VE exam Flashcards
1
Q
Important:
A
- differences between fruits and leaves of the 7 given types of trees
- properties to identify between 2 different grasses (dry= poceae, round stem with nodes, drier and smaller; wet= crypoceae, triangular stem, larger leaves, seeds have more moisture)
2
Q
Lecture 1
Objective:
A
- Explain the structure and distribution of the vegetation cover
* Vegetation* cover: largely spontaneously(natural) growing plants not including cornfields/flowerbeds
- natural structure of vegetation
- structural changes caused by human activities
- artificial habitats with vegetation - Division of vegetation cover into:
- different biogeographic regions
- vegetation types/plant communities
3
Q
What is an ecosystem?
A
- Ecosystem is the complex of living organisms, their physical environment and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space.
- Composed of producers (photosynthesis), primary and secondary consumers and decomposers.
4
Q
Adaptations of plants
A
- Leaf hairs: shield plants from solar radiation, reduce transpiration; occurs in dry environments
- Narrow leaves: reduce water loss by transpiration (less surface exposed e.g grass)
- Broad leaves: optimize light utilization
- Succulent plants: stems/leaves store water (e.g cacti)
- Long needles: extract water from atmosphere (clouds)
- Thorns: defense from being eaten
- Bitter substances: defense from being eaten (Yellow gentian, Gentiana lutea)
- Toxic substances: defense from being eaten (Aconitum sp)
- Fruits adapted to wind dispersal (Taraxacum sp. = dandelions)
- Fruits adapted to animal dispersal (Vaccinium sp = blue berries)
- Wind pollination (willow trees produce pollen mid of april)
- Extreme dry conditions on rocks: Antennaria sp. (limestone rocks very dry, cant retain water): alpine plants have deep delving roots/deep taproot, evergreen leaves, anthocyanin production in leaves-UV protection, succulent, fuzzy-foliage)
- Carnivorous species adapt to lack of N: Pitcher plants
- Adaptation to late frost, short spring: antifreeze protein in alpine plants?
5
Q
Classification of plants (formations, associations, EUNIS habitat types)
A
- Aristotle and Theophrastus (371-287 BC): Classification into tree (one woody stem), shrub (several woody stems), herbs (soft stem)
- Vertical stratification of vegetation determined by size of plants, branching and leaves
- Canopy
- Understory (btw canopy & shrub layer)
- Shrub layer(1-5m)
- Herbaceous layer (non-woody, ground cover: till 1.5 m)
- Forest floor (moss layer, root layer)
Life forms according to Raunkiaer (1934)
- *Growing points survive** least favourable land; how to ID the type of life forms?
- where are buds located?
- Presence of bulbs and rhizomes?
- Therophytes only survive for one season (e.g sunflowers)
- *Phanerophytes**
- growth point at least 50cm above ground level
- trees, bushes, lianes (woody climber) e.g Beech, maple
- *Chamaephytes**
- growth point up to about 50m above ground
- many perennial herbaceous plants (subshrubs, short woody plants, bush e.g Lavander, periwinkle)
- *Hemicryptophytes**
- growth point above or just below the ground
- e.g strawberry and stinging nettle
- *Cryptophytes**
- growth point below ground level, possess rhizomes and bulbs
- e.g Lily of the valley, spring snowflake
- Therophytes** (omitted as they only persist as seeds*)
- annual plants, as seeds
- e.g Erophila verna, Fumitory
- *Distribution of plants**
- global and regional plant distribution maps
- early detection of invasive species
- library of identification and management of plant species
6
Q
Cultural soil
A
- basic: alkaline soils are basic but not all basic soils are alkaline. Used in rice cultivation as it has low infiltration capacity
- acidic: has lower biodiversity, e.g sandstone
- calcareous: grassland soils containing much calcium carbonate from underlying chalk/limestone rock
7
Q
Biodiversity (α-, β-, γ-)
A
- biodiversity reflects the number, variety and variability of living organisms and how these change from one location to another and over time.
- includes genetic diversity (diversity within species), species diversity (between species) and ecosystem diversity (between ecosystems)
- species richness: number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region
- genetic diversity: total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species
- diversity of habitats: number of different types of habitats within a given area
- diversity of functions: number of functionally disparate species within a population (e.g different feeding mechanism, different motility etc)
8
Q
What is a species?
