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120 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Three main sources of energy |
1. Solar radiation 2. Organic Molecules 3. Inorganic Molecules |
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Two ways of categorizing animals/plants |
1. Autotrophs (use inorganic as a source of carbon and energy) 2. Heterotrophs (use organic and inorganic source of carbon and energy) |
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Examples of heterotrophs |
Bacteria, protists, archea, fungi, animals |
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Two types of autotrophs |
1. Photosynthetic (use CO2 as source of carbon) 2. Chemosynthetic (use inorganic molecules as a source of carbon and energy |
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Chemosynthetic usually consists of _________ organisms |
Bacteria |
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Photosynthetic and heteotroph |
Protists |
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Prokaryotes are _____________________ |
Most diverse and can be found in all categories (therefore most ''trophically'' diverse |
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Rhodopsin |
Found in animal eyes & produce energy through light and ATP pumps |
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Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) |
visible light (400-700nm); enough energy to drive photosynthetic reactions but not enough to destroy organic molecules |
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How is PAR measured? |
Photon Flux Density (# of photons striking a square meter surface each second) |
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Light changes in ____________ and ___________ w/ latitude, seasons etc. |
1. Quality 2. Quantity |
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How does melting glaciers affect light quantity? |
Increases particle density in the water and then decreased quantity of light can penetrate the water |
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C3 Photosynthesis (used in cool conditions) |
(enzyme: RuBP catalyase) CO2 + RuBP --> PGA
-Plants open stomata to let CO2 in, water exits (diffusion of high to low) -Happens all in one cell
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C4 Photosynthesis |
Light reactions happen in two separate cells 1. Mesophyll cell: CO2 + PEP -> acid -The increased gradient allows for more CO2 into the cell and stomata doesn't need to be open as much 2. Bundle sheath cell: Acid -> 3C + CO2 -Reduction of photorespiration -High CO2 environment, low O2 environment |
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Photorespiration |
When O2 binds to RuBP instead of CO2 producing CO2 in the leaf which increases the water loss |
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CAM Photosythesis |
-Carbon fixation occurs at night -Decreased temperature reduces the rate of water loss and carbon dioxide uptake |
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Plants composition |
High C: Low N: Low P --High C:N ratio |
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Animal, Fungi + Bacteria composition |
Low C: High N --Low C:N ratio |
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Detritivores |
Organisms that feed on non-living organic matter |
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Symbonionts |
Bacteria, fungi and protists that are able to digest cellulose |
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Size-selection predation |
-Carnivores hunt bases on size and what they are ABLE to capture |
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Chemosynthetic Autotrophs |
-Take H2S and create S in atmosphere to produce sugars EX. Tube worms |
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Mixotrophs |
-Able to gain energy from photosynthesis as well as from organic + inorganic molecules (ex. carnivorous plants) |
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The rate at which organisms take in energy are limited due ______ and ________ |
physiological and consumption limitations |
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Functional response |
-If you put food in front of an animal their food consumption rate will increase |
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What are the three types of functional response and explain them? |
TYPE I Consumers req' little or no time to process their food (linear)
TYPE II Slower as prey density increases; wolfs vs. moose density
TYPE III Slow to start, may be due to absence of experience (honey bees increase foraging rate w/ experience)
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Optimal Foraging Theory |
-Organisms will forage bases on maximizing or minimizing quantities
EX. High: lots of eating to increase nutrients Low: Minimize water loss in C4 plants |
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How long should an animal forage before moving to a new location? |
-Charnov and his marginal value theorm -Should stay in bath if transit time to new patch is high |
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How do plants forage? |
They forage by putting their resources capturing organs in locations of resources |
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Root/Shoot Hypothesis |
If light permits plant growth, plants will invest more energy in growth of shoots rather than roots (vice versa w/ soil) |
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Cynanide in mines |
Add sucrose 10:1 C:N ratio to breakdown of CN and uptake of NH3 by bacteria |
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Population |
Group of potentially interbreeding individuals of a single species inhabitating a specific area |
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How are populations determined? |
Interactions between physiological ecology of a species and the abiotic and biotic factors that the population encounters |
