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Ecology > Ecology Exam 2 > Flashcards

Ecology Exam 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Classifications of animals

A

Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores, Detritivores

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2
Q

Adaptations to the Thermal Environment (3 classifications)

A

Homotherm, Poikilotherm, Heterotherm

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3
Q

Describe a homotherm (include example and mechanism of heat regulation)

A

constant internal temperature, mammals and most birds, endothermy

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4
Q

What is endothermy?

A

oxidative metabolic heat production via respiration

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5
Q

Describe a poikilotherm (include examples and mechanism)

A

body temp changes with ambient temp, reptiles and amphibians, solar radiation

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6
Q

Describe a heterotherm (include examples and mechanism)

A

sometimes regulate body temp, bees and bats, torpor

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7
Q

What is torpor?

A

reduced energy use by remaining in a state of rest until warming occurs

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8
Q

What does the Q10 Temperature Coefficient tell us?

A

the factorial increase in metabolism per 10 degree rise in temperature

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9
Q

What does a Q10 > 0 indicate?

A

the metabolic rate is higher at higher temperatures

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10
Q

What does a Q10 < 0 indicate?

A

the metabolic rate is higher at lower temperatures

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11
Q

What is the thermal neutral zone?

A

temperature range where animals maintain constant metabolic rate

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12
Q

what kinds of species would you expect to have narrow or broad thermal neutral zones

A

narrow: tropical, humans, broad: arctic

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13
Q

What are some other animal adaptations to temperature?

A

avoiding heat spots, changes in body color/morphology, evaporative cooling

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14
Q

Evaporative cooling

A

lower body temperatures by increasing water intake to compensate for water loss. ex: cicadas

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15
Q

Adaptations to moisture

A

hypoosmotic, isoosmotic, hypoosmotic

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16
Q

Adaptations to arid environment

A

increase water use efficiency, nocturnal, infrequent urination. ex: kangaroo rat

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17
Q

Adaptations to light

A

circadian rhythm

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18
Q

what is the circadian rhythm

A

innate cycle of inactivity/activity over 24 hrs to provide synchrony with the environment, set by light and not affected by temp or chemicals

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19
Q

List from smallest to largest the classifications of decomposers

A

microfauna, microflora, mesofauna, macrofauna, megafauna

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20
Q

examples of microfauna

A

protozoa, nematodes

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21
Q

examples of microflora

A

bacteria, fungi

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22
Q

example of mesofauna

A

mites

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23
Q

example of macrofauna

A

termites

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24
Q

examples of megafauna

A

millipedes, earthworms, snails

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25
Q

Major decomposers of animal matter (target protein)

A

bacteria

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26
Q

Major decomposers of plant matter

A

fungi

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27
Q

Why is decomposition important?

A

recycling of finite nutrients

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28
Q

What are the stages of decomposition?

A

leaching, fragmentation, mineralization

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29
Q

What is leaching?

A

loss of soluble sugars and dissolved compounds

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30
Q

What is fragmentation?

A

reduction of organic materials into smaller particles

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31
Q

What is mineralization?

A

all organic materials become inorganic

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32
Q

What happens to mineralized nutrients?

A

incorporated into microbial biomass, uptaken by plants, leached out of soil system to water/oceans

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33
Q

inorganic nutrients are ___ into organic matter

A

immobilized

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34
Q

organic matter is ___ into inorganic nutrients

A

mineralized

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35
Q

What is the rhizosphere?

A

the soil region immediately surrounding the roots

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36
Q

The rhizosphere has higher ___ ____ than bulk soil

A

microbial activities

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37
Q

What are root exudates and what do they do?

A

simple sugars, amino acids, fatty acids that provide nutrients and energy for microorganisms in soil

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38
Q

What is root sloughing?

A

roots are dying all the time and are decomposed by microorganisms

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39
Q

what are the internal factors affecting decomposition?

A

the quality of the litter, simple or complex compounds

40
Q

what is the simplest but highest quality sugar for microorganisms

A

glucose

41
Q

What is a population?

A

group of the same species that occupy a particular space at the same time that mate & produce fertile offspring

42
Q

What is a metapopulation?

A

smaller, separate populations that affect one another and are linked by movement of individuals among them

43
Q

what is a unitary population/unitary organisms?

A

unitary organisms have predictable and determinate life. When they die, they die

44
Q

examples of unitary organisms

A

humans, bats, caterpillars

45
Q

what are modular organisms?

A

Unpredictable, indeterminate life. A module is not dead until all of its component modules are dead.

46
Q

example of modular organisms

A

trees, trembling aspen

47
Q

world’s largest organism species?

