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Plant Ecology > Final Exam Review > Flashcards

Final Exam Review Flashcards

(104 cards)

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1
Q

what is a resource?

A

something required for growth, maintenance, or reproduction that is consumed

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2
Q

what term is used to describe “the level to which a species can bring down a particular resource”?

A

R*

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3
Q

On a self-thinning graph, what are the two axes?

A

x axis: density
y axis: plant size/biomass

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4
Q

what is a zero-growth isocline?

A

the line on a graph showing the abundances of two species, where the growth of a population is zero

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5
Q

Plant secondary defensive compounds are often divided into three broad categories… name three of them.

A

alkaloids, terpenes, phenolics

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6
Q

what are the three most important characteristics of disturbances?

A

size, frequency, intensity

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7
Q

In his community ecology text, Morin suggests a hierarchy of factors that influence whihc species might become members of a given community. Name 3 of those.

A

interspecific interactions, dispersal , habitat selection

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8
Q

What term has the following definition: “the amount of carbon transformed from CO2 into organic carbon by terrestrial plants per unit area per year”?

A

productivity

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9
Q

Which of the following is the largest pool of carbon?
atmosphere, plants & soil, oceans, sediments & rocks

A

sediments and rocks

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10
Q

The immediate source of phosphorus for plants is the ____________ (process) of ________________ (source), which makes P available for plants to absorb.

A

weathering, phosphate-rich rocks

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11
Q

What is the difference between grain and extent of the patches on a landscape?

A

grain is the size of the patches, extent is the total amount of area they represent

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12
Q

When CO2 dissolves into ocean waters, it forms what compound that affects ocean acidity?

A

carbonic acid

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13
Q

what is the
prediction that is most unique to the MacArthur & Wilson
Equilibrium model (island biogeography)

A

Steady species numbers result from continuing turnover,
as some immigrate, and some go extinct

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14
Q

define the competition coefficients, alpha and beta

A

alpha: the impact an individual of species 2 has on the population of species 1
beta: the impact an individual of species 1 has on the population of species 2

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15
Q

what happens if the competition coefficient is zero?

A

the species consume entirely different resources and the Lotka-Volterra equation becomes the normal logistic equation

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16
Q

what are the axes on a zero growth isocline graph?

A

population of spp 1 and population of spp 2

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17
Q

on a zero growth isocline, what is K1, and what is K1/alpha

A

K1: carrying capacity for species 1
K1/alpha: determines the amount of species 2

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18
Q

species can coexist when…
this is shown on a zero-growth isocline when…

A
  • intraspecific competition is more limiting that interspecific competition
  • the lines cross, and K1 and K2 are smaller than K1/alpha and K2/beta
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19
Q

define competition

A

a reduction in fitness due to shared use of a limited resource

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20
Q

what is a common way to quantify the intensity of competition?

A

indices

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21
Q

what is substitutive design?

A

total density stays the same, but ratio of focal plant changes

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22
Q

what is additive design?

A

density of target species is constant, but density of neighbors is varied

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23
Q

what is response surface/additive series design?

A

frequency and density of both species are varied - better than both additive and substitutive design

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24
Q

What is the MacArthur and Tilman perspective of traits and competition?

A

different traits offer advantages in different environments, competition is based on who is best suited to the conditions, competitive hierarchies change