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What limits the geographic distribution of a species? |
The physical environment |
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Example of how distribution matches w/ climate |
Kangaroos -Macropods genus can be found everywhere in Australia but not one species is found everywhere |
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Distribution of macropods |
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Explain the climate of each kangaroo distribution: Giganteus |
Giganetus -Little seasonal variation in the precipitation by summer precipitation -Temperate forest (East) -Tropical forest (north) -Mountains w/ variety of climates (Central) |
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Explain the climate of each kangaroo distribution: Rufus |
Rufus -Biggest distribution among Australia -Savana desert -Overall hot and dry |
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Explain the climate of each kangaroo distribution: Fuliginosus |
Fuliginosus -Temperate woodland and shrubbed biome -Overall dominance of rainfall |
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Why don't the kangaroos live extremely north? |
-Too hot, too dry and too much forest |
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Example of where climate and distribution don't match up |
Cicindela longilabris -High latitudes & elevations -Found in Yukon, BC and out east -Overall live in temperate forest and boreal forest
Longilabris -Arizona and New Mexico -Montane confierous forests on mountains -Overall live in climates similar to boreal |
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Result of longilabris distribution |
Optimal temp of 35 C and enjoy the cool climates |
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Distribution along interdial zone example |
BARNACLES 1. Adult Balanus balanoides (live in mid and lower, some in the higher zones) 2. Adult Cthamalus (live in higher zones) |
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Why aren't cthamalus in the lower layers? |
Too much competition; don't survive |
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What happens to the two species of barnacles when there is warm weather, calm seas and low tides? |
No water in the interdial zone, higher mortality in the balanus species |
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Small scale |
-Distances no more than couple hundred meters -Individuals w/ populations are distributed in patterns that may be random, regular or clumped |
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Large scale |
-Refers to areas over which there is a substantial environment -Individuals within a population are clumped Ex. on an entire continent of an entire mountain slope Ex. birds at a continental scale are clumped |
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Three types of small scale |
1. Random (micro scale): An organism has equal probability of occurring anywhere in the area (neutral interactions) 2. Regular: Organisms are uniformly spaced, antagonistic interactions/depletion of resources will occur 3. Clumped: Higher probability of being in some places rather than others due to an attraction of a common resource |
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Creosote bush hypothesis |
-If the cresoste bushes compete then their roots should grow in a way that limits overlap of roots with nearby individuals -Predicted overlap to be around 20% |
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Result of creosote bush hypothesis |
-Only about 4% overlap -They do grow in a way that reduces overlap |
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Foundation of ecology |
Whittaker and experiment w/ distribution of woody plants along moisture gradients in Santa Catalina Mountains in Arizona |
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What were whittakers findings on plant abundance? |
-Mexican pinyon pine were found high up on mountains where it's dry -Arizona madrone were found midslope -Douglas-fris were found on bottom of mountains where it is moist |
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Plants abundance on great smokey mountains |
-Table mountain pine found high up where it is dry -Red maple -Hemlock found low where it is moist |
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What were the results from the plant abundance experiments? |
Plants clump based on a moisture gradient |
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Metapopulations def and example |
Interconnected sub populations Ex. Rocky mountain butterfly |
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Explain the rocky mountain butterfly example |
-Extreme weather conditions make butterfly habitats, meadows, more dispersed (not continuous) -Decrease continuous meadows, decrease large populations and increase in many small populations |
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General rule for population density and organism size |
Larger organisms have smaller population density (Think bacteria density vs. humans) |
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Population density, organism size with relation to aquatic and terrestrial organisms |
No matter what organism size it is, population density will always be bigger for aquatic animals of that size |
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What are the three factors that affect commonness and rarity? |
1. Geographic Range of a species 2. Habitat Tolerance 3. Local population size
(8 different combinations of 3 conditions) |
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Explain the first type of rarity and give an example |
Extensive geographical range, broad habitat tolerance but small population size (Ex. Falcon; small population size was enough to drive species to extinction) |
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Explain the second type of rarity and give an example |
Extensive geographical range, narrow habitat tolerance, large population size (Ex. Passenger pigeon)
