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PWS 350 > Unit 4 > Flashcards

Unit 4 Flashcards

1
Q
  1. What is landscape ecology? What tools are used in landscape ecology?
A

Landscape ecology is the study of the composition of landscapes and the spatial arrangement of habitats within them, and how those patterns influence individuals, pops, comms and ecosystems at different spatial scales

Tools: Remote sensing through satellite or airplane photos, reflected long-wavelengths, GPS receivers, GIS (geographic information systems)

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2
Q
  1. What is habitat fragmentation? What is edge? What is the edge effect? Describe edge habitat.
A

Habitat fragmentation = when human or natural activities divide a large, contiguous area of habitat into several smaller habitat patches

What is edge = the edge between natural or suitable habitat and the intervening habitat matrix

Edge effect = Because of diversity of environmental conditions within the boundary, the edge is often high in species richness = edge effect

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3
Q

How does edge habitat change with fragmentation? (5)

A

How does edge habitat change with fragmentation?

  1. Amount of total habitat decreases
  2. Number of habitat patches increases
  3. Amount of edge habitat increases
  4. Average patch size decreases
  5. Patch isolation increase
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4
Q

What are the biological consequences of habitat fragmentation?

A

Biological consequences?

  • Barriers to movement and isolation
  • Crowding
  • change in species compositions
  • Makes some species more vulnerable to extinction
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5
Q

What are problems with edges?

A

Problems associated with edges

  1. Increased predation (from cats, humans)
  2. Facilitate dispersal of exotics
  3. Shift in species to edge-tolerants
  4. Increased mortality of non-edge species
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6
Q
  1. What are corridors? Stepping stones? What types of ecological movements are important to consider in corridors?
A

Corridors are sections of habitat that connect two habitat patches

Stepping stones – Isolated habitat patches between two, larger habitat patches, maintained to facilitate movement between the patches

What types of ecological movements are important to consider in corridors?

  • Daily movements among patches of home range
  • Annual migrations
  • Natal dispersal movements
  • Range shifts in response to climate change
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7
Q

What are the 3 types of corridors? What is the spatial scale of each type?

A
  • Fencerow scale – narrow, all edge connections between close habitat patches
  • Landscape mosaic scale – broader and longer, connect major landscape features, contains edge and interior habitat (strip corridors)
  • Regional scale – largest corridor, connects reserves in regional networks (ex. Yellowstone to Yukon corridor)
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8
Q
  1. Understand the equilibrium theory of island biogeography. Why is it equilibrium? How are extinction and immigration (colonization) curves generated? How sound is the theory? Any data that support theory? What was the Simberloff and Wilson study and how did it support island biogeography? How is this theory used in ecology and conservation biology, especially with habitat fragmentation?
A

Why is it at equilibrium?
- The species richness of an island is at equilibrium where the lines of the rate of extinction and the rate of colonization intersect. Species are dying out as fast as they are being colonized

How are extinction and colonization curves generated?

  • by using island biogeography theory and the equation S = CA^z, considering isolation, topographic complexity, environmental quality and size of the island

It was demonstrated to be sound by the defaunation study of the Florida Keys by Simberloff and Wilson. It supported island biogeography theory by demonstrating that Islands closer to the mainland recovered faster

We can think of a fragmented landscape as a sea of cropland with habitat islands, therefore we can use island biogeography theory to understand patch dynamics

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9
Q
  1. What is biogeography? What are the two types of studies of biogeography?
A

Biogeography is the study of the distributions of organisms, both past and present

The two types are historical and ecological

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10
Q
  1. What are the six major biogeographical realms proposed by Wallace?
A

o Nearctic – North America
o Neotropic – South and Central America
o Palearctic - Europe, Asia and North Africa
o Afrotropic – Sub-Saharan Africa
o Indomalaysia – India, Malaysia, Phillipines, Indonesia
o Australasia – Australia, New Zealand

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11
Q
  1. How have the positions of continents changed over geologic time? What is Pangaea? What are Laurasia and Gondwana?
A

250 mya – Pangea
150 mya – Laurasia and Gondwana
100 mya – Gondwana breaking apart
60 mya – Antarctica moving towards South Pole, Africa, S. America, Asia form separate continents

Laurasia is the Northern continent that Pangea broke into, Gondwana is the Southern

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12
Q
  1. What are the historic movements of plates that cut off movement of individuals from continent to continent (and when did these isolation events take place)? When did these major movements take place?
A

North America separates from Europe and Africa 180 mya
South America and Africa 100 mya
Australia from South America 100-110 mya

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13
Q
  1. What is vicariance? How can a phylogeny be used to determine evolutionary conservatism and/or diversification?
A

Vicariance = the splitting of a widely distributed ancestral population by continental drift

Most diversification occurs within the ecological zone of origin

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14
Q
  1. What are the ten major ecoregions of the US based on Bailey’s USFS concept? How are ecoregions classified and what purpose do they serve?
A

Marine, Mediterranean, desert, steppe, warm continental, hot continental, subarctic, prairie, savanna, rain forest

Classified by patterns of climate, soil, vegetation types and topography
Purpose: Create a map of predictable responses to aid in management

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15
Q
  1. What is biodiversity? How many species exist on the globe? How is biodiversity distributed among groups?
A

Biodiversity = (biological diversity) most commonly refers to the entire range of species on earth, but can also refer to genetic diversity and ecosystem diversity

About 8.7-15 million species exist on the globe

Insects are the most diverse group, among them, beetles are the most diverse

Chordates are the least diverse, mammals are the least dense among them

Among plants, angiosperms are the most diverse and gymnosperms (conifers) are the least

