Test 1 Flashcards
What is the definition of a model?
An abstract, simplified representation of a real system
What is the pathway from an observation to a hypothesis?
An observation of a natural phenomenon leads to a question that seeks an explanation. A hypothesis is a potential answer to that question that takes the form of a statement of cause and effect.
What is an example of an emergent property principle?
Species interactions, effects of a whole forest, predation, mutualism, most of what we talked about in this class (An emergent property cannot be predicted from the study of components that are isolated from the whole unit.)
What are the three components of an ecosystem?
Input from environment -> System -> Output to environment
How can an hypothesis be proven?
It can’t ya dummy (only supported)
What is the first law of thermodynamics? How does it relate to this class?
Energy can be transformed but not created or destroyed. All energy in system ultimately came from the sun
What is the second law of thermodynamics? How does it relate to this class?
No process involving an energy transformation will occur unless there is a degradation of energy from a concentrated form into a dispersed from. Not all energy from a specimen makes it to the next trophic level (only 10%)
What is the underlying difference between an autotrophic and heterotrophic ecosystem?
If an ecosystem has positive net energy, it is autotrophic. If an ecosystem has negative net energy, it is heterotrophic
What is the efficiency of incorporation sun energy into ecosystems?
5 million kcal/m2 comes in from sunlight, 1-2 million reach autotrophic levels. Only 1-3% of sun energy is converted to organic matters by photosynthesis.
About how much energy is transferred to the next trophic level?
10% of the energy in that specimen
What are the top five most productive terrestrial ecosystems?
Swamps and Marshes (AKA wetlands/estuaries) Tropical rainforest Tropical seasonal forest Temperate evergreen forest Temperate deciduous forest
What are the four energy-based classifications of ecosystems?
Unsubsidized natural solar-powered
Naturally subsidized solar-powered
Human-subsidized solar-powered
Fuel-powered urban-industrial
Describe an “unsubsidized natural solar-powered” ecosystem. Give an example
Relies largely or entirely on sunlight. Open oceans, upland forests, grasslands.
Describe a “naturally subsidized solar-powered” ecosystem. Give an example
Mainly solar power, subsidized by rain and tidal waves. (Water partly recycles mineral nutrients and transports food and wastes, organisms can concentrate on energy conversion) Tidal estuaries, some rain forests.
Describe a “human-subsidized solar-powered” ecosystem. Give an example
Subsidized by fuel, wind, water-powered electricity. Human communities, agriculture, aquaculture.
Describe a “fuel-powered urban industrial system”. Give an example
Use very little sun energy, very heterotrophic. Cities, suburbs, industrial parks.
In addition to carbon, which gas is a major contributor to global warming?
Methane, 20% of our atmosphere, produced by livestock
What is the definition of physiological ecology?
The study of how an individual organism interacts with their environment to carry out biochemical processes and express the behavioral adaptations that accomplish homeostasis and survival
What is the definition of behavioral ecology?
The study on how a plant or animals behavior is adapted to its environment via evolution. (Looks for an evolutionary basis for animal behavior)
What is the definition of population ecology?
The study of population dynamics over time. (How the population changes, how it interacts with the environment)
What is the definition of community ecology?
The study of living components of ecosystems; focuses on patterns and processes. (Study of how different populations interact with each other/themselves)
What is the definition of ecosystem ecology?
The study of the interactions of biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and their interactions within an ecosystem framework.
What is the definition of landscape ecology?
The study of how variations in topography and soils across a specific region influence patterns of species composition and diversity.
What is the definition of conservation ecology?
Applies principles from different fields, including ecology, economics, and sociology to preserve biodiversity
What did he teach us about Formosan mountain goats?
They are endangered, you can determine growth by rings in horns and annual rings in teeth
What did he teach us about Minivets and cowbirds?
Cowbirds protect minivets from eagles, minuets stir up insects, example of a mutualistic relationship
What did he teach us about Formosan salamanders?
He told a story about the snakes the threw up the salamanders ?(Anything else)?
What is net radiation?
The difference between the amount of shortwave (solar) radiation absorbed by a surface and the amount of long wave radiation emitted back into space by that surface
How is the wavelength of radiation related to temperature
The smaller the wavelength the higher the temperature
Describe the Coriolis effect
The result of the earth’s rotation, if an object moves away from the equator at a constant speed it speeds up and deflects to the east. If it moves towards the equator it deflects to the west. Responsible for the direction of ocean currents, storms
What are the vernal and autumnal equinoxes?
Equinox means “equal night”, the day and night are nearly the same length. The sun is directly above the equator
What causes the summer and winter solstice?
Summer- the sun is overhead the tropic of Cancer
Winter- the sun is overhead the tropic of Capricorn
What are the factors that lead to the belts and cells of air circulation?
