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BIO 1030 > Topic 14 - Ecology > Flashcards

Topic 14 - Ecology Flashcards

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1
Q

The scope of Ecology

A
  • Scientific study of interactions between organisms & environment
  • Interactions at a hierarchy of scales
    • Organismal ecology (ecophysiology)
    • Population ecology
    • Community ecology
    • Ecosystem ecology
    • Landscape ecology
    • Global ecology
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2
Q

Climate = Environmental Pressure

A
  • Weather & Climate are highly variable
    • Impact on life
    • Abiotic environment
  • Weather
    • Specific time and place
      • Macroclimate = landscape, global -> solar energy +Earth’s movement
      • Microclimate = patterns organisms experience
  • Climate
    • Long-term average weather pattern
    • Local, regional, or global
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3
Q

Global Air Circulation

A
  • Earth spins, air moves
  • Sun heats the Earth, Earth heats the air
  • Large impact on humidity
    • Rising air releases moisture
    • Air coming down is dry
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4
Q

Topography and Climate

A
  • Elevation affects many environmental factors
    • Temperature
    • Humidity
  • Air movement and temperature - the Chinook
    • Rain shadow
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5
Q

Microclimates

A
  • Variation on a smaller scale
    • Temperature
    • Humidity
    • Light
  • Environmental factors can affect local conditions
    • Biotic
      • Shade of tree canopy
      • Vegetation
    • Abiotic
      • Dark granite outcropping
      • Topography
      • Aspect
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6
Q

Urban Microclimates

A

city infrastructure affects its own environment

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7
Q

Organisms and the Environment

A
  • Not all organisms can live everywhere
    • Limited by biotic and abiotic factors
  • Climate is a major selective pressure
    • Organism characteristics allow/prevent
  • Competition is another
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8
Q

Ecological Niche

A
  • Fundamental Niche
  • Realized Niche
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9
Q

Fundamental Niche

A

The area that a species can physically and physiologically survive.

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10
Q

Realized Niche

A

The area of the fundamental niche that the species occupies

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11
Q

Organismal Ecology

A
  • Interactions in ecological time result in adaptations over evolutionary time.
    • Ecology: organisms interact with environment → varied growth, reproduction, survival → fitness
    • Evolution: over many generations → adaptations (natural selection) to typical
      abiotic + biotic factors
  • Evolutionary history + ecology → organisms’ distribution & abundance
    • e.g. wood turtle – range expansion due to temperature with glacier retreat (abiotic)
    • e.g. coyote – range expansion due to habitat destruction + hunt/poison of wolves (biotic)
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12
Q

Population Ecology

A
  • Structural features of populations
    • Density
      • Number/unit area or volume
      • Crude density
      • Ecological density
    • Dispersion
      • Clumped
      • Uniform
      • Random
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13
Q

Population Size Estimation

A
  • Generally cannot count all the individuals in a population… instead need to estimate
  • Estimation techniques:
    1. Density + Dispersion
    – Count inds in plots →
    average density/plot x
    number of plots in range
    • More plots → better
      estimates!
      1. Mark-recapture
    • 1st sample: capture inds
      randomly + mark
    • 2nd sample: count the
      number of marked inds
      recaptured
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14
Q

What Influences Population Size?

A

Number of Individuals:
- Disease
- Parasites
- People
- Pollution
- Temperature
- Space
- Competition
- Predation

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15
Q

Population Ecology (part 2)

A
  • Studies the size and age compositions of populations and the environmental processes affecting them.
  • Collect and analyze descriptive data
    • Density
    • Abundance
    • Birth Rates
    • Death Rates
  • Generate and evaluate mathematical models
    • Growth rates
    • Carrying capacity
    • Density dependence
    • Density independence
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16
Q

Population Dynamics

A
  • Functional (dynamics) features of populations
    • Changes over time
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17
Q

Survivorship Curves

A

Three hypothetical curves
- Type I
- Low mortality in youth
- Large Mammals and humans
- Few offspring but GOOD care
- Type II
- Equal mortality
- Ground squirrels, invertes
- Type III
- High mortality in youth
- MANY offspring with NO care