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25
What is grime's perspective on competition?
whoever grows fastest and gains control of resources first will become dominant, competitive hierarchies are consistent
26
what is the stress gradient hypothesis?
even between the same two species, they can shift between competition and facilitation depending on conditions
27
facilitation should become more important in situations of high _________________ or _____________________
stress or disturbance
28
centrifugal theory of community organization
core habitats are preferred by most organisms because of optimal conditions- poor competitors are excluded and forced into peripheral habitats
29
what are the two key features of the modern theory of coexistence?
- stabilizing processes: fitness differences - equalizing processes: niche differences
30
give two examples of dramatic herbivory
gypsy moths, spanworms, bark beetles
31
what are current atmospheric carbon levels? how much are they increasing?
currently 418 ppm, increasing 1.5 to 2 ppm/year
32
what is the biggest limitation to productivity?
precipitation levels
33
tannins are part of which group?
phenolics
34
what effect do alkaloids have?
potentially fatal poisons and physcoactive drugs
35
5 effects herbivores have on plant communities
diversity, relative abundance, spacial distribution/range, eliminate or allow colonization by different species, speed up or slow down successional change
36
apparent competition
negative correlation between spp abundances is not due to consumption of resources, but to behavior of a shared herbivore
37
enemies hypothesis
predation of seeds and high mortality close to parents forces wide spacing of offspring, causing low density of adults, which prevents dominance by one species and increases diversity
38
plant physical defenses
trichomes, tough bark/seed coats, high silica content, low nutritional quality
39
caffeince, cocaine, and nicotine are examples of ...
alkaloids
40
plant apparency
bigger, longer lived, and more wide-spread plants are more apparent, and get eaten more
41
constitutive defenses
always present
42
induced defenses
present under stress
43
what is succession?
directional change in community structure over time
44
oldfield succession
horseweed and purple cudweed, then herbaceous perennials, blackberries/sumac/young pines by year 10, then oaks and hickories around 100 yrs
45
relay florsitics
- Clements - states that communities are intertwined superorganisms with strict boundaries - change over time by facilitation - final composition depends on regional climate
46
individualistic concept
- Gleason - states that spp present are those that happen to show up and be well-suited to conditions - change over time bc spp alter the env, and new species need to be able to tolerate it (inhibition/tolerance?
47
what are the 3 main causes of succession
site availability, differential species availability, and differential species performance
48
site availability is based on...
disturbance, resource gradients
49
differential species availability is based on...
seed dispersal, seed bank, and survivors
50
differential species performance is based on...
life histury, physiology, herbivory
51
disturbance
a relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystem, community or population structure and changes resource availability, substrate availability, or the physical environment
52
what are the 3 major characteristics of disturbance?
size, frequency, intensity
53
what is the difference between severity and intensity?
severity: extent of the damage intensity: level of disturbance (earthquake magnitude)
54
intermediate disturbance hypothesis
species richness and diversity is highest at intermediate levels of disturbance
55
what is a community?
the complete set of species in a locality that are potentially interacting
56
what factors influence the regional species pool?
evolutionary processes, historical events, physiological constraints
57
what factors influence the candidate species pool?
habitat selection and dispersal
58
what factors influence the local community species pool?
species interactions and disturbances
59
collective properties
can be calculated by totaling up some property for that community, like biomass or diversity
60
emergent properties
the whole is more than the sum of its parts, like food web stability
61
structural properties
variability in plant sizes
62
alpha diversity
diversity within a particular sample
63
beta diversity
variation across multiple samples
64
spatially explicit approach to species area curves
based on nested plots of increasing sizes, stepped graph
65
mean field approach to species area curves
based on averages of many pairs of plots, smoother line
66
what are the axes on a species area curve?
x axis: area y axis: # species
67
what is a well-established way to quantitatively compare species composition?
similarity index
68
the Jaccard index is based on...
which species are present in both communities
69
the Czekanowski index is based on...
abundances
70
what are the three "compartments" of ecosystems
autotrophs, heterotrophs, and abiotic component
71
what is an ecosystem?
biotic community + abiotic environment
72
primary productivity
CO2 transformed by plants into organic carbon
73
pools
the amount of energy or material in each compartment
74
fluxes
movement of energy or materials from one compartment to another, or in/out of an ecosystem
75
gross primary productivity
total carbon fixed by plants
76
net primary productivity
gross PP - respiration
77
two major drivers of NPP
temperature and nutrients
78
what are the two types of food chain?
grazing (normal) and detrital (more energy flows)
79
the most abundant elements in plants
carbon and oxygen
80
how does N get fixed?
N fixing bacteria and lightning
81
how does N return to the atmosphere?
N decomposing bacteria, combustion
82
mineralization
part of decomposition; soil organic matter converted into CO2 and inorganic nutrients
83
potential evapotranspiration (PET)
the maximum possible transpiration if plant cover was 100% and water was unlimited
84
actual evapotranspiration (AET)
precipitation - losses to runoff and percolation into groundwater
85
what are the largest carbon pools?
earths crust and oceans
86
what are the main fluxes of the carbon cycle?
photosynthesis and respiration, ocean loss/uptake
87
what forests have the most aboveground carbon?
tropical
88
what forests have the most belowground carbon?
boreal
89
what are the two types of effects that disturbances have on the C cycle?
change the amt stored in pools, and change the abiotic environment/ecosystem processes
90
eddy covariance
measures temp, wind, CO2 levels, and precipitation to measure the total flux of carbon in an area
91
what is the most widely-used approach to documenting productivity?
change in biomass, use allometric formulas to convert plant size to biomass
92
landscape ecology
the study of the spatial distributions of individuals, populations, and communities and the casues and consequences of those spatial patterns
93
sets of patches have these attributes...
connectivity, intermingling, spatial pattern
94
the fundamental unit of landscape ecology is the...
patch
95
scale dependence
different organisms "percieve" the landscape differently depending on their size
96
how is a species area curve different for islands than for mainlands?
starts lower on the y axis, but is steeper
97
island biogeorgaphy states that the equilibrium number of species on an island would be a balance of...
immigration and extinction
98
what is equilibrium species number (Ŝ)?
the number of species when immigration and extinction rates are equal
99
Ŝ is _________________ on more distant islands because immigration is __________________
lower, lower
100
Ŝ is ___________________ on larger islands because extinction is _________________
higher, lower
101
exploitation competition
two species competing for shared resources
102
interference competition
competitors interact directly
103
asymmetric competition
when one species experiences significantly more deleterious effects of the interaction that the other
104
allelopathy
the secretion of allelochemicals to directly inhibit the growth of reproduction of other plants

Plant Ecology (2 decks)

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