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Explain the extreme type of rarity and give an example *test* |
1. Restricted geographical range 2. Narrow habitat range 3. Small population size
Ex. Ash meadow stick-leaf |
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Macroclimate |
-Interacts w/ the local landscape to produce microclimatic variation in temperature (When you decide what clothes to pack) |
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Microclimate |
-On a scale of a few kilometers -Influenced by certain features (mountains, vegetation) |
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What happens when changes in temperature in aquatic environments occur? |
1. Affects metabolism (direct effect of organisms due to temperature) 2. Changing the habitat (Increased or decreased oxygen levels being dissolved) -Ex. warm water dissolves more oxygen, bad for organisms |
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Range of tolerance |
-What a species can handle |
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Moss and desert shrubs are examples of plants that photosynthesize at a _______ range of temperatures |
Narrow; 15C and 44C respectively |
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Acclimation |
A plants response to temperature reflecting short-term physiological adjustments |
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Can plants shift optimal temperature? Explain the experiment |
-Pearcy acclimated two groups of GENETICALLY IDENTICAL evergreens in cool temperature and one in warm temperature -They found different overall optimal temperatures suggesting that the plants were able to shift their optimal temperature |
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Metabolic heat |
-energy released by process of cellular respiration (internally generated) |
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Conduction |
-movement of heat from one object to another |
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Convection |
-Movement of heat from solid and liquid body of water |
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Two types of thermal regulation for organisms |
1. Poikilotherms -Organisms that vary body temp in relation to external changes in environments 2. Homeotherms -Relatively maintain internal body temperature even with changing external conditions
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How do arctic (cold conditions) plants regulate their body temperature? |
-Increase radiative heating (electromagnetic radiation) -Decrease of convective cooling |
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Natural selection will favour arctic & alpine plants that |
1. Have dark pigments (increase radiative energy) 2. Orient their leaves toward sunlight |
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How do plants in warm conditions regulate their body temperature? |
1. Decrease heating by conduction 2. Increase convective cooling 3. Decrease radiation rates |
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What behaviours do ectotherms (lizards and grasshoppers) perform? |
Lizards -Seek shade when too hot and bath in sun when too cold (33C optimal)
Grasshoppers -Bath in sun and adjust radiative heating by varying the pigment of their bodies |
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Thermal neutral zone |
-Range of environment temperature over which the metabolic rate of homeothermic animal doesn't change (steady metabolism) |
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Two types of thermal neutral zones |
1. Broad (Arctic species) -Ex. ground squirrel, arctic fox, polar bear, eskimo dog 2. Narrow (Tropical species) -Humans, sloth, marmoset & night monkey
*Arctic fox has largest range between -30C and 35C |
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Can insects be endotherms as well as poikilotherms and ectotherms? |
YES; Heinrich experiment w/ immobile flies and free flying flies |
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Explain the fly experiments |
He hypothesized that M. septa use abdomen to stop thorax from overheating by using blood as a coolant |
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Explain methodology of experiment |
-Immbolized fly and heated thorax to find that the abdomen also heated up and fly did not overheat -Died off blood flow using a piece of human hair of free-flying flies and the one that fly stopped flying and died at 46C due to overheating -Dead fly (no blood flow) did not have a abdomen that heated up |
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Explain how skunk cabbage is an endotherm |
-Blooms between -15C and 15C where it has a temperature from 15C to 35C... HOW? -It has a large root which it stores large quantities of starch in (increase metabolic rate with decreasing temperature) |
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How does increasing temperature affect chinook salmon and their reproduction? |
Chinook salmon adults live in the ocean however their offspring live in streams until a certain age -Increasing temperature is lethal for offspring and for salmon trying to reproduce ---Increasing temperature prevents reproduction
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Plants modify their |
1. Shading 2. Accumulating plant litter 3. Accumulating O horizon (organic matter above mineral layers; detritus) |
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Relative humidity is equal to: |
Water vapour density/ Saturation water vapour density (g/m^3 or kPA) X100 |
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How does saturation change with temp? |
Increase temperature, increase saturation |
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VPD |
Vapour Pressure Defecit -Actual amount of water vapour pressure - saturation water vapour pressure |
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High VPD |
Far away from saturation, rate of evap is higher |
