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152 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Name the seven major biomes
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Tropical Wet Forest, Subtropical Desert, Temperate Grassland, Temperate Forest, Boreal Forest, Arctic Tundra
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What is the average temperature, average precipitation, and main type of vegetation in a tropical wet forest?
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High average temp, High average precipitation, mainly broad leaf evergreen.
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What is the average temperature, average precipitation, and main type of vegetation in a subtropical desert?
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High average temp, Very low average precipitation.
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What is the average temperature, average precipitation, and main type of vegetation in a temperate grassland?
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Moderate temp, Moderate precipitation, wild grasses (too dry for trees).
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What is the average temperature, average precipitation, and main type of vegetation in a temperate forest?
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Moderate temp, Moderate Precipitation, trees w/dormant periods (not evergreen).
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Explain where and how a hadley cell causes desert climate.
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Warm, moist air at the equator rises, cools as it rises, and releases water. Becomes heavy and sinks, warms again. This dry air removes moisture from land. 30 degrees latitude.
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What latitude can major tropics be found at, and why?
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Between 23.5 degrees north and south. The tilt of the earth is 23.5 degrees, and this area is always exposed to the sun the most.
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Why do oceans modify local temperature?
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The high specific heat of water.
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What is a biome?
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Terrestrial ecosystem unique to a given area.
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What are biotic interactions?
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Interactions between species.
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What are abiotic interactions?
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Interactions between species and the non-living environment.
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Name two goals of ecology.
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Understand the distribution and abundance of species.
Recognize/explain patterns in nature. |
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Name the main goal of population ecology.
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Understand change in numbers over time, esp. the mechanisms influencing population growth.
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Name two goals of community ecology.
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Inter-specific interactions.
Understand structure of communities/response to disturbance. |
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What's the difference between climate and weather?
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Climate = prevailing long-term weather conditions.
Weather = short-term atmospheric/aquatic conditions. |
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What three main characteristics of weather affect organisms?
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Temperature, Wind, Sunlight.
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Why is the equator warmer than the poles?
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The equator is perpendicular to the sun.
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Name one factor that influences aquatic ecosystems.
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Water depth or rate of movement.
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How does depth influence aquatic ecosystems?
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Amount of light available.
Temperature. |
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Two main divisions of freshwater ecosystems are?
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Lentic/Lotic
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What is a lentic body?
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A body of standing freshwater
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What is a lotic body?
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A body of moving water.
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Vocab: Littoral zone
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Horizontal dimension of a lentic body - where rooted vegetation grows.
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Vocab: Limnetic zone
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Horizontal dimension of a lentic body - where no rooted vegetation occurs.
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Difference between photic and aphotic in aquatic ecosystems?
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Photic has enough light to sustain photosynthesis.
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Bentic zone is...
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The bottom of a lake/standing body of water.
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What is a marsh?
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A swamp with trees.
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What defining characteristic do swamps have (that sets them apart from marshes)?
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They have trees.
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These two lotic systems have a slow stream of water, are connected to some lake/stream, and have high productivity.
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Marshes and Swamps.
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Why don't bogs have as high productivity as Marshes or Swamps?
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-Stangnant
-Low PH from organic acids |
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What is a lotic system like early on in its progression?
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Cold, high oxygen and little nutrients.
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What is a lotic system like midway on in its progression?
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Moderate temp, nutrients and oxygen.
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What is a lotic system like late on in its progression?
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Temp and nutrients high, oxygen low.
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Vocab: Estuary
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Where rivers meet oceans. Brackish water.
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How are zones designated in marine environments?
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Depth.
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Name and describe the three horizontal zones in marine environments.
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-Intertidal (uncovered, covered by tides).
-Neritic (region over continental shelf). -Oceanic (region off continental shelf) |
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Vocab: Behavior
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Response to a stimulus.
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What two extreme types of behavior are there?
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inflexible to Variable (Innate to Learned)
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What are two characteristics of fixed action patterns? Give an example.
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-Once initiated, run to completion.
-Almost no variation. -Species specific. Ex: Goose rolls its eggs into nest. |
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Are FAPs innate?
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Yes, highly innate.
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What is a releaser?
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A specific stimulus that casuses a FAP to start.
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Vocab: Imprinting
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The adoption of an individual as a mother.
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When does imprinting occur in young?
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In the critical/sensitive period.
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If an organism could recognize and manipulate facts about the world, what ability would it have?
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Cognition.
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If an organism could cognate, what would it be able to do?
a) Adopt an individual as its mother. b) Learn a song c) Form concepts/gain insights. |
C
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Give an example of cognition.
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Octopi or Crows using tools to get food.
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What's the adaptive significance of learning?
