Biology 1B Ecology Cards

Front 1

replicates

Back 1

separate (independent) units of study that are treated identically by ecologists in order to assess variability that arises from factors that we didn't manipulate

Front 2

controls

Back 2

unmanipulated units that provide a baseline for comparison, and understanding of how organisms of systems will change over space or time, independent of experimental treatments

Front 3

statistics

Back 3

tools for distinguishing signal from noise, test whether differences between treatments (control vs. experimental) are greater than differences within treatments

Front 4

observations

Back 4

only way truly new information is acquired

Front 5

experiments

Back 5

field or laboratory, replicated manipulated treatments with controls; whole ecosystem experiments

Front 6

models

Back 6

verbal or mathematical simplifications of reality, intended to capture key processes that change systems over time

Front 7

hypotheses

Back 7

suggested explanations, subject to test (falsifiable)

Front 8

deduction

Back 8

predicting specific outcomes from general models

Front 9

induction

Back 9

generalizing from specific observations to more general models

Front 10

reductionist approaches

Back 10

seeking mechanisms, casual processes (ex. caterpillars feed and grow faster on nitrogen enriched leaves)

Front 11

holistic approaches

Back 11

determining boundaries for the system (all that must be included) necessary for understanding and predicting outcomes of ecological interactions in the real world

Front 12

zoom lens ecology

Back 12

focus in for mechanisms, zoom out for context and consquences

Front 13

How to deal with ecological complexity?

Back 13

seek simplicity and mistrust it

Front 14

Adiabatic cooling

Back 14

rising air experiences lower atmospheric pressure, expands in volume, losing temperature

Front 15

Dew point temperature

Back 15

temperature to which the air would have to cool (at constant pressure and water vapor content) in order to reach saturation at which the air is holding the max. possible amount of water vapor possible at existing temperature and pressure

Front 16

condensation

Back 16

process of removing water from the air

Front 17

precipitation

Back 17

what results from process of condensation

Front 18

Coriolis effect

Back 18

earth is a sphere, not a cylinder; if an object is at equator, no coriolis effect. if object move north, earth beneath moves more slowly, veers right. If it moves from north towards equator, also goes right. Opposite is true in southern hemisphere

Front 19

mediterranean climate

Back 19

if land warmer than ocean, moisture not dropped until adiabatic cooling over mountains (summer drought), if land cooler than ocean, moisture drought (winter rains

Front 20

thermocline

Back 20

stratum of rapid temperature change

Front 21

eutrophic

Back 21

nutrient rich, likely to produce noxious of harmful algal blooms (cyanobacteria, toxic dinoflagellates)

Front 22

mesotrophic

Back 22

intermediate nutrient concentrations

Front 23

oligotrophic

Back 23

low nutrient concentrations, very clear water (good quality for fish and humans)

Front 24

confluence nodes

Back 24

pulses of enrichment; adjacency of contrasting habitats

Front 25

estuary

Back 25

where rivers empty into oceans and creates tidal prisms with heavier salty water underneath

Front 26

neritic

Back 26

nearshore subtidal

Front 27

plankton

Back 27

passive dirfters

Front 28

nekton

Back 28

active swimmers

Front 29

benthos

Back 29

life on substrate or bed of sea, lake, spring, or rivers and streams

Front 30

pelagic

Back 30

offshore, beyond continental shelf

Front 31

tidal prism

Back 31

wedge of fresh water overlies denser salt water

Front 32

condition

Back 32

abiotic environmental factor that varies in space and time and affects the performance of an organism

Front 33

resource

Back 33

all things consumed (used up) by organisms (space, nutrients, water, prey, holes for refuge, etc)

Front 34

Macan's filter

Back 34

Tries to explain why a species is absent from a habitat using the following four filters in this specific order: dispersal, behavior, abiotic factors, biotic factors

Front 35

propagule

Back 35

a dispersing unit capable to establishing a new population

Front 36

niche

Back 36

range of conditions, resource levels, and densities of other species within which an organism or species can survive and reproduce (persist over time). A N-dimensional hypervolume, if each condition, resource, or other species can be seen as a dimension

Front 37

fundamental niche

Back 37

the largest niche in which a species could persist in the absence of adverse interactions with other species

Front 38

realized niche

Back 38

the generally smaller niche volume occupied by a species in the presence of interspecific interactions

Front 39

relict populations

Back 39

residual populations left over from time when environment could supports its survival and reproduction, which can no longer replace itself locally

