tropical ecology test one Flashcards
Oviposition
another organism takes eggs and moves it somewhere
Insect spiracles
tubes for breathing air on insect
vector
living organism that transmits infectious agents
Interspecific interactions
interactions between different species in a comunity
Symbiosis
relationship between species that is mutually beneficial
Brood Parasites
an organism that lays their eggs in another species nest to get raised
Predation
parasitism, 1 organism gains and 1 organism loses
Diurnal
out during the day
Nocturnal
out during the night
Final Consumers
Bateria or fungi scavengers
Energy Stored by Seconday Consumers
omnivores/ carnavores/ scavenger
Energy Stored by Primary Consumer
herbavores & primates (monkeys)
Energy Stored by Producers
plants & plankton
Botfly
Plants eggs on root plant hairs and when rodent walks by, the body heat makes them hatch, have 2 anal hooks to hold them in their meat burrow, unwanted in skins of mammals of birds; if you try to remove, it could break and give an infection
Psorophora (mosquito)
Mosquito genus; egg carrier of Dermatobia; botfly eggs are put on mosquito and when mosquito lands, it goes to different places
Giant Cowbird
Brood parasite, locates nest of host (like a Oropendola), develop rapidly, are aggressive, and steals food from the nests rightful inhabitants (parasite gains)
Oropendola Birds
Nest in colonies in the canopy of a single tree and wasps draw maggots away
Polybia (Social wasps)
Respond/ protect to nest shaking and foreign odors like sweat- nasty venom
Mishchchocyttarus immarginatus (wasps)
Slender with black and yellow stripes, builds nest with more aggressive social wasps (Polybia) <- commensalism
Matatorsalo plant
(botfly-killer) white sap
Trogon birds
Build nest inside wasp nest so botflys don’t get to the babies
Tropic of Cancer
30 degrees North
Tropic of Capricorn
30 degrees south
Trade winds
East to west between 30 degrees North and South
Humboldt Current
Massive Rainshadow
Gulf stream
a strong ocean current that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean
Coriolis Effect
the result of Earth’s rotation on weather patterns and ocean currents
Hadley Cells
Created at the equator when we get to much rain in the tropics and the cool water sinks and the hot air rises creating weird wind patterns
Equator
At the equator the time of sun each day never changes because no matter what way the earth is rotated the equator will always be directly facing the sun.
why does rain fall so much in the tropical rainforest (Hadley cell)
Hot air rises, the cool air runs underneath it picking up the ocean water and the clouds are not able to hold much water than rainfalls.
Temperature vs elevation
For every 1000 ft you climb the temperature drops by 3 degrees Fahrenheit.
Fecundity-
the ability to produce an abundance of offspring or new growth
Riparian
Relating to wet lands adjacent to rivers and streams
Mycorrhizal relationships
root systems bounded together with fungi in mutual beneficial relationships
Edentates
having few or no teeth
Ruminants
swallows food then brings it back up to continue chewing
Arboreal
living in trees
Modal trees
trees a sloth spends a lot of time in and the tree loses at least 10% of their total production to the sloth
Mate acquisition
contest in which males engage in charging bouts accompanied by wing flipping
TRF floor significance
-home to many species
-rely on its scarce nutrients
-the floor itself is covered in litter with only a few centimeters of good soil under it.
-Animals and insects will eat what falls on to the floor and store nutrients for themselves.
Long horned beetles
Chew through hard materials such as wood ridding the floor of it
millipedes
Crawl along forest floor making very audible steps devouring leaves and dump and wood
Termites
Toil in the dark under the cover of bark or soil,their protozoans rid them of harsh coarse nutrients such as wood
Scarab beetles (Canton)
They roll dung on the forest floor and provide nutrients for other organisms
Ottitid flies
They set up for mate acquisition where then sacrabs feed and burry eggs
Staphylinid beetles
Burrow into dung heaps in search of other beetles or insect eggs to devour, predatory
Vampyrum spectrum (bats)
Is the largest new-world bat, and predatory. They roost inside hollow trees and provide nutrients within the roosts.