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16
Q
  1. What are the patterns associated with biodiversity? Latitudinal pattern, altitudinal pattern, productivity pattern, climatic permissiveness pattern? Topographic complexity pattern, evolutionary time pattern, geologic substrate pattern, historical continuity pattern?
A

Latitudinal and altitudinal patterns = richness decreases at higher latitudes and altitudes

Productivity pattern = the greater the primary productivity in an area, the greater the species richness

structural complexity pattern = the greater the topographic complexity, the more the species diversity

Climatic permissiveness pattern = The smaller the range of environmental conditions, the greater the richness

Evolutionary time pattern – biodiversity has, in general, increased over time with a few mass extinction episodes

Substrate age pattern – the longer the substrate has been exposed, the greater the biodiversity

historical continuity pattern – There is greater species richness in America because the mountains run N/S, which facilitated migration during glaciation.

17
Q
  1. How does niche diversity affect biodiversity? How does diversity vary with body size?
A

The more niches in an environment, the greater the biodiversity

The larger the body size, the smaller the richness

18
Q
  1. What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis?
A

The greatest species diversity occurs at an intermediate frequency, scale and time after disturbance

19
Q
  1. What is extinction? What are the types of extinction and how do they differ (i.e. ecological, mass, local, global, etc.)? What is a mass extinction?
A

Extinction = when a species ceases to exist
Types of extinction
o Global extinction
o Local extinction – extinction in part of a species range
o Extinct in the wild – exists only in captivity
o Ecological extinction – numbers are so small that the species no longer plays an ecological role
o Anthropogenic extinction – human caused extinction
o Mass extinction – widespread and rapid decrease of the biodiversity of the earth

20
Q

How many mass extinction events do we have record of? What are some of the theories used to explain these extinctions?

A

5 mass extinctions
o Ordovian 430 mya
o Devonian 370 mya
o Permian 240 mya – breaking up of Pangea
o Triassic 200 mya
o Cretaceous 65 mya – meteor, overchill (dinosaurs)

Another extinction
o Megafauna – over-kill, over-chill

21
Q
  1. How do we calculate background extinction rates? How do we calculate current extinction rates? What is the 50 year rule of thumb? What is a Centinelan extinction? How can we use the island biogeography theory to calculate extinction rates in the tropics? How do extinction rates in tropics compare with the background?
A

Background rate = # species (2.5-10 million) / 4 million years (average species lifespan)

Current rate = # of species extinct / # of years

Rate of centinelan extinction S = cA^z, using rate of area loss

50-year rule of thumb = if a species has not been detected for 50 years, it is extinct

Extinction rates in the tropics are 27,000x greater than background

22
Q
  1. Are we experiencing another mass extinction? How does this one differ from those in the past? What is our responsibility in this? What is extirpation?
A

Yes

It’s androgenic. Extirpation of species across globe by another organism

Extirpation: too root out, eradicate, stamp out

23
Q
  1. What are the four mechanisms by which humans contribute to the extirpation of species?
A
  1. Habitat destruction, fragmentation and alteration
  2. Introduced species
  3. Exploitation and over-harvesting
  4. Pollution and toxification
24
Q
  1. How does the introduction of exotic species affect native species? What is the enemy release hypothesis?
A

o Introduced species may become invasive and crowd out native species (out compete)
o Because exotic plants are released from specialist enemies in their home range, they have an advantage over native plants

25
Q
  1. What is meant by overexploitation of biotic resources? What are the main types of overexploitation?
A

o Species are over used by humans to the point that the population is detrimentally affected
Types
o Direct commercial exploitation (fishing)
o Envirnmental side effects of mining
o Unintentional mortality (dolphins in tuna nets)
o Over hunting (passenger pigeon, moas, dodo bird)
o Global trade in wildlife (ivory, seahorses, etc)

26
Q
  1. What is pollution and toxification of habitats? Eutrophication?
A

o The introduction of toxic substances to natural systems (oil spills, industrial waste)
o Eutrophication – shift to primary production with the introduction of higher than normal levels of Nitrogen

27
Q
  1. What are the most closely related ancestors to modern humans (Homo sapiens)? Why were humans able to expand to all parts of the world? What species went extinct at the time of human expansion across the globe? When did this occur in geologic time?
A

Neanderthals, Homo erectus

  • Because of language
  • Megafauna (mammoth and sabretooth tiger), and the other human-like species
  • 60-65,000 years ago
28
Q
  1. What is the main difference between developed nations and undeveloped nations? How do rich nations compare with poor nations with respect to population growth and use of natural resources?
A

Population is much greater in less-developed nations

Richer nations consume more energy, eat higher up on the food chain, produce more greenhouse gases and waste more

29
Q
  1. What was Biosphere II? What is techno-arrogance?
A

o Biosphere II was an attempt to create a self-sustainable biosphere (using technology) in preparation for colonizing Mars
o Techno-arrogance is the belief that technology will solve our environmental problems

30
Q
  1. What is the world’s perception of the LDS church on environmental/ecological issues?
A

o The world sees our church as a pretty good environmental steward

31
Q
  1. What does it mean to be a steward and how can we help the biodiversity crisis? What is the LDS environmental ethic according to Dr Allphin? Was Brigham Young a conservationist?
A

o A steward is someone set up as a replacement to the owner to look after their things
o We are the lords of the earth and it is our duty to take care of the earth for Heavenly Father
o Brigham Young was a stark conservationalist

PWS 350 (4 decks)

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