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Isomotic |
No net movement of salts and water |
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Hyperosmotic |
Water into organism |
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Hyposmotic |
Salts into organism |
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How do organisms such as Lepidochora that live far away from water areas adapt to survive? |
-Dig trenches of the sand, absorb fog and orient their body so that water droplets slide down the body and they drink the water |
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How do cicada manage to sing on branches throughout the day and survive when air temperatures reach above 46 degrees? Explain the Circada Puzzle (The Sonoran desert) |
-Gets water from tapping into the water of the host plant through tree juices on the bark -Uses evaporative cooling to decrease the body temperature -Compensates high evaporative water loss by constantly drinking so much water |
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How do the roots of plants in dry conditions compare to those of wet conditions? |
Roots are a lot deeper in dry conditions because plants are water limited -Majority of their biomass is under the ground |
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Water Potential |
-Capacity for water to do work -Water moving from soil through a plant and to the atmosphere -A steeper gradient easier movement |
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How to reduce H20 loss? |
1. Waterproofing cuticles made out of hydrocarbons 2. Producing concentrated urine 3. Condensing water in breath 4. Restricting time in places with water loss |
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How to conserve water? |
1. Dropping leaves in dry conditions 2. Thick leaves 3. Reduce leaf area (increase wilting;no transpiration) 4. Reducing rate of heat gain (camels that orient themselves toward the sun so less body surface area is being hit by direct sunlight) 5. Close stomata (CAM plants) |
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What type of water diffusion occurs in salt water? |
Organisms are mostly hypoosmotic (except sharks) -They need to drink lots of water and get rid of salts
Ex. catfish |
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What type of water diffusion occurs in fresh water? |
Organisms are mostly hyper osmotic so they need to take in salts
ex. mandarin |
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Example of isomotic fish |
Hagfish |
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How do salt water organisms get rid of salt? |
Concentrated urine |
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How do hypo somatic individuals gain salts? |
Specialized gill cells |
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Hierarchary of ecological organization |
Individual, Population, Community, Ecosystem, Landscape, Region, Biosphere |
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Ecosystem ecology |
bio, chem and physical processes and interactions that occur within a location |
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Landscape ecology |
exchanges amoung ecosystems |
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Macroecology |
Landscapes are not isolated and large-scale and long-term regional processes are patterns |
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What was the point of the landmark study/ competition theory? |
-Wanted to prove the existing theory that two organisms with exact ecological requirements could not coexist with each other wrong |
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What would happen to the Warbler's if they coexisted in the same environment? |
1. Division of resources takes place as postulated
2. Competition reduced 3. Aggression- one of the mechanisms |
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What happened when black throated warbler left (release of competition)? |
Yellow moved up their feeding zone
1. Division of resources cease as expected. 2. The remaining species were released from competition. 3. Its habitat expands and abundance can grow (large population = longevity for species) |
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Large scale ecology experiment Hubbard Brook |
-Compared chemistry of two watersheds and found that nutrients were greatest in forest like areas and nutrient loss is greatest when forest is cut |
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Why did nutrient loss happen? |
Because when the vegetation is gone, the organic matter in the soil also is as well |
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David Schindler experiment |
-Added phosphorus to a lake in Western Ontario and it turned very green -Led to restrictions with phosphorus |
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Distribution of warbler's on trees |
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Eutrophication |
Clear lakes that turn green due to rapid growth of moss due to too much phosphorus |
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Ecotones |
Transitions from one type of ecosystem to another |
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Remote sensing satellites |
see types and quantity of chlorophyll in the ocean to estimate marine productivity --Red=more, we can see usually diagrams have lots of green in the oceans which means there is less chlorophyll |
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M. Davis and sediment core experiment |
Tried to identify the pollen grain because it is unique for each set of plants around the lake to reconstruct any history or disturbances |
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How are pollen bands used? |
Use the grain to count the years |
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Why are pollen bands used? |
Because oxygen content is super low at the bottom of the ocean so decomposition of nutrients is very low |