Topography and air density (changes with distance from equator)
What are the factors that determine the global pattern of precipitation?
Temperature, winds, the ocean current
What is are the consequences of the El Nino-Southern Osicllation (ENSO)?
waters in E Pacific warm up, trade winds weaken, more rain in Peru, less in Australia/Indonesia
What are the major sources of acid rain? Name the two chemicals
SOx and NOx produce sulfuric and nitric acids that fall on New England
(various sulfur and nitric oxides, can include SO2, NO, NO2)
What is the definition of a population? (five factors)
A group of INTERBREEDING and INTERACTING individuals of the SAME SPECIES living in the SAME PLACE at the SAME TIME
What is the difference between stolons, rhizomes, and clones?
Stolons- specialized stems that grow above the ground
Rhizomes- specialized stems the grow below the ground
Clones- woody plants, form surface roots
What is a genet? Ramet?
A genet is a plant produced by sexual reproduction, ramets are modules produces asexually by a genet
What are the population dispersion patterns?
Uniform: Individuals are evenly spaced; results from competition
Random: Independent of the others; invertebrates on the forest floor, spiders
Clumped: most common; results from responses to habitat differences, daily and seasonal weather changes, reproductive patterns, and social behavior
What is crude density vs ecology density? How do you calculate them?
Crude density is the number of individuals per unit area/volume
Ecological density is the number of individuals per unit of living space (will therefore be larger)
Describe the capture-recapture method (Lincoln-Peterson Index) to determine population size. What does it assume?
Uses ratios of recaptured/tagged. Assumes no immigration/emigration, no birth/death, equal chance of getting caught, enough time to remix
What are the factors that determine/restrict the distribution of a population?
Geographical barriers (water, mountain, unsuitable habitat) Interactions with other species (competition and predation)
What is a metapopulation?
A population broken into sets of subpopulations held together by dispersal or moments between them. Each subpopulation has its own features.
What are some methods used to sample and determine the size of a population?
Sample random quadrants (transect line estimation) Pellet-group counting Radiotelemetry GPS Geographic Information System Pit-tagging Skin tattooing
What are some ways to determine an animals age?
Wear/replacement of teeth, growth rings in horns, plumage changes and wear, growth rings on scales and fish ear bones, size of skull, length of horn, length of lower jaw, rings on pre-molar teeth
What are some ways to determine a plants age?
Counting annual rings, estimate with diameter at breast height
What is the difference between life expectancy and age-specific expectancy?
Life expectancy is the average number of years an individual is expected to live from the time of its birth. Age-specific life expectancy is the average number of years an individual of a certain age is expected to live into the future
What does an age pyramid do?
Show percentage of population each age group; used to determine population growth
Describe the primary sex ratio and secondary sex ratio?
Primary sex ratio is 1:1 at conception, secondary sex ratio has mammals slightly weighted towards males, sex ratio will shift toward females or males in older age classes, depending on environment
Describe the gypsy moth
Brought into the US from Eurasia in 1869 to breed with silkworms, escaped and now extend through much of Northern US, defoliated millions of trees and feed on over 500 plant species, the assholes
Describe bighead and silver carps
Bighead: brought in on purpose for fisheries, broke through to great lakes despite electrical fields and toxins
Silver: brought in on purpose to control other invasive species, eat a lot of algae
Both: invasive species from Asia
Describe purple loosestrife
invasive species from Europe, brought in on purpose for landscaping, eliminates native plants in wetlands
Describe the Australian paperback tree
invasive species from Australia, brought in on purpose for landscaping, eliminates native plants in Florida
What are the two types of population growth? Which is more common? Why?
Exponential and logistic, logistic is more common due to abiotic and biotic factors pushing growth away from exponential
If X is the age class in years and Nx is the number alive at age X, how do you find age-specific survivorship, age-specific mortality, age-specific mortality rate, age-specific life expectancy, average alive during an age interval, and years lived into the future by age class X?
X= age classes in years Nx= number alive at age X lX= age-specific survivorship, NX/N0 Dx= age-specific mortality, Nx - NX+1 QX= age-specific mortality rate, Dx/Nx EX= age-specific life expectancy (years into future), TX/NX LX= average # alive during age interval, (NX+NX+1)/2 TX= years lived into future by age X, LX+Lx+Lx of interest
Calculate age specific life expectancy
EX= age-specific life expectancy (years into future), TX/NX LX= average # alive during age interval, (NX+NX+1)/2 TX= years lived into future by age X, LX+Lx+Lx of interest
What are the three types of survivorship curves and what types of animals exhibit each?