Buttresses
Large, wing-like supportive sides to many species of trees
Succession
The process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time.
Climax community
Forests re-grow according to a pretty predictable set of stages to eventually end up as a mature forest
Neotropical Forests
Tropical rainforest tend to be more dynamic temperate forest
Epiphyte
An organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water or from debris accumulating around it.
Liana
Plants with long, flexible, climbing stems that are rooted in the ground
Niche Partitioning
When many species of a kind of organism live in an area
Emergent Layer
Top- most sunlight- oldest and tallest trees- wind blows seeds and pollen- only animals that can fly or swing that live at top of forest- climate changes very fast- animals have to adapt
Canopy Layer
Thickest layer-takes most sunlight- lots of leaves- monkeys- birds- tropical fruit- lots of sunlight- 10 meters think- prevent 95% of sunlight- hotter then understory
Understory Layer
Most colorful- many plants and flowers- warm and damp- flowers contribute to pollination- lots of bugs for pollination- lots of humidity- hidden caves- hollow trees
forest floor
Bottom-made up of leaves and roots-largest- where life begins and ends- shady and cold- habit of many animals- moist- seeds and fruit fall- everything decomposes on floor- creates nutrients- has rivers and steams
Large Gap Specialist
Some species seeds rely on lots of light- grow quickly and spread leaves into crown- require 1000 square yards- “shotgun reproductive strategy” lots of tiny seeds
Small Gap Specialist
can germinate in the shade- have large seed which facilitate rapid development of large root systems
Long-Horned Harlequin Beetle
Part of the decomposing process that happens when a tree falls
Passion Vine Flowers
Quickly grow when a light gap is created, and attracts butterflies with its sweet nectar
Monkey
Monkeys travel across the rain forest in order to eat the foliage that grows after a new light gap is created.
Epiphyte
any plant that grows upon another plant for physical support
Skototropism
growth or movement away from light
Convergent Evolution
When different species grow and adapt to needing similar things
Leaf polymorphism
on the same plant you can have different leaf shape
What are the three advantages of inhabiting the tree-tops (epiphytes)?
Allows small plants to
partake of strong tropical sunlight,potential for seed dispersal by the wind is increased,
.How do orchids reduce water loss
Keeping their stomata closed during the day and open
Them at night.
What are the three ways epiphytes in general have devised to reduce water loss?
Plants vie for excreted carbon dioxide during the day
Humidity sensitive hairs that surround each pore
Reduce through exposed roots by surrounding them with a layer of dead cells
What adaptation have many bromeliads developed to conserve water? How much at a time??
They have evolved into a clump like shape with leaves that funnel toward the central stem. The bases merge to form a watertight tank and can store as much as 2 gallons of water at a time.
5.How does the shape of epiphytes lend to their nutrient collection?
They have evolved basket like shapes that are efficient at catching falling litter.
how do epiphytes have an mutualistic relationship with ants
offer ants hollow tubers or other
Structures nest for nest sites, and in return they receive nutrients from the garbage and excreta
of the ant colony.
A commensalistic relationship with bats and birds?
The epiphytes are benefited
because of the dung that the bats and birds supply while the bats and birds are being unharmed.
Are most epiphytes parasites? Why or why not?
Epiphytes are not parasites because
they only use their host plants as platforms and do not rob them of nutrients.
What kinds of adaptations by trees have helped prevent epiphytes from colonizing
Drip tip leaves and smooth bark both shed water fast. Flaky skins also dislodge epiphytes.
What kind of symbiotic relationship do lianas (vines) have with trees?
The vines and trees are both competing for light and the vines use the trees to try and reach the top of the canopy. The vines put weight on the tree and nutrients and moisture has been taken.
Relate liana leaf shape and size to height.