Front 40

sink habitat

Back 40

habitat where death rates exceed birth rates, and organisms are present only because of immigration from source habitats

Front 41

source habitats

Back 41

where births exceed deaths

Front 42

resource subsidy

Back 42

resources produced in one habitat that support consumers in a second habitat

Front 43

environmental heterogeneity

Back 43

refuges, hazards, stresses, opportunities for organisms depend on its body size

Front 44

homeostasis

Back 44

maintaining an internal state with a narrower (and physiologically more favorable) range of conditions than the external environment

Front 45

acclimatization

Back 45

shifts in the response of an organism to a condition caused by the regime it has experienced in the past (ex. trees tolerating lower temperatures in October than they can if surprised mid-summer)

Front 46

ectotherms

Back 46

rely on external sources of heat to regulate temperature

Front 47

endotherms

Back 47

use their own metabolic heat production to regulate their body temperature

Front 48

behavioral fevers

Back 48

lizards choose warmer micro-habitats when they have an infection

Front 49

temperature-time "degree days"

Back 49

temperature governs rates of development and growth in ectotherms (microbes, invertebrates, plants, amphibians, reptiles, and fish); temperature may serve as cue for seasonal life cycle events (e.g. emergence of aquatic insects)

Front 50

life history

Back 50

organism's lifetime pattern of growth, differentiation, storage, reproduction

Front 51

life cycle

Back 51

sequence of stages through which organism passes to develop from zygote to a reproductive adult producing more zygotes

Front 52

unitary organisms

Back 52

develop from zygote to adult with determinant form

Front 53

modular organisms

Back 53

grow by repeated interations of its parts (modules) into an adult of indeterminate form (poison oak, coral)

Front 54

genet

Back 54

genetic indivudal, all the biomass that derived from a single embryo

Front 55

ramet

Back 55

subunit of genet that is physiologically viable as an autonomous fragment

Front 56

life history bottleneck

Back 56

the portion of an organisms life where they are most vulnerable (tadpole stage in yellow-legged frogs)

Front 57

demography

Back 57

study of how the vital rates of individuals (birth, growth, death, migration) affect structure and dynamics of populations

Front 58

populations

Back 58

group of potentially interbreeding individuals (same species, co-occur in time and space)

Front 59

density

Back 59

number of individuals per area or volume

Front 60

dispersion

Back 60

pattern of distribution of individuals in space (clumped, even, or random = every site has an equal probability of being occupied by an individual, independent of locations of other individuals)

Front 61

intraspecific interactions

Back 61

interactions between individuals of the same species

Front 62

interspecific interactions

Back 62

interactions between individuals of different species

Front 63

BIDE equation for change in population size N

Back 63

delta N = births + immigration - deaths - emigration

Front 64

basic reproductive rate

Back 64

R = sum (lx*mx)

Front 65

population growth

Back 65

N(t) = N(0)e^(rt)

Front 66

r-selected traits

Back 66

short life span, small size, high predator vulnerability, weak competitor, good disperser, many small offspring, early reproduction

Front 67

k-selected traits

Back 67

long life span, large size, low vulnerability to predators, strong competitor, slower disperser, fewer but better provisioned offspring, late reproduction

Front 68

competition

Back 68

interspecific interaction, (-,-)

Front 69

predation, herbivory, parasitism

Back 69

(+,-)

Front 70

mutualism

Back 70

(+,+)

Front 71

amensalism

Back 71

(0,-)

Front 72

commensalism

Back 72

(0,+)

Front 73

true predators

Back 73

consume many prey in lifetime, kill prey, consume entire prey

Front 74

grazers

Back 74

attack many prey in its life, rarely kill prey, consume only part of each prey

Front 75

parasites

Back 75

attack one or few host individuals, rarely kill hosts, consume parts of their host

Front 76

parasitoids

Back 76

each juvenile develops from 1 host, kills their host, consumes entire host

Front 77

exploitative

Back 77

two species compete for a resource that is limiting: in short supply relative to their needs (indirect competition)

Front 78

interference competition

Back 78

two species directly harm each other by toxic allelochemicals, injury, or wasting time, increasing risk, etc. (direct)

Front 79

apparent

Back 79

two species decrease in each other's presence because they support the increased abundance or vigor of a common predator (indirect)