A
All individuals that could interbreed and produce viable, fertile offspring
- often difficult to prove (fossils? Organisms that reproduce asexually)
- speciation à when one species becomes two or more due to evolution à leads to reproductive isolation: when two groups live close enough to interact but are unable to interbreed with one another
- scientific naming of plants: Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) established Binomial system of nomenclature, published species plantarum 1753
9
Q
How to measure biological diversity?
A
- α-diversity: How diverse are individual plots? No. of species per plot
- γ-diversity: How diverse is the whole landscape? Total no. of species in landscape
- β-diversity: How diverse are different plots in the landscape? Β= γ/ α
- Shannon-Wiener Diversity H’ (bigger number à more sp and more evenly distributed abundance)
- Effective number of species
- 2H’
- reflects true diversity - Evenness H’ max
- first calculate max diversity for given species k: H’max= logb(k) à e.g log2(4)=2
- evenness = H’/H’ max
10
Q
Nature protection (IUCN categories, FFH-LRT)
A
Convention on Biological Diversity
- international contract initiative of UN signed in 1992 in Rio de Janero
- aims to protect biological diversity on earth
Europe
- Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora à Fauna-flora-habitat (FFH) directive
- which is a list of habitat types, animal and plant species that require protection and support
Germany
- monitoring biodiversity: High nature value farmland
- Agri-environmental measures: provide payments to farmers who subscribe on a voluntary basis to environmental commitments related to the preservation of the environment and maintaining the countryside
In Bavaria: VNP (vertragsnaturscutzprogramm)
- later moving of meadows (plants produce seeds)
- no nutrient application (nutrient poor sites usually more diverse)
- no application of pesticides/herbicides/insecticides (infiltration into drinking water)
- maintain coppice forests: repeated harvest of poles; pruning (light availability on forest floor increases diversity)
- non-utilisation of forest (enables natural processes)
IUCN categories
- 1a: strict nature reserve
- 1b: wilderness area
- 2: national park
- 3: natural monument/feature
- 4: habitat/ species management area
- 5: protected landscape/seascape
- 6: protected area with sustainable use of natural resources
The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.
Climate and plants (walter’s climate diagram, holtrige’s model)
11
Q
Vegetation classification:
Approach:
A
Vegetation classification: the process of classifying and mapping the vegetation over an area of the earth’s surface
Approach:
- physiognomic (external appearance) –> growth form: forest, shrub, grassland; leaf characteristic: evergreen, deciduous, broadleaved, needle; life forms
- Floristic (species composition)
- *Humboldt** connected plant distribution with environment
- father of phytogeography
- phytogeography/botanical geography: geographic distribution of plants species and their influence on the earth’s surface
Griesebach (1838)
-formation: “a community that can be identified through the growth form of its dominant species”
National vegetation classification (USA)
- cultural vegetation: vegetation with a distinctive structure, composition, and development determined by regular human activity
(e. g dominant growth forms and regular human manipulation; common growth forms and edaphic, topographic and disturbance) - Natural vegetation: where ecological processes primarily determine species and site characteristics; where vegetation comprises of largely spontaneously growing plant species that are shaped by both site and biotic processes
(e. g Global macro ecology drivers: latitude, altitude; regional meso-ecology differences; local environmenta conditions)
EUNIS habitat type
A: marine habitats
B: coastal habitats
C: inland surface waters
- C1: surface standing waters
- C2:surface running waters
D: mires, bogs and ferns
- D1: raised and blanket bogs
- D2: valley mires, poor fens and transition mires
- D4: base-rich fens and calcareous spring mires
- D5: sedge and reedbeds, normally without free-standing water
??Sphagnum pallax: has candlewick effect; bottle shaped water storing cells for water retention
E: grasslands and lands dominated by forbs (herb that isn’t grass), mosses or lichens
- E1: Dry grasslands: dry lands dominated by grass or herbs, mostly not fertilized and low productivity
- E2: Mesic grasslands: more fertile than dry grasslands and includes sports fields and agriculturally improved and reseeded pastures; lowland and montane mesotropic and eutrophic pastures and hay meadows
12
Q
Characteristic: Gramineous plant families
A
***Poaceae: grasses (occur in dry and mesic grassland):
- flowers arranged in spikelet (spikelet consists of two bracts at base (called glumes) followed by one or more florets); floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts called lemma and palea
- cross-section of stem is round
- stem with nodes!
