Unit 2 Flashcards
What hazards can occur when working in the field and what control measure can be used to reduce risk?
Difficult Terrain- footwear, appropriate equipment
Isolation- means of communication, someone aware of location
Adverse weather conditions- appropriate clothing and footwear
Contact with harmful organisms- appropriate clothing, exit route
How should sampling be carried out?
In a way that minimises impact on wild species and habitats.
What type of species should be considered when sampling?
Vunrable species and habitats that are protected by legislation.
What are examples of sampling techniques?
Point count for birds, transects for plants/slow moving organisms, remote detection for elusive species, capture techniques for mobile species.
How is a point count carried out?
A point count involves the observer recording all individuals seen from a fixed point often used to count bird populations.
What is a transect?
A transect is a line along which different samples can be taken often set up where the terrain or abiotic factors are measured.
How should quadrants be set up along a transect?
Quadrants of suitable shape and size for the area should be set up along the transect.
Which organism are capture techniques used for?
Capture techniques such as traps or nets are used for mobile species
What organisms are detected by remote detection?
Remote detection is used to detect elusive species.
What are some examples of remote detection methods?
Camera traps or scat sampling.
What does the presence, absence or abundance of an indicator species give information about?
The presence, absence or abundance gives information about the environmental qualities. (e.g presence of pollutants)
Give an example of an indicator species?
Lichen can give information about air quality and sulphur dioxide levels.
What does the absence of an indicator species show?
Absence or reduced population of an indicator species shows it is susceptible to some factor in the environment.
What does abundance or increased population of indicators species indicate?
Species is favoured by the environmental conditions.
What is mark and recapture used for?
To estimate a population size.
What is the equation for mark and recapture?
N=MC/R
How is a mark and recapture carried out?
A sample of the population is captured, marked and released. After a interval of time, a sample of the same size of population is captured and the number of marked individuals can be used in the equation N=MC/R
What does the mark and recapture method assume?
All individuals have an equal chance of capture
There is no immigration or emigration during the sample time
There is no birth and death during the sample time
Individuals that are marked and released can mix fully and randomly with the population.
What methods of marking are there?
Banding, tagging, surgical implants, painting, hair clipping.
How is a marking method selected?
To minimise impact on the study species and have no effect on behaviour or predictor interaction. The mark however must be clear to permit subsequent observations.
What is ethology?
Ethology is the study of animal behaviour.
What measurements can be used to quantify animal behaviour?
Latency- The time between the stimulus occurring and the response behaviour.
Frequency- The number of times behaviour occurs within a observation period
Duration- the length of time each behaviour occurs during and observation period
What are ethograms?
Ethograms are a method of recording animal behaviours over a set period of time
What is included in a ethogram?
Species and species behaviours to be observed and recorded.
The duration of each of the behaviour and the total time of observation.
What does a time budget show?
A time budget shows the percentage of time a species spends on each behaviour.
What can a time budget be represented as?
A pie chart, tables or charts.
What is anthropomorphism?
Anthropomorphism is assigning a human emotion to an animal behaviour and leads to invalid conclusions.
What is evolution?
Evolution is the change overtime in the proportion of individual in a population differing in one or more inherited trait.
Where can changes in allele frequency take place during evolution?
Sexual selection, natural selection (non random) and genetic drift (random)
How does genetic variation arise during natural selection?
As a result if mutation, this is the original source of new sequences of DNA.
Are mutations normally beneficial or harmful?
Most mutations are harmful or neutral, but in rare cases they can be beneficial to an individuals fitness.
When does natural selection occur?
As organisms produce more offspring than the environment can support, only the best adapted can survive?
How does natural selection occur?
Individuals with variations of a trait which makes them better suited to their environment tend to survive longer and produce more offspring. When they breed they pas on those beneficial alleles to the next generation.
What does natural selection result in?
Natural selections results in the non random increase in frequency of advantages alleles and the non random decrease in frequency of deleterious alleles.
What is sexual selection?
Sexual selection is the non-random process involving the selection of alleles that increase the individuals chances of mating and producing offspring.
Does sexual selection increase the chance or survival?
No, sexual selection does not increase chances of survival, only the likelihood that an organism will reproduce and pass on its alleles.
What can sexual selection lead to?
Sexual dimorphism
What causes sexual selection?
Male-male rivalry and female choice.
What happens during make to make rivalry?
Males compete aggressively to defend territory and get access to females.
What traits are beneficial in male to male rivalry?
Larger stronger males or males with the best weaponry increase chances of mating
What is female choice?
If males cannot control access to females then females will choose a male based on traits he displays that are considered to be “high quality” of fitness like bright colouring.
What is genetic drift?
Genetic drift is a random process which results in an increase or decrease in the frequency of inherited traits.
When does genetic drift occur?
Genetic drift occurs when chance events like natural disasters cause unpredictable fluctuations in allele frequency from one generation to the next.
What size of population is genetic drift important in?
Genetic drift is more important in small populations as alleles are more likely to be lost from the gene pool.
What are examples of genetic drift?
Population bottlenecks- occur when a population size is reduced for at least one generation.
