Population Ecology (W6) Flashcards

1
Q

Ecological niche?

A

= involves an organism’s tolerances (conditions) & requirements (resources).

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2
Q

Eg of conditions? (3)

A

• Heat.
• Acidity.
• Windiness.

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3
Q

Egs of resources? (4)

A

• Food.
• Soil.
• Nutrients.
• Sunlight.

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4
Q

Niche dimensions?

A

= habitat factors.

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5
Q

Egs of niche dimensions? (2)

A

• Acidity.
• Salinity.

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6
Q

Habitat?

A

= the combination of resources & conditions that promote occupancy by individuals of a particular species.

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7
Q

Habitat attributes? (3)

A

• Species-specific (eg habitat for meerkats).

• Spatial locations associated with resources like food, water, shelter, security from predators/parasites.

• Serves a particular function (eg. feeding habitat).

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8
Q

Promoting factors?

A

= increase the likelihood of occupancy.

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9
Q

Restricting factors?

A

= decrease the likelihood of occupancy.

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10
Q

Egs of Promoting factors from House discussion? (3)

A

• Price.
• Space.
• Close to shops.

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11
Q

Egs of Restricting factors from House discussion? (3)

A

• Crime.
• Near a coal power plant.
• Neighbouring properties are dodgy.

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12
Q

Habitat use?

A

= pattern of individual locations with respect to habitat factors, which are linked to an individual’s movement.

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13
Q

What does habitat use depend on?

A

The ability of the individual to access the habitat.

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14
Q

Tool used when understanding an individual’s use of a habitat?

A

Home range (HR).

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15
Q

HR properties to know? (2)

A

• Overlap in HR between individuals.
• Spacing of HR/between HR.

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16
Q

What does overlap in HR between individuals tell us?

A

Tells us whether species are gregarious or territorial.

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17
Q

What does spacing of HR/between HR tell us?

A

Gives us spatial perspective on changes in the population abundance over time.

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18
Q

Lots of overlap of HR between individuals means…?

A

Gregarious individuals.

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19
Q

Eg of gregarious species?

A

Sable antelope.

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20
Q

No overlap of HR between individuals means…?

A

Territorial individuals.

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21
Q

Eg of territorial individuals?

A

Prides of lions.

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22
Q

Full landscape of HR means …? (2)

A

• Population is territorial.
• Population is at ED.

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23
Q

Still more room landscape means…?

A

Population is growing & not yet at a population density (middle of sigmoid graph).

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24
Q

What do we use to estimate HR?

A

Spatial field data.

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25
Q

Spatial field data attributes? (4)

A

• GPS collar used.
• Data are collected at intervals (daily, hourly).
• Variation in lengths of “steps” between locations.
• Most of an individual’s time is spent in a small fraction of the available area.

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26
Q

Why use a GPS collar?

A

Placed on animal to track its movement & location.

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27
Q

Downside of collecting data at intervals (daily, hourly)?

A

We only see a subset of where an individual occurs & not the full picture.

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28
Q

What does the variation in lengths of “steps” between locations tells us/help us with?

A

Gives us an idea of what an animal might be doing as it moves from one location to another.

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29
Q

“Most of an individual’s time is spent in a small fraction of the available area”, what does this mean/what can you deduce from this?

A

Animals appear to show preference for some patches over others.

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30
Q

Goals of estimating HR? (3)

A

• To characterize the overall pattern of use on the landscape.

• To measure the extent/size of the area over which individuals traverse as they do their life activities.

• To relate location & search paths to variables in the environment.

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31
Q

What information does relating location & search paths to variables in the environment provide? (2)

A

• Tells us what factors in the environment affect where we find locations & where steps occur.

• Gives us information about the biology of the species we are studying.

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32
Q

HR estimators? (3)

A

• Minimum convex polygon (MCP).
• Kernel method.
• Local Convex Hull (LoCoH).

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33
Q

HR method criteria for a good method? (2)

A

• Must give us HR size & location.
• Must give us utilization distribution (intensity of use).

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34
Q

MCP method attributes? (2)

A

• Easiest.
• Most common.

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35
Q

Importance of MCP? (2)

A

• Gives us extent/size of the HR.
• Gives us location of polygon (HR) using GPS.

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36
Q

Con of MCP?

A

Doesn’t provide utilization distribution.

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37
Q

Types of Kernel method estimators? (3)

A

• Bivariate kernel.
• Adaptive kernel.
• Brownian bridge kernel.

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38
Q

Bivariate kernel attributes? (3)

A

• Fits a 3D normal distribution around a set of points.

• X & Y coordinates measure extent of area used by the individual.

• Z coordinate measures intensity of use by individuals.

