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ecology > Test 1 > Flashcards

Test 1 Flashcards

1
Q

Ecology

A

Scientific study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms

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2
Q

Distribution

A

where organisms are found

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3
Q

Abudance

A

how many in a given area

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4
Q

What causes organisms to be here in such numbers and not there?

A

Cause and effect relationships.

A pattern and a process.

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5
Q

Ecology vs Conservation Biology

Theme and Focus

A

Ecology:
Theme- patterns and processes

Focus- interrelations of all plants and animals

Conservation:
Theme- preserve biodiversity

Focus- analysis of human impact, includes broader aspects from politics and economics.

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6
Q

Ecology contributes to conservation biology

A

the more we know about the ecology and behavior of species, the better we will be able to preserve them

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7
Q

Ecology 3 points of view:

A
  1. Descriptive
  2. Functional
  3. Evolutionary
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8
Q
  1. Descriptive
A

describes natural history and vegetation

  • Foundation of all ecological science, historically important
  • some areas and organisms still poorly known
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9
Q
  1. Functional
A

Dynamics and relationships, populations and communities.

-includes proximate causes:
responses to immediate factors of the environment, how questions.

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10
Q
  1. Evolutionary
A

Examines ultimate causes:

  • why natural selection has favored a particular ecological solution.
  • ex: fish changes size and age of first reproduction in response to a predator in Trinidad.
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11
Q

Ecology 3 approaches

A
  1. Theoretical
  2. Laboratory
  3. Field
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12
Q
  1. Theoretical
A

Creative thinking and modeling to arrive at interesting ideas.

  • yet so much complexity results rarely match models exactly
  • use problems(violated assumptions) to investigate further ideas-power in application
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13
Q
  1. Laboratory
A

Take those ideas to controlled conditions of the lab.

-control as many variables as possible to iron out the details

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14
Q
  1. Field
A

Investigate in the natural habitats where complexities are operating.

-Ex: vole population changes through time

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15
Q

Evolution

A

Change in the allele frequencies through time in a population.

  • leads to adaption
  • evolutionary change by natural selection
  • increase or decrease in the number of individuals with certain genotypes as a result of differential survival and reproduction.
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16
Q

3 types of selection

A
  1. Directional selection
  2. Stabilizing selection
  3. Disruptive selection
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17
Q

Directional Selection

A

Phenotypes at one extreme are selected against.

-Galapagos Ground Finch, during drought years
smaller bills crack open only small seeds
larger bills can eat small and large seeds
-larger billed birds had higher survivalist, bill depth shifted to the right.

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18
Q

Stabilizing Selection

A

Phenotypes near the mean selected for

  • Lesser Snow Goose in hatching synchrony
  • nest in colonies over two week period eggs hatch
  • egg predation pressure concentrated during peak(dilution effect) so eggs hatching around mean date do best
  • early and late eggs tend to be eaten
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19
Q

Disruptive Selection

A

Phenotypes at the extremes are favored over the mean.

  • Three spine Stickleback in lakes of British Columbia.
  • Smaller morph has evolved to feed in open(limnetic areas)
  • Larger morph feeds in bottom(benthic area)
    • prob represent 2 distinct species now
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20
Q

Optimality Models

A

Clutch size in birds

Penguins-1
Pigeons- 1 or 2
Gulls- 3
Geese- 4-6
Mergansers- 10 or 11
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21
Q

What ultimately determines clutch size in birds?

A

Determinate Layers- Tend to lay a give number of eggs, even after removals

Indeterminate Layers- Tend to keep laying until the nest is full, despite removals, Mallard duck laid 100 eggs.

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22
Q

Lack’s Hypothesis

A

Eggs determined by the number of young the parents can provide with food

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23
Q

Optimal Clutch Size

A

vary if nesting in cavities or tropical habitats

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24
Q

Co-evolutionary Arms Race

A

“anything you can do I can do better”

  • Predator/Prey interactions and host-parasite interactions, selection will favor improvements on one side, then the other.
    ex: Brown Headed Cowbird and their bird nest parasites
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25
Q

Four units of selection

A

Share the qualities necessary to affect evolution

  1. Individual Selection
  2. Gametic Selection
  3. Kin Selection
  4. Group Selection
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26
Q

Individual Selection

A

Most common

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27
Q

Gametic Selection

A

Factors with sperm and eggs.

Vary rare and weak

ex: plant pollen tube length

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28
Q

Kin Selection

A

Through relatives

ex: altruistic behavior

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29
Q

Group Selection

A

variable groups, extremely rare, if at all.

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30
Q

Behavioral Ecology

A

Survival value of behavior.

