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Climate change and sustainability > Ecology > Flashcards

Ecology Flashcards

1
Q

What is organismal ecology?

A

concerned with behavioural, physiological and morphological traits that mediate interaction
- among individuals
- between species
- with environment

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2
Q

What is a population?

A

group of individuals of the same species living and interacting in a particular geographic area

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3
Q

What is population ecology?

A

Exams factors that limit and regulate population size and composition

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4
Q

What is a community?

A

Consists of all individuals of all the species that inhabit a particular geographic area

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5
Q

What is community ecology?

A

Examines the interactions among populations

(factors such as predation, competition and disease affect community structure)

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6
Q

What are the 6 key processes that drive distribution and abundance?

A

Colonisation
Extinction
Birth
Death
Immigration
Emigration

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7
Q

What is a limitation of the term communities?

A

Doesn’t show migration

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8
Q

What happens to the population growth rate when births=deaths, immigration=emigration and colonisation=extinction?

A

0

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9
Q

What are unitary organsims?

A
  • easy to recognise genetically separate individuals
  • form is programmed at birth
  • local damage has serious consequence
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9
Q

What are unitary organsims?

A
  • easy to recognise genetically separate individuals
  • form is programmed at birth
  • local damage has serious consequence
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10
Q

What are modular organsims?

A
  • genetic individual, starts as zygote and docent follow set of development programmes
  • growth occurs by repeated production of modules
  • not predictable
  • not dead until all modules are dead (local damage unimportant)
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10
Q

What are modular organsims?

A
  • genetic individual, starts as zygote and docent follow set of development programmes
  • growth occurs by repeated production of modules
  • not predictable
  • not dead until all modules are dead (local damage unimportant)
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11
Q

What is important when describing populations?

A

Composition is important:
- male vs female
- sizes
- juveniles vs adults
- age class

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11
Q

What is important when describing populations?

A

Composition is important:
- male vs female
- sizes
- juveniles vs adults
- age class

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12
Q

What 3 traits affect reproduction and mortality?

A

Rates - somatic growth
Timing - maturation and frequency of reproduction
Allocation - offspring size and number

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13
Q

2 ways of describing life histories

A
  • frequency of reproduction
  • seasonal timing of reproduction
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14
Q

What is semelparity?

A
  • Big Bang reproduction
  • Large number of offspring produced then dies
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15
Q

What is iteroparity?

A
  • reproduction is spread out
  • repeated episodes
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16
Q

2 types of reproduction

A

seasonal
continuous

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17
Q

What are annuals?

A
  • have one generation per year
  • spent part of their life as seed (however can live as a seed for over a year)
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17
Q

What are annuals?

A
  • have one generation per year
  • spent part of their life as seed (however can live as a seed for over a year)
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18
Q

What is a Darwinian demons?

A
  • organsims that lives for hundreds of years that reproduces frequently and large number of offspring
  • cannot exist as life histories are contained by external factors and trade-offs
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19
Q

What is principle of allocation?

A

each organism has a limited amount of energy it can allocate for maitenance, survival, growth and reproduction

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20
Q

Give examples of trade-offs

A

Reproduction vs survival
Reproduction vs growth
Reproduction vs condition
Number of offspring vs size of offspring
Parental survival vs num

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21
Q

What is survivorship?

A

describes how many individuals in a population are expected to survive to any specific age (x)

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22
Q

What are life tables?

A

Summarise births and deaths for organisms at different ages of their life

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23
Q

What are the 2 types of life tables?

A

Cohort life table (age-specific rates over lifetime of a cohort of organisms)
Period life table (age specific rates during specific time period of certain population)

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24
Q

What are the 3 phases of reproduction?

A

Juvenile phase
Reproductive phase
Post reproductive phase

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25
Q

What is Net reproductive rate?

A

Average number of offspring produced by one individual female over her lifetime (how much a population grows per generation)

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26
Q

What is generation time?

A

Average time between successive generations (pace of life)

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27
Q

Why can infectious disease epidemics be useful/

A
  • Measure of per-epidemic growth rate
  • Measure of parasite fitness
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28
Q

What are the 2 parts of the life cycle diagram?

A

States - age group (newborn, adult)
Transactions - numbers that describe rates (survival, reproduction)

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29
Q

What is the Matrix projection models (MPMs) USEFUL?

A
  • calculates the population will persist or go extinct
  • looks at short-term behaviour (predict impact of reintroduction
    strategies)
  • extract population growth rate from model
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30
Q

What is exponential population growth?

A
  • population with few individuals
  • environment with no limiting factor (resources are limited)
  • no limitation on available energy
  • no restriction on growth or reproduction
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31
Q

What is K?

A

the carrying capacity (itra specific competition)
- crowding
- resource limitation

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32
Q

Why is predation important?