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39
Q

What do the X & Y coordinates of the Bivariate kernel method measure?

A

The extent of area used by the individual.

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40
Q

What do the Z coordinate of the Bivariate kernel method measure?

A

The intensity of use by individuals.

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41
Q

Cons of Bivariate kernel estimator? (2)

A

• A lot of areas are not a nice oval shape & you need that to use the Bivariate kernel method.

• Spread of location is in one patch.

42
Q

Sections of 3D normal distribution? (3)

A

• Core area.
• Isopleth.
• Periphery.

43
Q

Core area of 3D normal distribution?

A

= has high use by the animals.

44
Q

Isopleth section of a 3D normal distribution?

A

= contour that tells us the density of use of the habitat.

45
Q

Periphery section of a 3D normal distribution?

A

= less use by the animals.

46
Q

Pros of Adaptive kernel? (2)

A

• More flexibility in its shape.
• Spread of location is in 2 pockets.

47
Q

Gap in between 2 pockets attributes? (2)

A

• Not a lot of resources & intensity of use.
• Could be a moving area to & from resources & shelter/resting.

48
Q

Axes/Coordinates of 3D normal distribution? (3)

A

• X coordinates.
• Y coordinates.
• Z coordinates.

49
Q

What are the Bivariate & Adaptive kernel estimators based on?

A

The location of the GPS points coming from the animal’s GPS radio collar.

50
Q

What does the Brownian bridge kernel estimator focus on?

A

On the steps between the locations.

51
Q

LoCoH attributes? (3)

A

• How it works.
• Many overlapping polygons/hulls.
• Fewer overlapping hulls.

52
Q

How does LoCoH work?

A

Works by drawing polygons around certain points & seeing within the HR how many polygons overlap with each other.

53
Q

Many overlapping hulls =…?

A

High intensity of use.

54
Q

Fewer overlapping hulls = …?

A

Low intensity of use.

55
Q

How do we estimate habitat use & habitat availability?

A

We look at the characteristics within the HR where the animal occurs & where it doesn’t occur to get an idea of which parts of the HR are important than other parts.

56
Q

Types of vegetation? (4)

A

• Streamline/Riparian vegetation.
• Open woodland.
• Closed woodland.
• Grassland.

57
Q

Importance of estimating habitat use & habitat availability?

A

Allows us to relate the intensity of use to vegetation types occurring in the homeland.

58
Q

How/What we use for estimating the habitat use & habitat availability? (3)

A

● Individual locations from GPS collar which gives us “used” habitat.

● Vegetation map from GIS by covering HR with random locations which give us availability.

● Compare proportions of use & availability to judge selectivity of vegetation types.

59
Q

Properties of using GIS to estimate/model a habitat for a species? (4)

A

● Computerised maps are represented as a layer.

● Accuracy of data that goes into GIS layer/map must be assessed.

● Resolution of a layer might not be sufficient to address the question of interest.

● GIS/its layers may not be able to capture the changes of landscapes over time & space.

60
Q

Types of HR? (5)

A

• Total HR.
• Seasonal HR.
• Breeding HR.
• Migratory HR.
• Annual HR.

61
Q

Total HR?

A

= HR throughout an individual’s lifetime.

62
Q

Kinds of Seasonal HR? (2)

A

• Dry season HR.
• Wet season HR.

63
Q

Habitat assessment?

A

= measures of availability where we cover polygon with random points.

64
Q

Steps of assessing selective use of habitat? (4)

A

● Observed locations from a GPS collar (use)

n = 378.

● Random locations (availability)

n = 378 (different colour).

● Use these to determine how many location points fell into each vegetation type:

• Grassland
- USE = 28.
- AVAILABILITY = 57.

• Stream vegetation
- USE = 227.
- AVAILABILITY = 95.

• Closed woodland
- USE = 102.
- AVAILABILITY = 151.

• Open woodland
- USE = 21.
- AVAILABILITY = 76.

● Estimate strength of selectivity (S) for each vegetation type via using USE & AVAILABILITY ratio:

S = USE/AVAILABILITY

• Grassland (S) = 0.49
• Stream vegetation (S) = 2.40
• Closed woodland (S) = 0.68
• Open woodland (S) = 0.28

65
Q

S < 1?

A

Organisms avoid vegetation type.

66
Q

S > 1?

A

Organisms favour vegetation type.

67
Q

Interpretation of vegetation type?

A

This organism uses grassland at about half its availability, uses stream vegetation at 2.4 times its availability, uses closed woodland at about two thirds of its availability & uses open woodland at about a quarter of its availability.

68
Q

What can we do with this data? (2)

A

• Gives us a picture about what is important for an animal.