  • way behavior contributes to survival and reproduction depends on ecology
  • How(proximate) and Why(ultimate) has any particular behavior evolved?
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31
Q

Optimal Migration 3 strategies

A

Migration is hard on birds, pressure to do well.

  1. Time Minimization
  2. Energy Minimization
  3. Cost of transport Minimization

All 3 depend on 2 things:

  1. Fuel deposition rate- fraction of body mass accumulated per day.
  2. Departure load- fat and protein, fraction of body mass.
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32
Q

Time minimization

A

Early arrivals increase fitness

  • countered by high energy costs
  • high adult, nest predation risks
33
Q

Energy minimization

A

Favored when use of energy is high

-especially if food resources are uncommon along the way

34
Q

Cost of transport minimization

A

Another energy min strategy focused on entire annual energy cycle.

35
Q

Optimal Group Size

A

Interesting pattern in Lions

  • very small prides have highest rates of food intake
  • larger prides have greater territorial defense against male takeovers
36
Q

Infanticide

A

new males tend to kill all non-weaned young in pride(lions).

  • increase paternity in light of their arrival
  • females will all synchronize in thier receptivity and mate with new male

-females may pseudoestrus(still pregnant with old male but pretend to be in heat)

37
Q

Geographic Distributions

A

Why are organisms found in some places but not others? Pattern and Process

-Factors that limit the distribution of organisms: Temperature, Moisture, PH

38
Q

Transplant Experiments

A

Transplant successful- then they could not get there(BARRIER)
-some may naturally not choose to go there(habitat selection)

Transplant unsuccessful- distribution limited by other species or physical or chemical environment.

39
Q

Liebig’s Law of the Minimum

A

Limited by that factor in least amount relative to requirements, single nutrient for crops.

  • revolutionized fertilizers
  • more complex as nutrients combine affects
  • provides a useful starting point
  • treat factors separate initially, then combine
40
Q

Shelford’s Law of Tolerance

A

Controlled by that factor for which the organism has the narrowest range of tolerance

  • attempt to determine a range of single factor over which a species can survive.
    ex: temperature in fish
41
Q

Plant adaptation to serpentine soils

A

Formed by the weathering of serpentinite rock

  • natrually rare and patchy, presents extreme conditions:
    a. very high in magnesium, very low calcium
    b. lack of essential nutrients N,K,P
    c. high concentration of heavy metals
  • Observed differences in common garden experiment, many serpentine plants struggle in normal soil.
42
Q

Biotic Factor that limit distributions

A
  1. Dispersal
  2. Predators
  3. Disease
  4. Competition
43
Q

Dispersal (3 types)

A
  1. Diffusion- gradual movement of a population
    - typically through difficult areas over many generations
    - Cali Sea Otter
  2. Jump dispersal- movement of individual organisms across large distances
    - typically forms a population over a short time
    - terrestrial species colonizing islands
  3. Secular dispersal- diffusion dispersal where natural selection causes groups to evolutionary diverge over time
44
Q

Reid’s Paradox

A

Discrepancy between how fast species are able to disperse versus what calculations show they should disperse

45
Q

Predators(distribution)

A

Being eaten by another organism may affect their local distribution

ex: Rock Wallabies and Red Foxes in Australia
- fox removal allowed wallabies to range further from rocky escape cover

46
Q

Disease(distrubution)

A

Being pathogenic toward another organism may also affect their local distribution

ex: native birds in hawaii
- 2 historical waves of disease initated extinctions observed, results in native birds only living in higher elevations in mountains

  1. Avian pox virus
  2. Avian malaria(protist)

-Both transmitted by mosquito vectors that avoid cool temps but expanding their range due to global warming

47
Q

Competition(distribution)

A

One species may outcompete another and affect their distribution

ex: American mink introduced in UK, expanded their range but began to decline, suspected competition with Otters

48
Q

Abiotic Factors that limit distributions

A
  1. Temperature
  2. Moisture
  3. pH

all affect how organisms are distributed

49
Q

Temperature(distrubiton)

A

Can directly affect distributions

ex: Willow Twigs in winter can survive lower than -150 but same twigs in summer cannot survive below -5

ex: N. American Passerine birds(Black-capped Chickadee)
- winter distributions tend to correlate with min. Jan Temp
- strong selective pressure on energetic demands operating at low temps.

50
Q

Moisture(distributions)

A

Ability to maintain water use

  • Plant adaptations to avoid desiccation in arid conditions:
    1. improve water uptake at roots, deeper
    2. Reduce water lose by closing stomata, prevent cuticle respiration, and reduce leaf surface area
    3. Store water efficiently
51
Q

Common Garden

A

experiments can tease out genetic affinities as evidence for adaptation to varying conditions.

