarchies are consistent

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26
Q

what is the stress gradient hypothesis?

A

even between the same two species, they can shift between competition and facilitation depending on conditions

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27
Q

facilitation should become more important in situations of high _________________ or _____________________

A

stress or disturbance

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28
Q

centrifugal theory of community organization

A

core habitats are preferred by most organisms because of optimal conditions- poor competitors are excluded and forced into peripheral habitats

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29
Q

what are the two key features of the modern theory of coexistence?

A
  • stabilizing processes: fitness differences
  • equalizing processes: niche differences
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30
Q

give two examples of dramatic herbivory

A

gypsy moths, spanworms, bark beetles

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31
Q

what are current atmospheric carbon levels? how much are they increasing?

A

currently 418 ppm, increasing 1.5 to 2 ppm/year

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32
Q

what is the biggest limitation to productivity?

A

precipitation levels

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33
Q

tannins are part of which group?

A

phenolics

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34
Q

what effect do alkaloids have?

A

potentially fatal poisons and physcoactive drugs

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35
Q

5 effects herbivores have on plant communities

A

diversity, relative abundance, spacial distribution/range, eliminate or allow colonization by different species, speed up or slow down successional change

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36
Q

apparent competition

A

negative correlation between spp abundances is not due to consumption of resources, but to behavior of a shared herbivore

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37
Q

enemies hypothesis

A

predation of seeds and high mortality close to parents forces wide spacing of offspring, causing low density of adults, which prevents dominance by one species and increases diversity

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38
Q

plant physical defenses

A

trichomes, tough bark/seed coats, high silica content, low nutritional quality

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39
Q

caffeince, cocaine, and nicotine are examples of …

A

alkaloids

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40
Q

plant apparency

A

bigger, longer lived, and more wide-spread plants are more apparent, and get eaten more

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41
Q

constitutive defenses

A

always present

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42
Q

induced defenses

A

present under stress

43
Q

what is succession?

A

directional change in community structure over time

44
Q

oldfield succession

A

horseweed and purple cudweed, then herbaceous perennials, blackberries/sumac/young pines by year 10, then oaks and hickories around 100 yrs

45
Q

relay florsitics

A
  • Clements
  • states that communities are intertwined superorganisms with strict boundaries
  • change over time by facilitation
  • final composition depends on regional climate
46
Q

individualistic concept

A
  • Gleason
  • states that spp present are those that happen to show up and be well-suited to conditions
  • change over time bc spp alter the env, and new species need to be able to tolerate it (inhibition/tolerance?
47
Q

what are the 3 main causes of succession

A

site availability, differential species availability, and differential species performance

48
Q

site availability is based on…

A

disturbance, resource gradients

49
Q

differential species availability is based on…

A

seed dispersal, seed bank, and survivors

50
Q

differential species performance is based on…

A

life histury, physiology, herbivory

51
Q

disturbance

A

a relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystem,
community or population structure and changes resource availability, substrate availability, or the physical environment

52
Q

what are the 3 major characteristics of disturbance?

A

size, frequency, intensity

53
Q

what is the difference between severity and intensity?

A

severity: extent of the damage
intensity: level of disturbance (earthquake magnitude)

54
Q

intermediate disturbance hypothesis

A

species richness and diversity is highest at intermediate levels of disturbance

55
Q

what is a community?

A

the complete set of species in a locality that are potentially interacting

56
Q

what factors influence the regional species pool?

A

evolutionary processes, historical events, physiological constraints

57
Q

what factors influence the candidate species pool?

A

habitat selection and dispersal

58
Q

what factors influence the local community species pool?

A

species interactions and disturbances

59
Q

collective properties

A

can be calculated by totaling up some property for that community, like biomass or diversity

60
Q

emergent properties

A

the whole is more than the sum of its parts, like food web stability

61
Q

structural properties

A

variability in plant sizes

62
Q

alpha diversity

A

diversity within a particular sample

63
Q

beta diversity

A

variation across multiple samples

64
Q

spatially explicit approach to species area curves

A

based on nested plots of increasing sizes, stepped graph

65
Q

mean field approach to species area curves

A

based on averages of many pairs of plots, smoother line

66
Q

what are the axes on a species area curve?

A

x axis: area
y axis: # species

67
Q

what is a well-established way to quantitatively compare species composition?

A

similarity index

68
Q

the Jaccard index is based on…

A

which species are present in both communities

69
Q

the Czekanowski index is based on…

A

abundances

70
Q

what are the three “compartments” of ecosystems

A

autotrophs, heterotrophs, and abiotic component

71
Q

what is an ecosystem?

A

biotic community + abiotic environment

72
Q

primary productivity

A

CO2 transformed by plants into organic carbon

73
Q

pools

A

the amount of energy or material in each compartment

74
Q

fluxes

A

movement of energy or materials from one compartment to another, or in/out of an ecosystem

75
Q

gross primary productivity

A

total carbon fixed by plants

76
Q

net primary productivity

A

gross PP - respiration

77
Q

two major drivers of NPP

A

temperature and nutrients

78
Q

what are the two types of food chain?

A

grazing (normal) and detrital (more energy flows)

79
Q

the most abundant elements in plants

A

carbon and oxygen

80
Q

how does N get fixed?

A

N fixing bacteria and lightning

81
Q

how does N return to the atmosphere?

A

N decomposing bacteria, combustion

82
Q

mineralization

A

part of decomposition; soil organic matter converted into CO2 and inorganic nutrients

83
Q

potential evapotranspiration (PET)

A

the maximum possible transpiration if plant cover was 100% and water was unlimited

84
Q

actual evapotranspiration (AET)

A

precipitation - losses to runoff and percolation into groundwater

85
Q

what are the largest carbon pools?

A

earths crust and oceans

86
Q

what are the main fluxes of the carbon cycle?

A

photosynthesis and respiration, ocean loss/uptake

87
Q

what forests have the most aboveground carbon?

A

tropical

88
Q

what forests have the most belowground carbon?

A

boreal

89
Q

what are the two types of effects that disturbances have on the C cycle?

A

change the amt stored in pools, and change the abiotic environment/ecosystem processes

90
Q

eddy covariance

A

measures temp, wind, CO2 levels, and precipitation to measure the total flux of carbon in an area

91
Q

what is the most widely-used approach to documenting productivity?

A

change in biomass, use allometric formulas to convert plant size to biomass

92
Q

landscape ecology

A

the study of the spatial distributions of individuals, populations, and communities and the casues and consequences of those spatial patterns

93
Q

sets of patches have these attributes…

A

connectivity, intermingling, spatial pattern

94
Q

the fundamental unit of landscape ecology is the…

A

patch

95
Q

scale dependence

A

different organisms “percieve” the landscape differently depending on their size

96
Q

how is a species area curve different for islands than for mainlands?

A

starts lower on the y axis, but is steeper

97
Q

island biogeorgaphy states that the equilibrium number of species on an island would be a balance of…

A

immigration and extinction

98
Q

what is equilibrium species number (Ŝ)?

A

the number of species when immigration and extinction rates are equal

99
Q

Ŝ is _________________ on more distant islands because immigration is __________________

A

lower, lower

100
Q

Ŝ is ___________________ on larger islands because extinction is _________________

A

higher, lower

101
Q

exploitation competition

A

two species competing for shared resources

102
Q

interference competition

A

competitors interact directly

103
Q

asymmetric competition

A

when one species experiences significantly more deleterious effects of the interaction that the other

104
Q

allelopathy

A

the secretion of allelochemicals to directly inhibit the growth of reproduction of other plants

Plant Ecology (2 decks)

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