• We can do a statistical test for how important the selectivity is (χ² test) & test whether O & E are equal.

69
Q

χ² test formula?

A

χ² = Σ (O–E)² / E

70
Q

O & E symbols in χ² equation? (2)

A

• O –> use.

• E –> availability.

71
Q

Elaborate χ² equation in our vegetation type example? (3)

A

● Input use & availability in equation

χ² = Σ (O–E)² / E
= (28–57)²/57 + (227–95)²/95 + (102–151)²/151 + (21–76)²/76

χ² = 274.64

● Information obtained:

df = 4; χ² = 276.64; p<0.01 (very small)

● There is strong evidence that USE is unequal to AVAILABILITY.

72
Q

Resource Selection Function (RSF) attributes? (3)

A

• Works with environmental factors that are continous.

• Relationship between a continuous predictor variable and habitat factor & a degree of use.

• Similar to simpler linear regression.

73
Q

Simple linear regression equation?

A

y = βo + β1 x

74
Q

Eg of an environmental factor that is continuous?

A

Elevation.

75
Q

Simple linear regression equation symbols? (4)

A

• y —> amount of use.
• x —> elevation.
• βo —> y-intercept.
• β1 —> strength of the relationship between elevation & use.

76
Q

Things that contribute variation in habitat use? (3)

A

• Scale of habitat use.
• Effect of availability.
• Effect of density.

77
Q

Scale of habitat use as a contributor to habitat use variation?

A

= looking at habitat use at different scales, temporal & spatial.

78
Q

Scales of selection? (4)

A

• Type 1.
• Type 2.
• Type 3.
• Type 4.

79
Q

Effect of availability attributes as a contributor to habitat use variation? (6)

A

• Influences the strength of selection.
• x-axis = amount of resource (Q) [little to lots].
• y-axis = strength of selectivity (S).
• Resource Q is scarce is at top of line graph.
• Resource Q is plentiful is at bottom of line graph.
• Decreasing line graph.

80
Q

When resource Q is scarce = …?

A

High strength of selection (S).

81
Q

When resource Q is plentiful = …?

A

Low strength of selection (S).

82
Q

Habitat functional response?

A

= where the strength of selection varies depending on how available a particular resource/habitat is.

83
Q

Effect of density attributes? (2)

A

• Deals with IFD.
• Deals with IDD.

84
Q

IFD attribute?

A

Distribution should be proportional to the quality of the environment.

85
Q

IDD attributes? (2)

A

• Not free.
• Individuals have to deal with territorial behaviour & competitors.

86
Q

Important aspects of Habitat selection? (2)

A

• Habitat selection is linked to movement (you can only get access to habitats if you can move to them).

• Consider movement within the HR & how it influences availability.

87
Q

How do we estimate movement & HR? (2)

A

• Movement within the HR.
• Movement among the HR.

88
Q

Movement within the HR attributes? (3)

A

• Gives us an idea of the behaviour of the animal.

• Uses ¹ step length & ² turning angle.

• Use hourly GPS locations to look as patterns over time & figure out what animals are doing as they are moving.

89
Q

Components that Movement within the HR uses? (2)

A

• Step length.
• Tyrning angle.

90
Q

Short step lengths & tight turns = …?

A

Organism is using an important patch.

91
Q

Long step lengths & few turns = …?

A

Organism travels between patches.

92
Q

Step selection analysis?

A

= involves looking at the environmental characteristics where the steps occur.

93
Q

Importance of Step selection analysis?

A

Gives us a sense of what sorts of environments facilitate movement & what sorts of environments impede movement (eg, protected animals for conservation).

94
Q

Movement among HR attributes? (3)

A

• Deals with migration between non-overlapping, seasonal HR.

• Nomadism.

• Residents.

95
Q

Nomadism attributes? (4)

A

• Movement is unpredictable.
• Characterize the HR at small scales.
• No fixed HR in one location or other locations.
• Unpredictable HR from one season to the next.

96
Q

Eg of Nomadic animals?

A

Elands.

97
Q

Residents attribute?

A

Have the same HR annually.

98
Q

Eg of Resident animals?

A

Serengeti wildebeest.

99
Q

Explain Serengeti wildebeest? (6)

A

• Move in a cyclic movement.
• Seasonal HR.
• Meet at a location in one part of the HR & in another part of the HR.
• Depends on rainfall.
• Characterize those 2 HR.
• Migrate between Kenya & Tanzania.

100
Q

Pros of Serengeti wildebeest being residents & moving in a cyclic movement? (2)

A

• Get access to better resources.
• Helps with predators as wildebeest move seasonally, which predators cannot due to them being territorial.

101
Q

Benefit for predators in Serengeti wildebeest example?

A

Predator swamping.