Test 3 Flashcards by Vanshika Patel

An assemblage of populations that interact with one another, directly or indirectly

Community

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All interacting parts of the physical and biological worlds

Ecosystem

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Group of species living in the same place

Association

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Species in the same community utilizing resources in the same way, often competitors

Guild

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the study of the composition and structure of plant
communities

Phytosociology

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number of different species that are represented in a given community

Species Diversity

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Describes relative abundance of different species

Species Evenness (More equal relative abundance)

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Number of species in a community

Species Richness

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Tree Diversity patterns at different latitudes CASE STUDY

Holdridge life zones diagram is a graphical classification of zone ecosystems on earth that shows the relationship of the mountains and lowland vegetation based on latitude, elevation, precipitation and air temperature

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Miller’s pitcher plant organisms CASE STUDY

-results: Effects of Resources on Species Richness

-Long term historical effects

-Dispersal, migration and extinction:leaves grow and die constantly, so the entire community has to periodically disperse to and re-establish in new leaves

-Productivity/climate:productivity is more prey, which increases bacteria as well as rotifers and protozoa. Significant bottom-up effects on some species

-Competition: we do know protozoa and rotifers compete, which seems to reduce diversity

-Predation:increasing the number of predators primarily decreases rotifers, but has little effect on protozoa or bacteria. Modest top-down effect. No keystone effect

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Miller’s Coastal dune plants CASE STUDY

-As with most communities, we find that some of the species are very common, but most are very rare.
-can be used to look at rank abundance patterns

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(Within Habitat diversity) number of species in local, small areas of uniform habitat

Alpha Diversity

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(Between Habitat diversity) The variation in species composition from one habitat to another within a region. This is really a measure of variation in diversity, not diversity directly

Beta Diversity

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A measure of the numbers and relative abundances of species across a region that includes numerous local habitats

Gamma Diversity

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Interaction of food chains

Trophic Web

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Based on energy obtained by plants and algae

Green Food Web

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A community whose basal species consist solely of detritivores

Brown Food Web

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Emphasize the feeding relationships among organisms

Connectedness webs

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Show energy flow between resource and consumers

Energy flow webs

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Food web that reflects the importance of each species in maintaining the integrity of the community

Functional Web

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Species that get eaten by nothing else in the food web

Top predator

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Species that feed on nothing within the web (Usually plants)

Basal Species

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Species that feed at more than one trophic level

Omnivores

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The number of actual interactions divided by the number of possible interactions

Connectance

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When removing a top predator causes the next trophic level to decline, the level below that to increase, etc.

Trophic Cascade

The average number of links or interactions per species in the web

Linkage Density

A cycle in which a species feeds upon itself

Cannibalism

Gary Polis' complex desert food web CASE STUDY

-No Trophic Levels in complicated webs - attempted to construct the full food web for a “simple” real community in a California desert. - Food webs are too complicated to be viewed as a simple chain of interactions with discrete trophic levels

The branch of biology that deals with the geographical distribution of plants and animals.

Biogeography

A boundary line between Asia and Australia that separates organisms by their biogeographic origin

Wallace Line

Found in one region

Endemism or endemic

Drives Geographical location of continents

Plate tectonics

helps us to understand the geographic distribution of species and ecosystems

Gradient analysis

the organization of co-occurring and independently distributed species within a particular association

Open communities

ones in which the populations of numerous species overlap but are largely segregated from the distributions of other groups of species

Closed Communities

the process whereby distantly related organisms independently evolve similar traits to adapt to similar necessities

Evolutionary convergence

Found Worldwide

cosmopolitan

areas with shared evolutionary history due to geographic isolation

Biogeographic zone

A theory of succession whereby all species in the community work together to achieve stable climax community

superorganism

The independent evolution of similar features in species that are otherwise relatively unrelated

convergence

Convergence in carnivorous pitcher plant species, using DNA interpretation CASE STUDY

- Evidence of convergence - Different pitcher plants that were unrelated become similar despite differences among biogeographic zones, often unrelated species can look quite similar due to convergence uses phylogeny evidence of convergence: molecular phylogenetics

Simberloff study of insects on mangroves CASE STUDY

- studied insect colonization on mangrove islands in FL keys - Equilibrium theory of island biogeography - different mangrove islands reached an equilibrium with a species richness -Small number of species: far island and small -Large number of species: near island and large

Replacement of populations in a habitat through a regular progression to a stable state

Secession

Pioneer species to climax species in organic soils where life had previously been before a disturbance

Secondary Succession

"Resets" the successional clock

Disturbance

A series of stages of community change in a particular area leading toward a stable state

Sere

Stable community

Climax

Parts of the landscape that allow animals to move between larger areas of intact habitat

Corridor

The ability of a community to persist in the presence of perturbations, measured as the probability of extinction

Resilience

A measure of the ability of a community to persist in the presence of perturbations arising from weather, physical-chemical factors, other organisms, or human activities.