The size (height) of vines and the size of their leaves is a direct relationship. The higher up a vine is on a tree, the larger the leaves will be. And the lower a vine is to the ground, the smaller the leaves will be.
scrambling vines
vines that grow rapidly towards openings in the forest for sunlight until the forest closes in overhead
orchids
-Orchids are a prime example of epiphytes because they grow high up on their host trees.
-Orchids also grow bulbous stems that act as a water storage unit
(Sarracenia)
Trumpet Pitchers
These pitchers have modified their leaves into water-holding tubes that trap insects
(Heliamphora)
Sun Pitchers / Marsh Pitchers
These pitchers have modified their leaves into water-holding tubes that trap insects
(Darlingtonia)
California Pitcher Plant
These pitchers have modified their leaves in
Nepenthes
Tropical Pitcher Plants
Modified their leaves into water-holding tubes that trap insects
Billbergia litoralis
Tank Bromeliads
They have long leafs that funnel toward the center of the stem and their base merges to form a water tank that can hold up to 2 gallons of water. It is also home to many different animals like frog tadpoles and many mosquitoes mate in the tank as well.
Mycorrhizal Fungi
roots invade the host tree and will sometimes digest the cellulose and lignin that the tree uses for structural support (this is a parasitic epiphyte)
Monstera gigantea
Monstera
They grow on the surface of the tree until the plant hits direct sunlight.
Then the leaves grow to where the light is most abundant. They grow with cuts in the leaves and it becomes like an umbrella to get more sunlight.
Frugivores
animals that eat fruit
Aerial Roots
roots that grow down from trees to the ground
stomata
pores on leaves that cause gas exchange
Niche
hole/gap in aerial roots
Pedipalps
second pair of appendages on most arachnids used for sensory purposes
Dewlaps
brightly colored flaps on lizards necks used for mating
Leistrimella mel. strategy
steal nutrients from other meliponinae
Gonatodes geckos
Yellow-headed gecko
Color of their heads good for mating but obvious to predators
Anolis dewlaps
Brown anole ant
Get females to mate with males
Polistes “picadura” or “ojo de agua”
Paper wasp, red wasp
Live in lizard-sized crevices, large and pugnacious
Stelopolybia wasp
Smaller wasps to the polistes, live in colonies of thousands of them so very hard to evict
Meliponinae
Stingless bees
Steels honey from other bees’ nests
Monacis ants
Dolichoderus
Live in abandoned bee/wasp nests in trees
Componotus
Carpenter ant
Eat wood and make nests out of dead trees
Dioecious
separate male and female plants
Cauliflory-
flower in trees the allows bats to roost while to probes nectar- facilitates nectar drinking
TRF flowers pollination-
animals/ insects; don’t use wind b/c random scatter shot and nutrient area is not guaranteed
Flowers attract pollinators-
nectar, pollen, fragrances, and oils
Common pollinators
majority are insects, hummingbirds, and bats
Coevolution between flowers and pollinators
plant finetune morphology and ecology to match its pollinator; change form, color, and behavior of flowers
Coevolution
pollinators and flowers are very specific to each other
Trapline behavior
pollinators visit same plants everyday to get nectar and pollinate them, guaraentees pollen bring widely dispersed
Red and orange flowers, platform shaped
butterflies and moths
Red and orange flowers, trumpet shaped
hummingbirds
stinky flowers
Beetle and flesh flies
Heavy perfume and White flowers
Hawkmoths
white flowers
bats
Tropical
- lack of seasons, so flowers are blooming all the time (only wet and dry season)
- individuals of a species are farther apart
- most plants are dioecious (not much self-pollination)
- trapline behavior
temperate
- seasonality; flowers grow in patches, not individually (“BIG BANG”- attracts many different polinators <- flies, moths, bees, and social bees)
- more generalization on which organisms can polinate
Heliconia
Trumpet shaped flower
Reeking flowers
Musty smell and bats come for nectors
flowers relationship with bat
Flowers antlers rub pollen on the bat
