Wayne 3.1

Front 1

Define autotrophy, and describe how energy and nutrients are gained by autotrophs.

Back 1

Autotroph "Self Feeders": An organism that converts energy from sunlight or from inorganic chemical compounds in the environment into chemical energy stored in the carbon-carbon bonds of organic compounds.

-For example, photosynthetic and chemosynthetic organisms. We are mostly interested in photosynthetic organisms.

-Moss, trees, coral reefs, macroalga, ferns esc.

Front 2

Define heterotrophy, and describe how energy and nutrients are gained by the main categories of heterotrophic organisms

Back 2

-Heterotrophs "Different Feeders": An organism that obtains energy by consuming energy-rich organic compounds from other organisms.

-We are mainly concerned with chemoheterotrophic forms (consuming energy in the form of biomass).

-Heterotrophs acquire energy from either plants (monkeys eat coconuts), consumers of plants (humans eat cows that eat straw) or waste products (dung beetle cleans up poop).

Front 3

Explain the concept of optimality, using the terminology of evolutionary adaptation.

Back 3

-Optimality results when fitness is maximized.

-Optimal Foraging Theory proposes that animals will maximize the amount of energy acquired per unit time, energy and risk involved in finding food.

-Optimal Foraging theory relies on the assumption that evolution acts on the behaviour of animals to maximize their energy gain.

Front 4

Differentiate the optimization pathways of energy-maximization, time-minimization and risk-minimization, in the context of competing demands on prey and on consumers.

Back 4

-Energy-maximization: Selection favours the individuals gathering the richest resources (energy and nutrient content) and/or the largest possible amounts of resources.

-Time-minimization: Selection favours the individuals able to collet their resource requirements in the shortest period of time.

-Risk-minimization: Selection favours the individuals that avoid exposing themselves to unnecessary risks.

-These optimization categories are not independent of each other. They may all occur at the same time.

Front 5

Explain predicted patch use by foragers in heterogeneous habitats

Back 5

-The Marginal Value Theorem assumes that a foraging animal will encounter food patches of varying densities. The time the animal spends in a patch should optimize its rate of energy gain per amount of time spent foraging.

-This can be determined by drawing the cumulative energy gained versus time including travel time

-Add the cost of travel information curve - which runs tangent to the cumulative curve

-The intersection point is the threshold point at which the worth of the patch becomes marginal to the forager.

Front 6

Explain why the predictions of the marginal value theorem may not be true in real world cases.

Back 6

-In real habitats, patches are never consistent!

-Patch spacing will be both variable and changeable

-Abiotic factors may prevents using a patch fully

-Competitors may have an impact on a patch using forager - it may give up sooner than the patch qualities would predict.

Front 7

Interpret comparative data concerning the evolutionary impact of predation on both predator and prey populations in terms of specialization and frequency dependence.

Back 7

-The stronger the pressure applied by a given predator, the stronger the response-diversity shown by the prey.

-This particular pattern of natural selection is referred to as frequency-dependent selection: the outcomes for a genotype are determined primarily by its relative abundance in the population rather than its other characteristics.

Front 8

Interpret comparative data concerning the evolutionary impact of predation on both predator and prey populations in terms of specialization and frequency dependence.

Back 8

-The stronger the pressure applied by a given predator, the stronger the response-diversity shown by the prey.

-This particular pattern of natural selection is referred to as frequency-dependent selection: the outcomes for a genotype are determined primarily by its relative abundance in the population rather than its other characteristics.