Founder effects- occur through the isolation of a few members of a population from a larger population. The gene pool of a new population is not representative of that in the original population.
How are gene pools altered by genetic drift?
Certain alleles may be under represented or over-represented and allele frequencies change.
What are selector pressures?
Selection pressures are the environmental factors that influence which individuals in a population pass on their alleles. When selection pressures are strong, the rate of evolution can be rapid.
What are examples of biotic and abiotic selector pressures?
Biotic- competition, predation, disease, parasitism.
Abiotic- changes in temp, light, humidity, pH, salinity.
What is fitness?
Fitness is an individuals ability to be successful at both surviving and reproducing.
What is fitness a measure off?
Fitness is a measure of the tendency of some organisms to produce more surviving offspring than completing members.
What is absolute fitness?
Absolute fitness is the ratio between numbers of individuals of a particular genotype after selections to those before selection.
What is the equation for absolute fitness?
Frequency of a particular genotype after selection/frequency of a particular genotype before selection
What is relative fitness?
Relative fitness is the ratio of the number of surviving offspring per individual of a particular genotype to the number of surviving offspring per individual of the most successful genotype.
What is the relative fitness equation?
Number of surviving offspring per individual of a particular genotype/number of surviving offspring per individual of the most successful genotype
What is co-evolution?
Co-evolution is the process by which two or more species evolve in response to selection preasure imposed by each other.
Where does co-evolution often occur?
Co evolution is frequently seen in pairs of species that have symbiotic interactions.
What is an example of commensalism?
Cattle egrets- birds live near cattle as when cattle graze they move and stir up insects. The birds eat the insects.
What is an example of mutualism?
Pollinators and plants- birds pollinate plants which allows them to produce nectar which birds benefit from.
What is the red queen hypothasis?
The red queen hypothesis states that in a co-evolutionary relationship, change in the traits of one species can act as a selection pressure on the other species.
What is asexual production?
Offspring arise from a single organism and can share the DNA of that parent only. Offspring can be classed as clones.
What is sexual production?
Offspring arise from the combination of male and female gamete’s after process of fertilisation.
What is a disadvantage of sexual reproduction?
Only half the population are able to produce offspring
Sexual reproduction involves the mixing of genetic information so only half a genome is passed into offspring. This disrupts successful parental genomes.
Genetic variability in offspring decreases chances all individuals will be susceptible to infection by parasites.
What are benefits of asexual reproduction?
Just one parent can produce daughter cells and establish a colony of virtually unlimited size
Offspring can be produced more often and in larger numbers
Whole genomes are transferred- beneficial in narrow stable niches or when recolonising disturbed habitats
What are examples of asexual reproduction in eukaryotes?
Vegetative cloning in plants
Parthenogenesis in lower plants and animals that lack fertilisation
What is parthenogenesis?
A type of asexual reproduction in which unfertilised female gamete develops into a new individual
What are disadvantages of asexual reproduction?
Asexually reproducing populations are not able to adapt easily to changes in their environment- mutations can occur to provide some degree of variation.
Why do asexually reproductive organisms reproduce faster?
Can reproduce via horizontal gene transfer. Increases variation and results in faster evolutionary change.
What is meiosis?
Meiosis is the devision of the nucleus that results in the formation of haploid gametes from a diploid gametocyte
What are gametocytes?
Gametocytes are cells in eukaryotes which give rise to gametes.
What do homologous chromosomes have in common?
Same size, same centromere position’ same sequences of genes at the loci-position
What happens prior to mitosis one?
Homologous chromosomes have replicated so each is now made up of two identical sister chromatids attached to the centromere.
What is the first step of meiosis one?
Chromosomes condense and the homologous chromosomes pair up so that they are aligned gene by gene.
How is a chiasma formed?
A chiasma forms between homologous pairs and sections of DNA can be exchanged at these points.
How can a chiasma result in a new combination of alleles?
The crossing over of DNA is random and produces genetically different recombinant chromosomes. This can result in new combinations of the alleles of these genes which increase variation.
How are chromosomes aligned at the metaphase during meiosis?
Spindle fibres attach to the homologous pairs and line them up at the equator of the spindle. The orientation of the pairs of homologous chromosomes at the equator is random.
What is independent assortment?
Each pair of chromosomes is positioned independently of the others, irrespective of whether they came from mother or father. This is known as independent assortment.
How do the homologous chromosomes separate in meiosis?
The microtubules of the spindle fibres begin to shorten. The chromosomes of each homologous pair are pulled towards opposite poles. The chromosomes group in each end of the cell and a nuclear membrane forms around them.
What happens at the beginning of meiosis two?
Each one if the two cells produced in meiosis one undergoes a further devision and the sister chromatids add separated forming a total of 4 haploid cells.
Why are meiosis produced haploid cells genetically variable?
Crossing over allows exchange of DNA
Independent assortment means random allocation of maternal and payeenal chromosomes
Sexual reproduction combines info from 2 parents.
What is sexual reproduction?
Offspring arising from the combination of male and female gamete’s after the process of fertilisation.
What is asexual reproduction?
Offspring arise from a single organism only and share the DNA of that parent only. Offspring classes as clones.