temp decidious forest pt 2 Flashcards
Temp decidous forest
- Higher biodviserty than boreal forests typically
- The producers are primarily plants, with trees being a focus
- Consumers are birds and small mammals are numerous; larger mamamals (grazers and carnivores/scavengers) also prominent
Decomposers - fungus and invertebrates like insects, worms, gastropods, crustaceans, nematodes etc.
Birds
- 10k species
- Can either reside here all the time or are migratory
- Bipedal vertebrates that distinguish themselves from relatives due to their feathers
- All birds have bills - variation in form and function but they are always toothless and covered with a horny sheath - variation is depedent on what they eat
- Brain size is typically larger (6-11x) compared to similar sized reptiles, and they display complex behavioural tactics
- What helps with flying:
○ Formlibs are wings, feathers - lift and propulsion
○ Efficient respirtaory system - meet high oxygen
○ Light hallow bones - provide a light but rigid airframe - Bills are specialized for diet
○ Slender has pointed bill for eating insects
○ Sharp and long is for bark
○ Short and stumpy is for seeds
○ Raptors have hook beaks for eating animals and meat
Flight has allowed birds to reach new resources (driven diversification - adaptive radiation after having ability to fly)
Types of birds
Neoaves - basically includes all modern birds except for the galloansera and paleoognathae
○ Telluraves (land birds) includes:
§ Perching birds - passeriformes
□ Have 4 toes on each food, 3 forward and one back
□ Use song for communication
□ 12 tail feathers
§ Many birds of prey, including eagles, vultures and hawks
§ Owls - strigiformes
§ And others
○ Aquaterraves (water birds and others)
- Galloanserae - gallifomes include such as pheasants, turkeys, qual and chicken - anseriforms include duck, geese, swans
Palaeognathae - comprimise the large, flightless living ratites (emu, ostrich etc) and their smaller, flying cousins; tinamou
Birds - Top consumers
○ In forests, many birds are raptors (or birds of prey) - hawks, eagles, falcons, owls
○ Typically top predators, or mix of carnvivory and scavenger diet
○ Feed on smaller aniamls or varying types
○ Generally have good eyesight, talons for manipulating prey, curved beaks
○ Often males and females appear distinct - sexual dimorphism
○ Generally build stick nests, have 1 clutch per season, 1-6 eggs (species specific)
§ Bc they need a lot of food they only produce a few eggs at a time
Many species migrate, some reside all year - red tailed hawk and many owls
Birds - Lower conusmers; passeri
○ Many songbirds (passeri) and woodpeckers (picidae)
○ Songbirds (3k species) use their song to communicate and claim territory and songs are often complex
○ Often quite obvious sexual dimorphism
§ Females often have more muted colours, largerly to avoid being seen by predators
○ Many in ontario are migratory (junco, warblers, thrush, flycatchers) but alos numerous reside throughout the year (some nuthathc, sparrow, blue jays, cardinals, cedar waxings)
○ Diet varies, often by species and may feed on a variety of available food
○ Food includes insects, other small invertebreates (snails and worms), fruits/nuts and seeds from gymno and angio
○ Songbirds are prey for numerous species, both as adults and eggs and baby birds
§ Birds of prey, coyotes, foxes, bears
§ Even chipmunks, deer, other herbivores may eat the eggs or baby birds
§ Cats
birds and reptiles
- Birds are part of tetrapods (4 limbs vertebrates), amniotes and reptiles in the vertebrates
- Non avian reptiles - recognized as sauropsids - include stuff besides birds and mammals - paraphyletic clade
- What is going on with reptiles and birds?