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18
Q

Population Ecology (part 3)

A
  • Density-dependent factors tend to regulate or maintain N near K
    • B and D do change with N
    • Caused by biotic factors (e.g. competition)
  • Density-independent factors tend to reduce N far below K and initiate periods of population recovery
    • B and D do not change with N
    • Caused by abiotic factors (e.g. temperature, drought)
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19
Q

Community Ecology

A
  • Structural features of communities
    • Species richness
    • Biodiversity
    • Keystone species
  • Dynamic features of communities
    • Populations interact with each other
      • Competition
      • Predation
      • Herbivory
      • Symbioses
20
Q
A
  • Scientific study of the effect of interspecific interactions on community structure & organization
  • Community = populations of different species living together
  • Interspecific interactions = interactions between species
    • Cause increase (+), decrease (-) or no effect (0) on B & D (~N) of other
      species in ecological time
    • If (+) or (-), can cause changes in morphology, physiology & behaviour
      over evolutionary time
  • All interactions strongly influence community structure (= species
    composition + relative abundances)
21
Q

Community Ecology

A

Interspecific Interactions
- Competition -/-
- Predation +/-
- Herbivory +/-
- Symbiosis:
- Parasitism +/-
- Mutualism +/+
- Commensalism +/0

22
Q

Interspecific Competition (-/-)

A
  • Exploitative
    • Indirect interaction
      • Resource usage
  • Interference
    • Direct interaction
      • Prevent usage
  • Effects on energy allocation:
    • When low
      • Growth
    • When moderate
      • Growth, reproduction
    • When high
      • Growth, reproduction, survival
23
Q

Competition (-/-)

A
  • Species have a shared requirement for a resource
    in limited supply → limits growth, survival & reproduction (B, D) → evolve traits to minimize
    competition
  • Competition restricts a species to a part of its
    fundamental niche
  • Competitive Exclusion Principle = 2 species
    competing for same limiting resources cannot
    coexist
  • Resource Partitioning = niches differentiate to
    allow coexistence
    • Character Displacement = evolution of traits
      (e.g., morphology, behavior) due to competition
24
Q

Resource Partitioning

A
  • Occupying the same niche?
    • Limiting factor usage
    • Diverse use = diversity
  • Warblers
    • Size, diet, habitat
    • Cohabitation?
    • Exclusion?
25
Q

Competitive Exclusion

A
  • Fundamental niche
    • Full range
    • Tolerance
  • Asymmetric competition
    • Niche restriction
  • Realized niche
    • Occupied range
    • Biotic interactions
26
Q

Exploitation (+/-): Predation

A
  • A species (predator) kills & eats other species (prey)
  • Defenses:
    • behaviour (hide, flee, herd)
    • mechanical (spines)
    • chemical (odor, toxin)
    • cryptic colouration
    • mimicry (mimic harmful spp)
27
Q

Exploitation (+/-): Herbivory

A
  • A species (herbivore) eats parts of a plant or whole plants
  • Defenses:
    • chemical (toxins, distasteful)
      • e.g., caffeine, onion, garlic
    • structures (spines, thorns)
28
Q

Predator-Prey Interactions

A
  • Hudson’s Bay Company
    • lynx & snowshoe hares
    • Annual data collection for 160+ years!
29
Q

Symbiosis

A
  • 2+ species living in direct contact
  • Parasitism (+/-) – a species (parasite) derives resources from another (host)
    • Endoparasites – live inside host’s body
      (e.g. tapeworm)
    • Ectoparasites – live outside host’s body
      (e.g. tick)
  • Mutualism (+/+) – both species benefit
    • e.g. microorganisms in herbivore gut
      • Obligate – one/both species has lost ability to survive without partner
      • Facultative – both species can survive on own
  • Commensalism (+/0) – a species benefits, other is not harmed/helped
    • e.g. species obtain food inadvertently exposed by another species
30
Q