-plants from different locations are grown under similar conditions in same place(common garden)

ex: races of western yarrow, Sierra Mount.
- Western Slope elevation increases, plants are smaller and undergo dormancy due to low temps.
- Eastern Slope late to flower due to cold and dry conditions

52
Q

General Pattern Emerges

A

Most species within a group have small geographic ranges, only a few have very large ranges.

53
Q

Rapoport’s Rule

A

Geographic range size for mammals decreased as one moved from polar to equatorial regions

  • range sizes were smaller in the tropics
  • range size decreased as latitude decreased
54
Q

3 ecological explanations for Rapoport’s Rule

A
  1. Climatic variability
  2. Product of glaciation
  3. Less competition near the poles
55
Q

Climate Variability(Rap Rule)

A

Is greater at high latitudes
-perhaps only organisms with a broad tolerance in climate can live there and thus occupy larger regions

  • For terrestrial animals and plants, tolerance should increase from tropical to polar
  • For marine organisms, temp variation is greatest in temperate areas, with polar and tropical areas more stable, THUS temp tolerance should be lower in both tropical and polar areas
56
Q

Product of glaciation(Rap Rule)

A

following retreat, only a few species could repopulate northern regions
-thus with large ranges

57
Q

Less competition near poles( Rap Rule)

A

lower diversity, fewer species

-able to spread out more and thus exhibit larger ranges

58
Q

Hanski’s Rule

A

Distribution and Abundance show a positive relationship

59
Q

3 ecological explanations for Hanski’s Rule

A
  1. Sampling model
  2. Ecological specialization model
  3. Local population model
60
Q

Sampling Model(Hanksi Rule)

A

Argues that the observation is simply an artifact of sampling

-rare species are not common and will artificially show such a pattern

61
Q

Ecological specialization model( Hanski Rule)

A

Generalists will become wide-spread and abundant, while specialists will only be able to exploit limited areas

  • generalists tend to use food and resources that are abundant
  • categorizing each in the field may not be so easy
62
Q

Local population model( Hanski Rule)

A

Imagine individuals to move or interact between patches

  • some will be better at dispersing(birds) than others (moss)
  • predicts that species that more readily disperse will be more wide-spread and abundant than those that do not
  • —If a species is declining in abundance does it reduce its geographic range?
  • yes, starts that way but ends unpredictably
63
Q

Population

A

a group of organisms of the same species occupying a particular space at a particular time.

64
Q

Deme

A

Genetic population, may be a breeding subdivision of a population(sub-population)

65
Q

Density

A

number of individuals per unit area or volume

66
Q

Four population parameters that change density

A
  1. Natality- Births
  2. Morality- Deaths
  3. Immigration- IN
  4. Emigration- Out
67
Q

Unitary Organisms

A

each individual is easily recognized as a separate genetic individual

-Praying Mantis

68
Q

Modular Organisms

A

zygote or spore forms a module that produces similar module, common in plants and some inverts.

  • one large connected genetic individual
  • blades of grass
69
Q

Modular organisms

A

exhibit 2 levels of population structure

  1. Ramets- modular unit, blade of grass
  2. Genets- genetic individuals, composed of one or more modular units, tuft of grass
70
Q

2 approaches to estimate population density

A
  1. absolute density

2. relative density

71
Q

Absolute Density

A

Number per unit area or volume

  1. Total Counts- count all of the individuals in a given area and divide by the area or volume
  2. Sampling Methods- collect data on a sample in order to estimate the total population density
    a. quadrats- count all ind within known subarea and extrapolate to total area

b. capture/recapture- capture animals, mark them, release them, then the proportion of marked in samples should represent marked in entire population
- good for mobile animals

72
Q

Know how to do peterson equation for marked animals

A

slide 4

73
Q

Assumptions of capture-recapture

A
  1. all equal prob of being caught
  2. no incoming ind between captures
  3. marked and unmarked die and/or leave at same rate
  4. no marks are lost
74
Q

Relative Density

A

Represent some relatively constant but unknown relationship to the total population size

  • catch per unit effort,compared to another time or place
  • roadside counts
75
Q

Natality

A

production of new individuals by birth, hatching, germination, or fission

76
Q

Fecundity

A

organism’s physiological potential
reproductive capacity

potential fecundity-one female salamander may lay several hundred eggs per year

77
Q

Fertility

A

ecological potential, number of viable young produced during a period of time

-realized fertility same female salamdner may sire 30 young during a two year period

—fecundity is usually inversely related to amount of parental care

78
Q

Mortality

A

deaths, why organisms die and how others avoid it (survive)

79
Q

Longevity

A

age of death of individuals within a population

potential longevity- max lifespan as set by physiology

realized longevity- following disease, predation, or other natural hazard

ecology (1 decks)

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