Stability

When a predator controls the abundance of a dominant competitor, allowing other competitors to persist and increasing diversity

Keystone Predation

Birds and mammals on mountains (Island biogeography) CASE STUDY

-island biography

Gilbert, et al. study of effects of corridors in moss on species richness of little critters CASE STUDY

-connecting patches increased migration and alpha richness (within patches). - connecting patches also increased gamma diversity. So, it isn’t just the same species now getting to other patches, but the entire region supports more species. -predators are more sensitive to fragmentation than consumers, as shown by decrease in % predators -measure alpha and gamma diversity

Miller's lichen study in New Mexico CASE STUDY

Yields Connell's humped-shaped relationship of diversity with disturbance - Test Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis (Connell)

The rate at which plants assimilate the energy of sunlight

Primary Production

total energy (or carbon) fixed in photosynthesis per unit time

Gross Production

gross - energy (or carbon) lost by respiration (= biomass)

Net production

the study of how living systems influence, and are controlled by, the geology and chemistry of the earth

Biogeochemistry

Ratio of C, N, and P

Redfield Ratio

Assumption that the inputs to any ecosystem or compartment therein must equal the outputs plus changes in storage

Mass Balance

fundamental to ecosystem biomass production and mass balance.

Decomposition

the ecological processes that control the fluxes of energy, nutrients and organic matter through an environment

Ecosystem Functions

ecosystem functions that occur within an ecosystem that provide benefits to humans

Ecosystem Services

Jane Lubchenco Intertidal work on snails foraging on algae CASE STUDY

-Manipulated snail abundance to see if the abundance of grazers affected alga density and the types of algae present -Snail numbers are determined by the abundance of green crabs -Green crab number is determined by sea gull predation -Lots of seagulls -> few crabs -> lots of snails -> lost of red alga -> low algal diversity -Few seagulls → lots of crabs →few snails →enteromorpha (green) → low algal diversity

Hubbard Brook Whole Ecosystem CASE STUDY

-Vegetation strongly regulates nutrient cycling -Studies nutrient cycling in a forest ecosystem -Constructed dams on the site to monitor loss of water and minerals -An example of long-term ecological research -Results showed human activity can affect ecosystems As the human population has grown, our activities have disrupted the trophic structure, energy flow, and chemical cycling of many ecosystems

Pitcher Plant Leaves as ecosystems CASE STUDY

- Ecosystem Ecology - Looked at Carbon and Nitrogen cycle for pitcher plants communities

Livingston's study of Apalachicola Bay

-Oysters in Apalachicola Bay show that maybe a combination of population and ecosystem-based approaches is the strongest approach -Water flow was cut down to provide more water for agriculture, this led to the oyster fisheries crashing -Some thoughts on why this happened are not enough freshwater, over harvesting, poor management, increased predators with increasing salinity

relating to or denoting the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment

Anthropocene

a plant, fungus, or animal species that is not native to a specific location, and which has spread to a degree that causes damage to the environment, human economy, or human health

Invasive Species

A species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental

Exotic or Introduced species

The hypothesis is that invasive species are successful because they have escaped their natural predators, herbivores, or diseases

Natural enemies hypothesis

Evolution of increased competitive ability allows them to outcompete native species (Explains lag time)

Evolution of competitive ability

The gradual and continuous spread of a population across the landscape into nearby areas

Jump and diffusion dispersal

a gradual change in the accepted norms for the condition of the natural environment due to a lack of experience, memory and/or knowledge of its past condition

Shifting baselines

McClenehan's example of over-harvesting of fish in Florida CASE STUDY

- Looked at shift in fishing from groupers to mostly snappers - Fishing can have long-term effects on size and species as well as catch

Kudzu, Asian Carp in the US, Zebra Mussels in North America, Fire ants, pythons, Lionfish CASE STUDY

- Zebra mussels originated in the black and Caspian Sea, first noted in North America in Detroit, and spread in the water. spread through "diffusion" and "jump dispersal". Provide ecologists to study migration -All invasive species that cause in some way harm to humans/ environments that benefit humans

When greenhouse gases in a planet's atmosphere insulate the planet from losing heat to space, raising its surface temperature

GreenHouse effect

A period of time where the earth's overall surface temperature is lowered enough that glaciers form at the poles and in mountainous

Ice Ages

When Co2 is absorbed by seawater resulting more acidic conditions and a lower abundance of carbonate ions

Ocean acidification

Plant Diversity on St.George island CASE STUDY

- Changing species richness with outside effects

CO2 on Mauna Loa CASE STUDY

- Temperature affects CO2 levels - Evidence of Anthropogenic Climate Change