Exam 2 - biogeography patterns

Question 1

BIODIVERSITY PATTERNS AND MEASUREMENTS

Answer 1

section

Question 2

Definition of biodiversity

Answer 2

• the sum of all living things

- richness and variation of the living world

Question 3

spatial scale decreasing in complexity

Answer 3

landscape > community/ecosystem > population/species > genetics

Question 4

KY has 1 biome and 3 ecoregions. What are they?

Answer 4

biome: temperate broadleaf and mixed forest
ecoregions: - Appalachian Mixed Mesophytic Forests, Central US Hardwood Forests, and Mississippi Lowland Forests

Question 5

Species can be divided into four categories…

Answer 5

1. morphological species - groups distinctive based on morphological characteristics
2. biological species - groups with interbreeding individuals but are reproductively isolated
3. genetic species
4. cladistic species - cladograms

Question 6

The two most commonly used species categories are ______ and ______ because __________________.

Answer 6

morphological species and biological species… because they are testable and operational and they are compatible with legal concepts

Question 7

Biodiversity can be characterized in 3 major ways…

Answer 7

1. compositional (sum of all living parts)
2. structural (how the parts are arranged/”biodiversity house”)
3. functional (what work do the parts perform?)

Question 8

High rates of speciation is favored by (4 things):

Answer 8

• mass extinctions
• minor and major land or water separations
• adaptive radiation (evolution of new life forms)
• competition

Question 9

A good rule of thumb to have is that biodiversity begets ______ ____________.

Answer 9

“biodiversity begets more biodiversity”

Question 10

Extinction terminology:

Answer 10

extant - species still exists

extinct - species no longer exists

Question 11

“Extinct” can be broken into 4 different categories:

Answer 11

1. global extinction
2. extinct in the wild
3. regional/local extinction
4. ecological extinction (extant species with such low numbers it is functionally extinct)

Question 12

Geologically speaking, biological diversity has a _______ trend over time.

Answer 12

positive

Question 13

The current extinction rate indicates we are headed, or already in, a ___________ period known as the ___________.

Answer 13

sixth extinction, anthropocene

Question 14

Speciation types (2)

Answer 14

Allopatric speciation - geographic barriers physically separate populations and lead to unique selection pressure for each.
Sympatric speciation - unique local or genetic selection pressures within a population that lead to genetic polymorphisms.

Question 15

Continental Drift

Answer 15

emergence, loss, movements and changes in land masses and water bodies over time due to movement of tectonic plates

Question 16

Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI)

Answer 16

the exchange of continental species that occurred when N and S America were connected through Panama

Question 17

Glacial-Interglacial cycles and examples

Answer 17

Led to variations in ocean levels as water is frozen or melted.
Bergingia, Sundaland, and Gaarlandia

Question 18

Adaptive radiation

Answer 18

Evolutionary process where organisms rapidly give rise to new forms

Question 19

Coevolution

Answer 19

two species evolve in response to changes in each other over time

Question 20

______ of species is often more important than _______.

Answer 20

quality, quantity

Question 21

Biodiversity patterns are/are not uniformly distributed (choose one)

Answer 21

patterns are NOT uniformly distributed and so we need to know where to preserve and manage it.

Question 22

What system do we use to study biodiversity and inform its conservation?

Answer 22

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Question 23

Hotspots are defined as…

Answer 23

places with large species richness

Question 24

Define endemism

Answer 24

Native species found only in a user-defined area

Question 25

Why are tropical ecosystems so biodiverse (3 main reasons)?

Answer 25

1. high solar energy and rain = high primary productivity 2. relatively long-term stable environment vs temperate (seasonal) ones 3. warm temps and high humidity support more available niches and speciation

Question 26

Species richness INCREASES as you move to the poles or the equator?

Answer 26

increases as you move to the EQUATOR

Question 27

Referring to the disturbance gradient: will low, intermediate, or high disturbance yield more biodiversity in a temperate forest system?

Answer 27

In a temperate forest system, there will be the MOST biodiversity with INTERMEDIATE disturbance. Low disturbance results in dominant species running out of other species and high disturbance no time for species to recuperate. Opposition to the Intermediate disturbance hypothesis is the Old Growth Forest Models suggesting the biodiversity reaches its maximum at the end of the life expectancy of old-growth forests.

Question 28

Area/Size relationships

Answer 28

extinction and colonization are opposite forces acting on habitat patches. two properties dictating these forces are size of the island and the distance from the mainland/nearest habitat patch

Question 29

Island Types (3) and examples

Answer 29

1. Land-bridge island - arboretum or other parks within the city 2. Managed island - national parks and other protected areas 3. Oceanic island - Florida mangrove islands, Hawaii

Question 30

Define the redundant hypothesis

Answer 30

If you lose one species, another will take its place taking over some or most of the ecological function (redundancy in the system)

Question 31

Define the rivet hypothesis

Answer 31

Every species is important with about the same value to the ecosystem

Question 32

Which species (and how are they distinguished) have a STRONG ecosystem influence?

Answer 32

Keystone species - impact is disproportionate to biomass (high impact, low biomass) Dominant species - impact is proportionate to biomass (high impact, high biomass)

Question 33

Which species (and how are they distinguished) have a WEAK ecosystem influence?

Answer 33

Rare species - low impact, low biomass Common species - low impact, high biomass

Question 34

Define ecological release

Answer 34

When prey species become released from predation. This can lead to a hyper abundance of the prey species.

Question 35

Why is having guilds with a large number of species so important?

Answer 35

They create redundancy and ecological resilience when species are lost from systems.

Question 36

How is biodiversity measured (3)?

Answer 36

1. Alpha Diversity - species richness. The number of species gives the measure of relative abundance. 2. Beta Diversity - approximation of regional diversity. The rate of change in species across/among habitats. * Beta is high with distinct habitats with distinct species, low with the same population found throughout the region. 3. Gamma Diversity - satellite perspective. The number of species across a larger landscape or larger geographic scales