Societies and shelter - part 2 Flashcards
Why do societies use a shelter?
A shelter establishes a “factory within a fortress”
explain a “factory within a fortress”
a protected, defensible location where offspring production can be maximized.
when is shelter usage in all organisms selected for?
when enhanced protection from biotic and abiotic interactions boosts reproduction to a level that outweighs the costs of finding/constructing a shelter and maintaining it.
Key ecological interactions altered by shelter usage
- Environmental buffering and tolerance.
- More invincible “invincible center” for increasing or stabilizing space use.
- Augmented food acquisition and processing
environmental buffering and tolerance - what can a shelter buffer against
Desiccation, drowning, temperature extremes and variation
environmental buffering and tolerance - what do buffering benefits of nests allow
tolerance of ecological space that would otherwise not be be tolerable.
Examples of temperature buffering and tolerance
- Optimal daily maximums in temperature.
- Daily fluctuations in temperature.
- Seasonal fluctuations in temperature.
- Latitudinal gradient in temperature.
temperature buffering and tolerance - optimal daily maximums in temperature examples
- rock ants
- turtle ants
optimal daily maximums in temperature - rock ants
- Shelter under a rock to increase temperature for offspring rearing
- brings maximum up
optimal daily maximums in temperature - turtle ants
- shelter inside dense wood to be insulated against high and low desert temperature
- brings maximum down
temperature buffering and tolerance - daily fluctuations in temperature example
ant nest structure
daily fluctuations in temperature - ant nest structure
Allows adjustment to optimal temperature for offspring rearing by moving offspring up (warmer temp) and down (cooler temp) in the nest structure throughout the day
temperature buffering and tolerance - seasonal fluctuations in temperature example
- deep nest architecture
- The “winter ant”
seasonal fluctuations in temperature - deep nest architecture
deep nest architecture allows tolerance of winter cold in warmer, deeper soil and allows cold-weather activity.
seasonal fluctuations in temperature - the “winter ant”
- because of winter cold tolerance in their deep nest, they are active when other ants are sealed in their nests
- avoid competition with other ants and
thermal pressures in the summer
temperature buffering and tolerance - latitudinal gradient in temperature example
“frost line” impact on ants