A

Ecology - structure and dynamics of communities
Evolution - selects for morphology, behaviour
Agriculture - pesticides
Conservation - predator control, reintroduction
Biodiversity - richness

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33
Q

4 types of interaction

A

Competition -/-
Predation +/-
Mutualism +/+
Commensalism +/=

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34
Q

What are predator strategies?

A

Traits - camo, trickery, mobility, morphology
Behaviour - sit and wait, purse, stalk
Domain - timing, spatial location
Mode - individual, group

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35
Q

What are prey strategies?

A

Traits - mobility, camo, mimicry, chemical defence
Behaviour - warning signals, play dead
Domain shifts - time, space
Safety in numbers - predator confusion, vigilance

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36
Q

What are inducible defences?

A

Defences not there all the time

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37
Q

What is a keystone species?

A

Regulates species in environment, reduces a dominant species

38
Q

What is a trophic cascade?

A
  • The indirect interactions between non-adjacent trophic levels
  • Predator > prey > resource
  • predator-prey, prey-resource, Direct effect
  • predator-resource, Indirect effect
39
Q

What are impacts of loss of predators?

A
  • loss of plant diversity and biomass
  • loss of herbivore density
  • effects on water quality, PH, Co2 flux
40
Q

What is the inflection point?

A

Point at fastest growth rate

41
Q

What is trophic downgrading?

A

refers to the negative effects of predator loss on lower trophic levels

42
Q

What growth and functional response are density dependent?

A

Exponential growth, type 1 - density independent
Logistic growth, type 3 - density dependent
type 2 - inverse density dependent

43
Q

What is the optimal foraging theory?

A

Are organisms choosy or eat at random

44
Q

What decides diet choice?

A

Currency - energy, time
Objective - maximise energy intake and time spent foraging
Constraints - time available for feeding, space, nutrients /toxins

45
Q

What is the contingency model of foraging?

A

Profit = E/h

E=energy (calories)
h=handling time

46
Q

Examples of resources

A

food, shelter, mates, nutrients, territory, climate

47
Q

2 ways individuals compete

A

Indirect (cost is loss of resource)
- exploitation
- pre emptive (using space)

Interference (cost is loss of resource/fighting)
- overgrowth
- chemical
- territorial

48
Q

What did George Gause do?

A

Paramecium experiment for competition (inter/intraspecific competition)

3 jars, Species A, Species B, Species A/B

Not large impact of growth rate, large impact on K

Competitive exclusion principle

49
Q

What is competitive exclusion principle (George Gause)?

A
  • no 2 species can share same resources
  • no 2 species can occupy same niche
  • 2 species can’t coexist when have identical needs of limited resource
50
Q

What is the niche?

A

Fundamental - intrinsic requirements of a species on its own (physiological and ecological limits)

51
Q

Lotka and Volterra

A

Shows 2 species competing leading to either coexistence of exclusion

52
Q

When do competitors coexist?

A

Intraspecific Competition&raquo_space; Interspecific Competition

Intraspecific Density Dependence&raquo_space; Interspecific Interactions

Coexistence occurs when each species consumes the resource most limiting to it faster than other resources, and that limiting resource is not the same for both species

53
Q

What is R* theory?

A

Compares resources and species coexistence

Lines cross - coexistence
Lines don’t cross - exclusion

R* theory predicts preference is essential for coexistence in a multidimensional resource environment

54
Q

What contributes to evolution?

A

Favours separating niches, minimising interspecific competition (promoting coexistence)

55
Q

Theories on biodiversity - function

A

Species may add function due to complementarity

Species are primarily redundant, most function achieved with small number of species (redundancy hypothosis)

56
Q

Biodiversity - function evidence

A

Hump back curve (intermediate biomass has greatest biodiversity)

Global analysis, 48 global sites, 1 negative concave site (hump back curve no applicable)

Global update, analysis of all sites finds concave fit (hump back may be applicable)

Pan et al - biomass increases with species richness (linear)

Naeem et al - growth chambers with different diversity (increase in biomass with increase species)

Hector et al - European synthesised grasslands (species loss reduced biomass production), functional groups in study: grasses, legume, non-legume forms

Thompson et al - immature vs mature communties (negative relationship for biodiversity-function)

57
Q

What is bio-depth?

A

As biodiveristy decreases biomass decreases

58
Q

What is wrong with term species richness?

A

no identity of species (no composition)

ecosystem function is driven by characteristics of species

59
Q

Why does species identity matter?

A

traits drive ecosystem function
plant traits: real characteristics of plant (growth rate, leaf thickness, leaf N)

60
Q

What is Grimes mass ratio hypothesis?

A

controls are ecosystem are in proportion to biomass or productivity (richness of subordinate species has little influence)

61
Q

What is Grimes mass ratio hypothesis?

A

controls are ecosystem are in proportion to biomass or productivity (richness of subordinate species has little influence)

62
Q

What are legumes, herbs and grasses?

A

Legumes - fruit of seed of plant

63
Q

How do grasses impact nitrate leaching?