A

clone of aspen trees

48
Q

population density: crude density

A

of individuals/unit area

49
Q

population density: ecological density

A

individuals/amount of area available as living space

50
Q

population dispersion: random, example

A

if position of each individual is independent of others or if the occupation of each spot is equally likely, intertidal clams

51
Q

population dispersion: spaced/uniform, example

A

individuals evenly distributed, crops, lawn grasses

52
Q

population dispersion: clumped, example

A

individuals are distributed in patches, humans

53
Q

primary sex ratio

A

ratio of males to females (100) at conception

54
Q

secondary sex ratio

A

ratio of males to females (100) at birth

55
Q

what is unique about populus tremuloides (dioecious species) at different elevations?

A

different sex ratios

56
Q

spacial sex segregation

A

male and female plants living in different areas/conditions, beneficial for species as a whole

57
Q

physiological natality

A

max possible births/female under ideal conditions

58
Q

realized natality

A

of successful reproduction actually occurring over a period of time

59
Q

crude birth rate

A

of births/1000

60
Q

age specific birth rate

A

offspring produced per unit time by females in a particular age class

61
Q

crude death rate

A

of deaths per 1000

62
Q

death rate

A

of deaths during a given time interval / size of population

63
Q

horizontal/dynamic life table

A

following a cohort of individuals until they are dead

64
Q

dynamic/composite life table

A

constructed by pooling several horizontal life tables

65
Q

vertical life table

A

constructed by sampling individuals of different ages during a single time period

66
Q

type 1 survivorship (examples)

A

most organisms die late in life (many mammals, annual plants)

67
Q

type 2 survivorship

A

steady decline in numbers (some birds, lizards, turtles)

68
Q

type 3 survivorship

A

huge decline in young (invertebrates, perennials)

69
Q

geometric population growth (examples)

A

growth in populations where generations don’t overlap (annual plants, insects)

70
Q

exponential growth (examples)

A

growth in populations in which generations do overlap (trees, bacteria, humans)

71
Q

why can’t exponential growth continue forever?

A

limited resources and harm to environment

72
Q

logistic growth (sigmoidal curve)

A

Population grows rapidly, slows, and stops at carrying capacity, K

73
Q

lotka-volterra model

A

adds a coefficient to account for the competitive effect of another species (alpha)

74
Q

interspecific competition: co-existence

A

no species is competitive enough to drive out the other species

75
Q

interspecific competition: exclusion

A

one species completely outcompetes others and leads to exclusion of those species

76
Q

What is Gause’s Principle / Competitive Exclusion Principle?

A

Two competing species with with identical ecological requirements cannot occupy the same area

77
Q

what is the corollary for Gause’s Principle?

A

if two species co-exist they must have ecological differences

78
Q

Why can successful invasive exotic species outcompete native species?

A

lack of natural enemies, high reproductive rate, highly adaptive

79
Q

what is allelopathy

A

Production and release of chemical substances that plants release that inhibit growth of other plant species

80
Q

example of allelopathy

A

black walnut produces juglone

81
Q

resource partitioning with competition

A

interspecific competition narrows range of resource utilization for each species involved

82
Q

resource partitioning examples

A

plant roots extend to different regions of soil, farblers eat off different parts of trees

83
Q

niche definition

A

The fundamental role of the organism in its community - what it does, how it relates to its food and enemies by charles elton

84
Q

what is an organism’s hypervolume

A

an organism’s niche consists of many physical and environmental variables, each can be considered a point in multi-dimensional space, that space is called hypervolume

85
Q

fundamental niche (potential)

A

An individual or species free from interference of another could occupy the full hypervolume or range of variables to which it is adapted

86
Q

realized niche (actual)

A

Conditions under which an organism actually exists

87
Q

niche relationships

A

can be disjunct, overlapping or adjacent

88
Q

niche overlap leads to ____

A

competition

89
Q

what is niche compression?

A

contraction of habitat resulting from competition, usually one species gets a larger portion of their niche in the overlap

90
Q

what is ecological release?

A

niche expansion in response to reduced interspecific competition

91
Q

what is niche shift

A

adoption of changed behavioral and feeding patterns by competing populations to reduce competition

92
Q

what is character displacement?

A

a long term response to niche shift

93
Q

predation

A

killing and consuming of another organism

94
Q

ecological meaning of predation

A

transfer of energy/nutrients

95
Q

the outcome of predator-prey interactions depends on

A

Reproductive rates of predator and prey, adaptive capacity of predators to respond to increase in prey density, carrying capacity for prey population in the absence of predation

Ecology (3 decks)

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