○ Clade archosauria
§ Popularized in 1980s
§ Includes birds, crocs, and extinct dinosarus and pterosaurs
Archaosaurs along with their sister group the lepidosaurs (lizards and snakes) and turtles form the grouping reptilia
Snakes (Squamata; serpentes)
○ Vertebrates having secodnary lost limbs
○ Vertebrae tehsmlevs are shorter and wider to allow undulating movement
○ Highly kinetic skull - loosely jointed lower jaw
○ Sensitive to vibartions and olfaction (tatse) but generally poor eyesight and hearing
○ Most lay shelled eggs (ovoparous) - some have eggs developing internaly and lay live young (ovoviviparous) - some have a primitive placenta for live birth (viviparous)
○ Ectotherms - commonly spotted warming bodies on rocks
○ Predators of inverterbates, amphibians, earthworms, fish, small mammals and birds
Prey for carnivourous birds and mammals
Amniotes
- Aminiotes - includes the reptile groups and mammals - basically all tetrapods besides amphibians
○ The eggs are adapted to be laid on land- Aminotes - lizards, snakes, turtles, crocs, alligators, birds and ammmals - have an aminotic egg
○ The eggs are adapted to tolerate dry conditions of life on land - called amniotic egg - Amniotes:
○ Amniotes arose from amphibian like tetrapods
○ Produce shelled eggs that prevent loss of moisture
○ Features of amniotic eggs:
§ An outer membrane sometimes covered by a leather or mineralized shell
§ A protective albumen
§ An amniotic memrbane that encloses the embryo witjin fluid filled cavity
§ Chorion that mediate gas exchange and management of waste products
§ A yolk or placenta that provides nutrition
○ Amniotic eggs must be fetrlized internally before the eggshell is produced by the female because sperm cannot penetrate the shell
○ Adaptions of amniotes:
§ Some other adaptions:
□ No gills in larvae - fully terrestrial life cycle
□ Internal fertlization
□ Thicker water proof skin - no capability for respriation
□ Lungs are primary site for repsiration
Some aminotes have moved back into water tho like turtles
- Aminotes - lizards, snakes, turtles, crocs, alligators, birds and ammmals - have an aminotic egg
Mammals (mammalia)
○ Hair and mammary galnds are key charatericsts
○ Mammary glands produce milk for nourishing young
○ Fetrlization occurs internally and ammals care for tehri young until they can live independtly
○ Mammals are warm blooded
§ Regulate blood temp internally
○ Sweat galdns are common and coold the body
§ Aquatic mammals and those with thckk fur lost and hve reduced sweat glands
○ Hair follicle is an epidermal, but lies in dermis of skin
○ A hair grows continuosuly by rapid proliferation of cells in the follicle
○ Diff mammals have unique hari structure
§ Brittle hairs of deer
§ Hairs of rabbits and others are scaled to interlock when pressed together
○ Primary component is protein keratin - also prevalent in nails, hooves, horns, antlers, reptile scales and bird featehrs
○ Patterns including spots, stripes, salt and pepper, etc. are disruptive and conceal the animal for camoflouge or antipredator
○ Vibrissae or whiskers are sensory hairs
§ Provide tactile sense for nocturnal mmals
§ Porcupine quills are barbed and break of easily
○ Horns and Antlers:
§ True horns
□ In ruminants like sheep and cattle
□ Hallow sheaths of keratinized epidermis
□ Surround a core of bone rising from skull
□ Normally not shed and are usually not branched but may be curved
□ Grow continously and occur in both sexes
® May be longer in males
§ Antlers:
□ Occur in deer family (ceridae)
□ Composed of solid bone when mature
□ Develop annual in spring with highly vascular soft skin or velvet
□ Except for carbou, only males produce anterls
□ When growth is complete just before breeding seaosn:
® Blood vessels constrict in velvet
® Velvet removed by rubbin antlers againts trees
○ Porcupine and chipmunks are forst rodents (rodentia)
○ Chipmunks feed and hoard seeds and fungi and are critical in inadvertntly promoting seedlings in the forest
○ Chipmunks can laso be oportunitsic predators
○ Porcupines are arboreal rodents, feeding on twigs, stems, berries, leaves and insects
○ Deer (cervidae) are ruminant herbivores
○ Very adaptable generalists - able to thrive in forests, prarie, savanna, etc. including urban
○ Feed on leaves, nut and fruits, stems, shoots and grasses
Poison ivy and mushrooms are able to be eaten because of ruminant stomach
Fungi
○ More closely related to animals than to plants
○ Produce chitin in cell walls
○ Heterotrophic - feeding on other organisms; not photosyntehic
○ Reproduce sexually and asexually
○ Incredibly diverse eukaryotes:
§ 150k species described
§ May be greater than 2.2 mil species
§ 10 phyla
○ Ethical roles of fungi:
§ Play a critical role in cycling carbon with ability to locate and break down the complex molecules/bulky tissue in plant and animal bodies
§ Fungi have many diff relationships with other organisms, a few of which are the following:
□ The association of fungi with plant roots can inc plant growth
□ Some fungi are agroicultrual pests
□ Fungi, such as yeast are used to ferment plant carbs for the production of alchol
§ Enzymes are released by fungus tissues, digest materials outside the fungus - exoenzymes
§ Fungi absorb simple organic molecules directly through their cell walls, transport throughout the hypal netwrok
○ Fungal Hyphae:
§ Hyphae are charterized by rapid growth and the network of hypahe form the mycelium in a fungus
§ Hyphae (part that interacts with other aniamls) of an indivdual fungi can become exteremly large and diffuse
○ Fungal Spore Production:
§ A shortage of resources (like food) often cues spore production in fungi
§ Fungi produce huge numbers of spores, which inc the probability that at least a few spores will land in a favourable envirnment
○ Fungal Sexual Reproduction: Fruiting bodies
§ Fruiting bodies are above ground reproductive structures produced by many fungi
§ Include mushcrooms, brackets, cups etc
§ They are formed from densely packed hypahe
§ The increased elevation helps with dispersal of sexually produced spores
○ Mycorrhizal relationships:
§ Mycorhrhizae are symbotic relationships between fungi and plants
§ The fungi provide nutreints from the soil and receive sugars from the plant
- Soil and leaf litter is full of interesting creatures - epxlored in urban landscape
