Lecture #13: Diversity Function

Question 1

Ecosystem Ecology

Answer 1

Study of interactions among organism and their physical environment

Question 2

Pools

Answer 2

snapshot quantities (ex: where water is stored)

Question 3

fluxes

Answer 3

flows over time (ways water moves) ex: rain or carbon

Question 4

net primary productivity

Answer 4

total carbon transferred into plants per year in ecosystem due to photosynthesis

Question 5

what are examples of carbon pools and fluxes

Answer 5

pools: soil, storage
fluxes: photosynthesis, NPP, deocmpaotion, respiration, herbivory

Question 6

functional traits

Answer 6

characteristics of individuals influence response to environment and/or effects on ecosystem function (ex: slow growing)

Question 7

which species are uncommon in frequently disturbed ecosystems and why

Answer 7

slow growing bc they take time to replenish but if the environment is disturbed they’ll die before establishing

Question 8

what are examples of functional traits and there ecosystems function impact

Answer 8

N fixation–> increase soil N
highly flammable litter–> increase in fire
fast growth–> increased NPP
high rate of nutrient uptake–> decreases soil nutrients

Question 9

functional groups

Answer 9

species sharing similar traits

Question 10

ecosystem functions usually have positive relationship with species richness

Question 11

using diff recourses–>reduce competition

Question 12

complementarity

Answer 12

species using diff resources or same resources but different times (positive linear)

Question 13

redundancy

Answer 13

species overlapping in resources use (exponential curve relation) btw diversity and productivity

Question 14

which relations do redundancy and complemntarity have with diversity and NPP

Answer 14

complementarity: positive liner
redundancy: positive exponential (levels off)

Question 15

selection effect

Answer 15

statistical, likelihood of having a highly productive species increase with pilot richness (outlier)

Question 16

dilution

Answer 16

diverse communities– lower pathogen(something curing disease) loads

Question 17

what increases stability in a population

Answer 17

(redundancy) can buffer functioning bc multiple species can carry roles of each other

Question 18

portfolio effect

Answer 18

if there are fewer species a drought/disease can increase likelihood of los of ecosystem function compared to many species spreading out risk

Question 19

negative covariance

Answer 19

trade-offs increase stability (ex: if one species isn’t favored other is)