Grad Disscusion Flashcards
Why is plant diversity alone may not be as important as the origin of the plant?
Different plant contribute different amounts of energy to the food web. Diversity is good but some plants are more important then others to the ecosystem.
What are several reasons why native plants can support more animal diversity in an area compared to non-native plants?
What does an N15 isotope graph show and what does it say about where the organisms is getting its nitrogen from?
Why might adult birds not be affected by plant origin as much
as baby birds.
Offspring may be more effected by plant origin because native plants are able to support more insects which is the primary food source of birds during reproduction. Without the native plants, the adult birds are not able to support their chicks as well due to less food.
As a result, the adults will be able to support themselves over their young so they can try again during the next reproductive period.
Why are some native plant species might be more important for Lepidoptera than other native plant species?
Not all native plants contribute the same amount of energy to food webs. The top five performers across the US are Quercus, Salix, Prunus, Pinus, and Populus.
Why are Lepidoptera important insects in the food chain?
Lepidoptera transfer a large amount of energy from plants to other animals.
What it means for a plant to be a keystone plant in terms of Lepidoptera and the food chain?
Why are plants carnivorous? (what are they getting from the animals?)
Nitrogen to compensate for the lack of nutrients in the soil.
What are the costs/benefits associated with carnivory and evidence that supports this idea?
Carnivory is an adaptation to the lack of nitrogen in soil. However, the modified leaf is not good for photosynthesis.
Carnivory is typically in bogs, wetlands, and nutrient poor soils that are well-lit. Carnivory makes up for the nutrients and despite the poor photosynthesis, the plant still gets enough sun.
What is the adaptive purpose of altering pitcher/phyllodia size?
Altering pitcher/phyllodia size is important when their are changing levels of nitrogen in the environment.
High nutrients = smaller pitcher, bigger phyllodia
Where does human-derived excess nitrogen come from in environments and what are the negative effects of this excess
nitrogen?
Excessive nitrogen can cause algae bloom.
The nitrogen is often from farm run off from fertilizers, and vehicle exhaust.
Under what circumstances would it be good to have a specialized
pollination system vs. a generalized one? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each?
Specialized pollination systems can be super advantageous for plants in environments that do not change very much. It can be better to select and focus on a specific niche for pollination.
Generalized pollination systems are better for areas that have consistent seasonal changes and lots of variability. Being generalized allows the plant to be more flexible with what pollinators are in the area.
What are the traits of pitcher plants adapted for bat roosting vs
insect trapping
Roosting pitchers are much longer/bigger, less liquid at the bottom, less (human perceptible) fragrances, and exhibit special UV light absorption.
Insect trapping pitchers are smaller, smellier, with more liquid within the pitcher.
What traits do hummingbirds prefer and what traits do bees prefer? (According to the Schemske and Bradshaw)
humming birds prefer plants with a large amount of nectar. They did not have a preference about petal carotenoids content or “landing area size”
What is Fisher’s infinitesimal model of adaptation and how does the
Schemske and Bradshaw study contradict this model?
Under what circumstances may a plant-pollinator/parasite system be
mutualistic, antagonistic, or communalistic?
What type of evidence would help determine the type of plant-pollinator/parasite system?
Why might a plant evolve the ability to selectively abort capsules that
have eggs in them vs. selectively abort capsules that don’t have eggs in
them?
What rewards to Acacias produce for ants and what benefits to the Acacia’s get?
Acacia trees produce hollow swollen thorns that can be used as ant houses and a carbohydrate-rich nectar from extrafloral glands at the base of leaves.
In returning for feeding and/or housing ants, the Acacia gains protection against herbivores because the ants will defend the tree.
What is resistance?
Preventing herbivory, could be physical or chemical defenses
How do herbivores alter ant and acacia interactions?
The presence of herbivores causes the Acacia to grow structures to encourage ant colonies to inhabit them so they can gain protection from the herbivores. Without herbivores, the Acacia will stop producing nectar and the specialized thorns.
One of the observed ant species pruned the buds of the Acacia tree which contained to simulate herbivory without any herbivores.
What are maternal effects and how can they be adaptive/beneficial for the offspring vs non-adaptive?
Give examples
Maternal effects describe when the phenotype of their offspring is influenced by environment experienced by the mother.
This allows their offspring to be better suited for the similar/same environmental conditions the mother faced. Giving it an advantage compared to offspring without that maternal effect.
What is tolerance?
Allows herbivory to take place with no reduction of fitness to the plant
What is phenological escape?
Growth and reproduction occur at times with less herbivores
What is overcompensation?
Plants have a higher fitness when they are damaged compared undamaged plants
How can a plant-herbivore interaction be a mutualism? Describe some of the mechanisms.
As long as the benefits from a by-product induced by the herbivore out weights the loss of the plant material while being eaten, it becomes a mutatlism.
