week 1

Question 1

Biogeography

Answer 1

the science of distribution of organisms, animals,species and understanding their distribution

Question 2

Biogeography vs Ecology

Answer 2

Biogeography - focused on mapping and explaining distribution
ecology - focused on interactions between species, why is there competition, predators/

Question 3

Bioclimatic Envelope

Answer 3

quantifiable map for species that says what kind of conditions it likes in terms of soil, water climate etc, allows us to predict where it will grow in 100 years

Question 4

Alfred Wallace

Answer 4

went on ships to collect animals and plant samples this was the first time we had a global collection that was being brought back to Europe

Question 5

Wallaces map 1876

Answer 5

sahara desert is blocking animals and plants form going into Northern Africa and Europe form southern and central Africa, Himalayan Mountains and oceans are natural barriers that have prevented the species form moving around

Question 6

Pattern

Answer 6

defined as a repetitive organization across a landscape

Question 7

spatial patterns of biota

Answer 7

quantify as clumped, random or regular

Question 8

why are the trees spread out?

Answer 8

they need water and thus a seedling that’s close to a mature tree won’t get enough water, competition from water keeps this pattern

Question 9

Tree line boundary

Answer 9

as you go up in elevation around the world conditions get less favourable for tree growth because its too cold resulting in a tree line, naturally induced because of elevation

Question 10

forest/agriculture boundary (anthropogenic)

Answer 10

human made form cutting

Question 11

inductive logic

Answer 11

making specific observations look for patterns and develop a they not testing it just based on observations seen as less rigorous

ex. environmental determinism - people were comparing European ocieies to African ones and used the justification to enslave people

Question 12

deductive logic

Answer 12

look at something generally develop a research question and actually collect and analyze data to say weather or not your hypothesis is true or not

Question 13

uniformitarianism

Answer 13

the present is the key to the past; present day things such as glaciers melting and eruptions, we assume those were also happening in the past 10-20 million years ago, the basic processes of the earth have not changed

Question 14

actualism

Answer 14

These processes have been going on for thousands of years but the rates of those things have changed, for example lots of fires in one period but not in another

Question 15

how did the river get there?

Answer 15

We do know river erodes the channel thus its a process that takes place the river eventually over millions of years will cut its way down to the bottom of the canyon

Question 16

aspect

Answer 16

which direction a slope is facing
north side - gets no direct sunlight thus more trees
south side - direct sunlight leads to dry clime
in the Northern hemisphere the sun is mostly in the southern sky in the east and sets un the west

Question 17

island gigantism

Answer 17

The relatives of species on a mainland, when they get to an island their organisms evolve to be gigantic over millions of years, the opposite happens sometime when the ancestor arrives and the organism gets smaller and smaller

Question 18

Island dwarfism

Answer 18

Dwarfism might be related to lack of resources and gigantism might be related to lack of predators

Question 19

process

Answer 19

something that constantly going on that leads to changes

Question 20

endemic

Answer 20

a species found in a specific area