Stinchcomb Lectures

Question 1

What phenomena does the PETM lead us to expect from global warming?

Answer 1

latitudinal (towards poles/higher altitudes) migrations, evolutionary change, phenological change, changes in pop. dynamics

Question 2

What is the purpose of ecological niche modelling?

Answer 2

predicts how far and in what directions species ranges will need to shift to continue living in a suitable area

Question 3

What is the difference in effect of natural climate shifts and anthropogenic climate shifts?

Answer 3

anthropogenic climate changes happen at a rate that is too fast for animals to migrate or adapt

Question 4

What happened to the pronghorn antelope?

Answer 4

highways fences built to stop animals grazing on land meant for natural gas exploration trap antelope and disrupt migration

Question 5

What happened to the passenger pigeon?

Answer 5

forest fragmentation did not allow them to adapt to finding new food sources so they went “extinct in the wild” from 1831-1900

Question 6

What happened to the pikas of the Great Basin?

Answer 6

adapted for life in cold mountain regions, as these regions heat up pikas have to continue to climb mountains to maintain temperatures

Question 7

What is antagonistic pleiotropy?

Answer 7

natural selection favours traits with short term benefits even if there are long term costs so bodies are programmed to senesce and die

Question 8

What is the main effect of biodiversity?

Answer 8

resistance to environmental perturbation and higher productivity

Question 9

What is the tradeoff for genetic diversity in one species?

Answer 9

the diversity of predators increases accordingly

Question 10

What are the mechanisms supporting biodiversity?

Answer 10

additive or non-additive genotype interactions

Question 11

What are the effects of a non additive genotype interaction on biodiversity?

Answer 11

predator abundance in monoculture = predator abundance in polyculture so one can be used to predict the other

Question 12

What are the effects of an additive genotype interaction on biodiversity?

Answer 12

properties of the genotype depend on surrounding genotypes not abundance of predators

Question 13

What is the chain of causation showing that genetic variation affects nutrient cycling?

Answer 13

genotypes differ in chemical properties, attacked by insects, genotypes have different responses to attack, combined set of differences affects nutrient cycling

Question 14

What is the difference in biomass of ecosystems with erect and prostrate forms of coyote bush and why?

Answer 14

more biomass is associated with fields containing erect coyote bush because they allow for other species to use resources; prostrate forms cool the ground and have greater litter depth

Question 15

How does fertilizing fields influence biodiversity?

Answer 15

species diversity decreases as you add elements to fertilizer

Question 16

How does fertilizing fields influence genetic diversity?

Answer 16

genetic diversity increases as you add fertilizer

Question 17

Why does adding fertilizer to fields decrease biodiversity?

Answer 17

eliminates limiting resource of some species allowing them to outcompete others they otherwise would have been unable to outcompete

Question 18

Why does adding fertilizer to fields increase genetic diversity?

Answer 18

elimination of competitors from removing limiting resource opens niche space for more genotypes of dominant species

Question 19

What effects does genetic variation in one species have on the ecological processes surrounding it?

Answer 19

distribution/abundance of other species, disturbance recovery, nutrient decomposition