- Stigma (female): connects to ovary, received pollen; anthers (male): pollen producing
***Cyperaceae: sedges (often found in wetlands)
- -ovary is hidden in a
- cross-section of stem is triangular
- E.g Carex sp
- Juncaceae: rush
- E.g Luzula spec
***Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
- natural forest type in Bavaria
- large, deciduous tree
- leaves: long, stalked, oval and pointed at tip with a wavy edge with hairs
- fruits: triangular beech nuts form in prickly four lobed seed cases
***Oak (Quercus sp.)
- shrubbary forests for firewood
- regeneration from roots after harvesting
- diverse understory vegetation
- require management
- leaves: around 10cm long with 4-5 lobes with smooth edges
- fruits: acorns, ripe fruit is brown
- ***Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)
- shrubbary forests for firewood
- regeneration from roots after harvesting
- diverse understory vegetation
- require management
-
(Tilia ulmifolia)
- growing on steep slopes: erosion protection
- leaves: dark green and heart-shaped and flimsy
- fruits: round-oval slightly ribbed fruits with a pointed tip -
(Acer platanoides)
- growing on steep slopes: erosion protection
- leaves: palmate and have five lobes with few pointed teeth, dark green fades to yellow then red in autumn; leaves milky sap when squeezed
- fruits: female flowers develop into winged seeds (samaras) -
(Salix fragilis)
- leaves: slender, oval leaves
- fruits: after pollination, female catkins develop small capsules, each containing seeds in white down (dispersal by wind) -
(Pinus cembra)
- naturally growing in subalpine belt: steep slopes
- frequently planted in lowlands
- leaves: needle-like leaves
- fruits: after pollination by wind, female flowers turn green and develop cones. Mature cones are brown with raised circular bump at centre of each scale
- Larch and Swiss stone pine: protection of timber line -
***Spruce (Picea abies)
- tall and straight, triangular appearance, with a pointed crown
- mature trees have dark purple brown bark, with cracks and small plates
- leaves: needle-like leaves are square shaped and pointed, with fine white speckled lines and a rich sweet smell
- fruits: once pollinated by wind, female flowers turn green and enlarge to become red-brown cones with diamond shaped, rounded scales; longer than pine cones!
- famous for its use as a Christmas tree!
Alluvial forests: natural zonation
Alluvium= clay, silt, gravel or similar detrital material deposited by running water
13
Q
Description of vegetation (1.-4.)
A
- Schematic painting (vertical and top) of Stipa grassland
- (left) Tree species differentiated by structure and colour
- (right) view from top: portion of different sp and coverage
- Vegetation releves (Plots, samples)
- using plot survets to make a complete list of all plant sp with importance value and estimate cover
- grouped by vegetation layer
- optimal data in header: location, site factors etc - Braun-Blanquet (1964) cover-abundance-classes
- measure cover and convert to abundance
- where r: sporadic individuals; +: sparse with little cover; 1: low cover value…. 5: >75% coverage
- can be displayed as: unsorted row data, sorted by frequency, pattern of “plant communities”
- Phytosociological associations (plant communities, their composition and development, and the relationships between the species within them)
- classification of vegetation stands are based on floristic species composition (plant communities)
- diagnostic species characterize the communities and indicate their environment
- associations are organized in a hierarchical classification system
14
Q
Statistical data analyses
A
- ordination: treats vegetation as being a continuous phenomenon (gradient)
- classification analyses: find the pair of most similar releves, build 1st initial group , find the next most similar pair, and repeat process until all releves are in one big group, display the result as a dendogram
15
Q
Site factors (habitat factors=environmental conditions)
A
- Edaphic (related to soil) site factors
- parent rock material
- soil types
Climactic site factors (weather: certain day; climate: over longer period)
- moisture (sum of precipitation per year/month; length of periods w/o precipitation; type of precipitation: rain, snow, dew; frequency of extreme rainfall)
- temperature (mean daily, daily min or max, average coldest/warmest month)
- wind