A

reduce nitrate leaching

64
Q

What is the mass ratio hypothesis?

A

plants with greater biomass probably influence ecosystem properties more

65
Q

What is macro ecology?

A

Uses compilations go data to study large scale ecology patterns in space/time

66
Q

3 key aspects of macro ecology

A
  • large scales
  • strongly empirical observational approach
  • emergent non-reductionist approach
67
Q

What does range size refer to?

A

the geographical distribution - distributions are patchy and scale dependent

67
Q

What does range size refer to?

A

the geographical distribution - distributions are patchy and scale dependent

68
Q

How do you measure ranges?

A

Extent of occurrence - includes gaps
Area of occupancy - excludes gaps

69
Q

What species are at biggest risk?

A

those with small range size (increase extinction risk)

70
Q

What species are at biggest risk?

A

those with small range size (increase extinction risk)

71
Q

What was Rapoports rule?

A

Species have smaller latitudinal ranges at low latitudes (however pattern is a local phenomenon)

72
Q

What is climatic tolerance?

A

-Seasonal variation greatest at high latitudes
- Species at high latitudes cope with range of temperatures (more physically capable)
- Small range species at more risk at high latitude

73
Q

What are taxon cycles?

A

Speciation - expansion - contraction - extinction

73
Q

What are taxon cycles?

A

Speciation - expansion - contraction - extinction

74
Q

What is the climatic variability hypothesis?

A

taxa from variable habitats evolve wider environmental tolerances - establish wider distributions along climate gradients

75
Q

What is the climatic variability hypothesis?

A

taxa from variable habitats evolve wider environmental tolerances - establish wider distributions along climate gradients
(latitudes and altitudes)

76
Q

Where is probability of speciation highest?

A

At a medium range size
- to large can go round barrier seperating
- to small at risk of extinction

77
Q

Why is there more species in a larger area?

A

more area = more habitat diversity = more niches = more species

more area = larger population = reduced extinction risk = more species

77
Q

Why is there more species in a larger area?

A

more area = more habitat diversity = more niches = more species

more area = larger population = reduced extinction risk = more species

78
Q

What is saturation by isolation?

A

saturation measures number of species on an island relative to possible species that could occur given pool of species on mainland
(distant islands less saturated)

79
Q

What is the island biogeography theory?

A

Balance between immigration and extinction = species richness

80
Q

How are immigration and extinction rates affected by area and isolation?

A
  • immigration increase with area
  • extinction rates decrease with area
  • immigration rates decline with isolation
  • extinction rates increase with isolation
81
Q

What is the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG)?

A

change in species over latitude, more richness to equator

82
Q

What causes latitudinal gradient?

A

net diversification = speciation - extinction
net migration = immigration - emigration

(chance events, ecological factors, evolutionary factors)

83
Q

What is the mid domaine model?

A

Species move to centre of domaine of land

84
Q

Why get more species when productivity is higher?

A
  • chance (more energy = more individuals, increase species diversity by chance)
  • more individuals hypothesis, larger populations reduce risk of extinction
  • more trophic lvls (more energy at base and support higher lvls)
  • dynamic equilibrium, more energy allows faster recovery, reducing excitation risk
  • niche, species can co-exist
85
Q

How does evolutionary factors affect LDG?

A

tropics are diverse: (also richness of first occurrence)
high speciation, cradles
low rates of extinction (have older species), museums
high immigration / low immigration, engines

85
Q

How does evolutionary factors affect LDG?

A

tropics are diverse: (also richness of first occurrence)
high speciation, cradles
low rates of extinction (have older species), museums
high immigration / low immigration, engines

86
Q

Why do tropics have higher diversification rates?

A
  • mutation rates - higher temps, higher UV
  • more niches
87
Q

What are windward and leeward slopes?

A

Windward - faces wind
Leeward - sheltered from prevailing winds

88
Q

What is the ecology of fear?

A

Psychological impact that predators induce on prey (impacting behaviour)

89
Q

What is fixed quota harvesting?

A

Fixed quota harvesting = constant harvest rate

Generate 1 stable equilibrium and vulnerable to population fluctuations (may place harvest rate above recruitment rate)

89
Q

What is fixed quota harvesting?

A

Fixed quota harvesting = constant harvest rate

90
Q

What is fixed effort harvesting?

A

Fixed effort harvesting = constant efficiency rate

Harvest that increases linearly with population size as a function of a fixed effort (less vulnerable to population fluctuations)

91
Q

What is maximum sustainable yield?

A

Theoretically largest yield possible where the population won’t be depleted

harvest rate = recruitment rate

92
Q

How does mortality rate change with the 3 response types?

A

1 - constant mortality rate
2 - mortality rate decreases with density (most common)
3 - mortality rate increases then decreases with density

93
Q

What does coexistence require?

A

Density dependence
(predation, competition, disease)

Climate change and sustainability (4 decks)

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