Biodiversity

A
  • Can mean a lot of things
    • Total number of species
    • Evenness of species
    • Composition
    • Genetic diversity
  • Everyday Uses
    • Source of food items
      • Effects of agriculture
    • Medicine
      • Plant/fungal products
    • Energy
      • Wood fuel
      • Biofuel
    • Materials
      • Lumber
      • Textiles
31
Q

Species Richness

A
  • All plants, animals and microbes
  • Highly variable
    • Scale
    • Academia
      • Identified vs. estimated
    • Geography
32
Q

Community Structure

A
  • Species Diversity:
    • Species richness = number of different species
    • Relative abundance = proportion each species
      • Evenness = equitable relative abundance of species
      • Dominance = inequitable
  • e.g. 2 forests: same species richness & identity, different relative abundances
  • Diversity Index - quantitatively compares communities
    • Pattern: diversity increases as evenness increases
33
Q

Community Structure Formula

A

Community Structure = species richness + species identity +relative abundance of each species

34
Q

Why is diversity good?

A
  • Communities with higher diversity are:
    • More productive (higher biomass)
    • More stable productivity across years
      • e.g. Cedar Creek Natural History Area –
        experimental plots (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 spp) → diverse plots always produced more biomass
    • More stable community structure under
      environmental change
      • Community Stability = ability to reach & maintain a relatively constant structure
        • Pattern: Higher diversity → reduced chances
          of shifting to an undesirable state
    • More resistant to invasive species (= organisms that become established outside
      their native range)
35
Q

Trophic Structure

A
  • Defined by feeding
    relationships among species in a community → influences community structure
    • Food Chain = pathway of food/energy transfer between species in a community
      • Arrows indicate flow of food/energy from resource to consumer (who eats
        whom)
    • Trophic level = species groups deriving food/energy from a similar source
      • Primary producers - plants
      • Primary consumers - herbivores
      • Secondary, tertiary, quaternary consumers - carnivores
36
Q
A
  • Organizing communities by who eats whom
    • Food Chains
      • Quaternary consumers: Carnivore
      • Tertiary Consumers: Carnivore
      • Secondary consumers: Carnivore
      • Primary Consumers: Zooplankton
      • Primary producers: Phytoplankton
37
Q

Trophic Structure

A
  • Food Web = many connected food chains
  • Indicates trophic interaction complexity →
    understand indirect interactions (= species that do not directly interact but
    influence each other through a direct interaction with other species)
  • Simplify food web by grouping species
    • e.g. Antarctic food web - groups consuming similar resources
38
Q

Keystone Species

A
  • Major and disproportionate influence
  • Removal
    • Species interactions
    • Community structure
    • Diversity
39
Q

Communities are Dynamic

A
  • Disturbances affect diversity
    • Removal of some or all species in an area
40
Q

Succession Mechanisms

A
  • Sequential communities
  • Stable state
    • Enduring site features
      • Abiotic
    • Present species
      • Biotic
    • Stochastic factors
      • Unpredictable
  • Pattern of species colonization
41
Q

Disturbances

A
  • Small-scale disturbances
    • Loss of individuals
    • Physical gap
    • Occurrence?
  • Large-scale disturbances
    • Loss of populations
    • Physical environment
    • Occurrence?
  • Can reduce/enhance heterogeneity
42
Q

Energy in Food Webs

A
  • Open, flow through system
  • Solar energy is harnessed
  • Transformed into biomass and heat
43
Q

Nutrients in Food Webs

A
  • Closed system
  • Nutrient recycling
  • At any point:
    • Inputs
    • Transformations
    • Losses
44
Q

Trophic Efficiency

A
  • Energy at one level available to the next
    • Decreases every level
      • Second law of thermodynamics
    • Highly variable
45
Q

Trophic Pyramid

A
  • Rule’ of thumb
    • ~ 10% assimilation
      • Available for next trophic level
  • Tertiary consumers: 10 J
  • Secondary consumers: 100 J
  • Primary consumers: 1000 J
  • Primary producers: 10 000 J
  • 1 000 000 J of sunlight

BIO 1030 (12 decks)

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