Front 80

character displacement

Back 80

choosing certain characteristics in order to reduce competition (ex. finches going for different size seeds)

Front 81

mutualism

Back 81

type of interaction that is beneficial to both species involved and may be obligate or facultative or symbiotic or not symbiotic

Front 82

symbiotic

Back 82

organisms live in direct contact with one another (ex. clown fish and sea anemone)

Front 83

cheaters

Back 83

organisms that resembles one organism that is involved in a mutualism

Front 84

community

Back 84

a group of species that co-occur in time and space

Front 85

food webs

Back 85

depict feeding (or other significant) relationships among members of a community

Front 86

system

Back 86

group of entities united by interaction or interdependence to form or act as an entire unit

Front 87

trophic level

Back 87

functional grouping of organisms according to their primary food source

Front 88

bottom up level

Back 88

number of energy transfers from fixation of organic carbon to reach level

Front 89

top down level

Back 89

number of lower levels that are alternatively released and suppressed when this level is removed (plus one)

Front 90

odd number of trophic levels

Back 90

green

Front 91

even numbers of trophic levels

Back 91

barren

Front 92

system

Back 92

group of entities united by interaction or interdependence to form or act as an entire unit

Front 93

keystone species

Back 93

a species that consumes and limits the population of another species that would otherwise dominate the system

Front 94

dominant species

Back 94

a species that can potentially overwhelm the system if not kept in check (ex. mussels, corals)

Front 95

disturbance

Back 95

a discrete event that frees resources and opens up habitat by killing or removing organisms

Front 96

early successional species

Back 96

good dispersers, fast growing, allocation to growth and progeny (r-selected), not defense or competitive ability. tolerance of harsh conditions or abrasion

Front 97

late

Back 97

poorer dispersers, slower growing, but better competitors and or better defended

Front 98

climax

Back 98

last successional stage, new individuals can recruit under con-specific adults (Doug Fir, Miconia, CA mussel)

Front 99

intermediate disturbance hypothesis

Back 99

species richness greatest when there is an intermediate level of disturbance

Front 100

sucession

Back 100

sequential changes following disturbance in the dominant biota occupying and affecting a site

Front 101

primary succession

Back 101

on truly bare space (volcanic lava field, rock exfoliation)

Front 102

secondary succession

Back 102

space has been opened up and de-populated but some residual biota has survive (more common than primary)

Front 103

degradative succession

Back 103

habitat modified by inhabitants, disappears over time

Front 104

climax

Back 104

late successional stage in which dominant species can replace themselves, young of climax species can successfully recruit under established adults (redwoods)

Front 105

energy flows

Back 105

small fraction of solar radiation is fixed by photosynthetic organisms, but once energy is dissipated as heat, it is never recovered by the ecosystem

Front 106

materials cycle

Back 106

atoms (O,C,N,Ca,P) created in stars, used again and again, end up in different pools, fluxes transfer atoms between pools

Front 107

resource production=

Back 107

not consumed + ingested

Front 108

ingested=

Back 108

feces excreted + assimilated

Front 109

assimilated

Back 109

used for maintenance and used for production (new tissue or offspring)

Front 110

hydrologic cycle

Back 110

evaporation = precipitation

Front 111

evapotranspiration

Back 111

evaporation and transpiration (loss of water through stomata of plants)

Front 112

ecosystem efficiency (streams as well)

Back 112

organic production/nutrient flux

Front 113

stream spiraling

Back 113

downstream transport with periodic cycling by local biology

Front 114

sword-fish and mercury levels

Back 114

swordfish have high levels because they are at the top of their food chains where toxins accumulate and are long-lived

Front 115

fragmentation

Back 115

breaking up of habitats

Front 116

clear water state

Back 116

stabilized by nutrient sequestration in long-lived top predators, upslope vectoring of nutrients by mobile scavengers and predators (salmonids, birds, bats, bears), terrestrial vegetative cover, frequent scour and flushing that maintain edible prey taxa

Front 117

eutrophic state

Back 117

maintained by: internal nutrient cycling enhanced by hypoxia, loss of higher trophic levels due to hypoxia and inedible algae, more bank erosion with loss of rooted terrestrial vegetation, nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria that dominate under high P

Front 118

edge effects

Back 118

forest thinning leads to ecosystem problems

Front 119

MacArthur Wilson 1967 (Dynamic Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography)

Back 119

Change in species richness, delta S = speciation + immigration - extinction - mass emigration