Type 1, strongly convex (mammals, some plants)
Type 2, straight (adult birds, rodents, reptiles, perennial plants)
Type 3, concave (oysters, fish, invertebrates, plants)
What is the inflection point of a population growth curve? What is its significance?
Maximum population growth rate (continues to grow, just slower)
Near carrying capacity, start to worry about density dependent disease
What does minimum viable population mean?
Smallest stable population (gene diversity, etc)
What are some density dependent factors that influence population dynamics?
genetic variability
increased vulnerability to random events
What are some density independent factors that influence population dynamics?
extreme environmental events
changes in regional and global climate
What is the leading cause of current global population declines and extinctions?
Habitat loss due to human activities
Describe the St. Paul reindeer story
Government placed 25 reindeer on island of St. Paul to provide meat for native residents, within 30 years the population grow to over 2000, then had massive population crash due to overgrazing/starvation
Define keystone species
a species whose activities have a significant role in determining community structure
What is CITES?
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
What is IUCN? What does it do?
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature
Publish IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
What are hellbenders?
Nocturnal aquatic salamander that lives under flat bedrock in swift-flowing rivers
Describe the distribution of Ozark and Eastern hellbender
Ozark is endemic to a small area of Missouri/Arkansas
Eastern is found all over Northeast US
Give some possible causes of the decline in hellbender populations
Predation Competition/Food shortage Gigging/Accidental catch Commercial harvest Siltation Channelization
Give some examples of the chemical pollutants in hellbender habitats
Plasticizers, herbicide, pesticide metabolite, heavy metals
Describe the estrogenic compounds found in hellbender populations and their effects on female features and reproductive function
2-chloro-s-triazine converts testosterone into estradiol
Lowers male fertility and causes secondary health issues
Makes testes look like ovaries and vice versa
Describe Kudzu
An ornamental vine from Asia that spread throughout the southern US, outcompeting other plants and smothering them
What are the two population growth models? Which is more common?
Exponential- J shaped growth, Logistic- S shaped growth. Logistic is more common, as the growth rate slows asymptotically as it approaches the carrying capacity
plot survivorship curves
Survivorship Curve: lX (Log10 Scale) vs Age
Talk about the ecological issues on Madagascar?
90% of plants and animals there are endemic. Most live in tropical rainforest habitats, which have declined to the point where less than 10% remains
Talk about the extinction of dinosaurs
KT extinction (boundary of Tertiary and Cretaceous), populations of protists lowered very quickly, soil samples from Yucatan show iridium, meteor crater shows 10^8 megatons of TNT
Talk about the shrinking of the Great Plains and species extinction
Agriculture has expanded greatly since mid-1800s, over 80% of grasslands have been converted to other land use. This effects grassland birds and migratory species (rely on habitat in two or more areas to live)
What are some species characteristics and environmental factors that affect the rate of extinction?
Large body size, small range, specialists, lack of genetic variability.
Habitat destruction, habitat alteration, climate change
What five factors of value did the ESA recognize?
“esthetic, ecological, educational,
recreational, and scientific value”
What is the purpose of the ESA?
to protect and recover imperiled species
When evaluating a species for listing, what does the FWS consider?
When evaluating a species for listing,
the FWS considers five factors: 1)
damage to, or destruction of, a species’
habitat; 2) overutilization of the species
for commercial, recreational, scientific,
or educational purposes; 3) disease or
predation; 4) inadequacy of existing
protection; and 5) other natural or
manmade factors that affect the continued
existence of the species.
Talk about Habitat conservation plans
Section 10 of the ESA may be used by landowners (private citizens, corporations, Tribes, States, and counties) to develop property inhabited by listed species. Landowners receive a permit to take such species, provided they have developed an approved habitat conservation plan (HCP) (include assessment of the likely impacts, steps that will be taken to avoid/ minimize/mitigate impacts, and the funding)
Extra Information: What was the state that first identified deformed frogs?
Minnesota
Extra Information: When was the ESA (or endangered species act) introduced?
1973
Extra Information: _________ is mobilized from the sediment of a river/lake when the pH drops to 5.3 or lower, leading to the killing of tadpoles
alumimum
Extra Information: zebra mussels are native to ______________________
South Russia
Extra Information: Exotic species enter the Great Lakes mainly through _________
Lawrence River
Extra Information: ______ was suspected to contribute to the early failure of the hellbender captive breeding program
nitrogen
Extra Information: The largest salamander in the world is the ________________
chinese giant salamander
Extra Information: The adult sex ratio in birds tends to tilt towards _________
males
Extra Information: Hellbenders are ___ dimorphic during the non-breeding season
not sexually
Extra Information: 2-chloro-s-triazine can induce aromatase which converts ______________
testerone to estrogen