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Organisms that learn tend to be long-lived and reside in unpredictable environments.
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Vocab: Communication
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When a signal from one individual to another modifies the behavior of another.
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Name the 4 basic types of signals:
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-Visual
-Auditory -Olfactory (smell) -Tactile (touch) Gustatorial (taste) is another, but we don't officially know it. |
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Give an example of communication.
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... The bee and its waggle dance!
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Can deception in communication be common to persist?
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Nope!
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What is the simplest type of orientation?
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Taxis... look it up.
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Name the three types of migration.
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- Piloting
- Navigation - True navigation |
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Vocab: altruism.
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Behavior that imparts a cost to self and a benefit to another.
(self-sacrificing behavior). |
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What are the two types of altruism?
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Kin selection (altruism occurs if cost is less than benefit due to relatedness of alleles)
Reciprocal altruism (self-sacrificing behavior with unrelated individuals, more common between individuals with a past history of altruism). |
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If an organism is haplodiploid, what occurs with regards to kin selective altruism? What animals do this?
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Eusociality - a parent protects its kin more closely than its offspring.
Bees, termites, naked mole rats. |
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What's a population?
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A group of individuals of the same species who live in the same area and utilize a common pool of resources.
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Does population ecology study change in population size and change in a population's geographic distribution?
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You bet!
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What are the two properties of population?
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Density and Dispersion.
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How can a population be dispersed?
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- Clumped (organisms cluster around resources)
- Uniform (often generated via competition) - Random (lacking any discernible pattern) |
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What are semelparity and iteoparity?
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Two reproductive strategies.
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What influences on population size does demography study?
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-Births
-Deaths -Emigration -Immigration |
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Is the number of individuals in a population needed to predict population growth?
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Yep.
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It it necessary to know the survivorship of a community to predict population growth?
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Of course!
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Vocab: fecundity.
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The number of offspring produced by females. Necessary to predict population growth.
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Is it necessary to know the time from birth to first offspring for females to predict population growth?
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Duhhhhh.
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Is it necessary to know the density of a population to predict population growth?
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No way mayne.
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Vocab: survivorship.
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Proportion of individuals who survive to a particular age class.
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Vocab: Cohort.
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Individuals who are born in the same time period.
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Give a definition of type 1 survivorship.
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Low survivorship early in life, high later.
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Give a definition of type 2 survivorship.
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Moderate throughout life.
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Give a definition of type 3 survivorship
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High survivorship early in life, low survivorship later.
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Can fecundity be refined?
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Yes, it can be defined just as:
The average number of females produced by a female in a specific age class. |
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What increases population?
What decreases population? |
- Birth and immigration.
- Death and emigration. |
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Give the formula for the net reproductive rate.
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Rø = E(LxMx)
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With respect to populations, what is rmax and what does it represent?
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rmax is the intrinsic rate of increase - it represents the highest possible r, limited only by the constraints of breeding.
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Vocab CHALLENGE!:
Discrete growth vs. Continuous growth. |
Discrete growth - populations that reproduce during certain times of the year.
Continuous growth - populations that reproduce all the TIME BABY! |
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Give the equation for exponential growth.
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N†=Nøe^rt
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What does each component of the equation for exponential growth mean?
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N† = population size at a given †
Nø = initial population size. r = rate of increase. t = time since Nø. |
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Give one reason why logistic growth is more realistic than exponential growth.
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- r changes as a function of density (decreases with increasing density).
- incorporates carrying capacity into model of growth. |
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If a population has a carrying capacity of 539, what will its logistic growth model look like?
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A graph that is initially exponential, then asymptotically approaching 539.
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What the hell is carrying capacity? (This is a DUH.)
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Carrying capacity, K, is the maximum number of individuals who can be supported over a sustained period of time in a habitat.
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Carrying capacity depends on two factors...
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Abiotic and Biotic.
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Can different habitats have different K?
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Of course they can!
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With regard to limiting factors for growth rates, are
density-independent factors or density dependent factors triggered by the abiotic environment? |
Density-independent. Don't ask me why.
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Do density-dependent factors cause logistic population growth?
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Yes. They also define a particular habitat's carrying capacity.
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So we have density-dependent and density-independent limiting factors. Name the other one.
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Inverse density dependent factors. (Usually, increasing density minimizes mortality rate).
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What is the usual size and life span of an r selected species?
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Small and Short.
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Give the usual life span and growth rate of a k selected species.
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Long and Slow.
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What do k and r refer to, respectively, in k and r selected species?
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K refers to carrying capacity.
R refers to intrinsic rate of growth. |
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Vocab: age structure
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Proportion of total in each age class.
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Name two components of a population that an organism's ag e class can influence.
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-Survivorship
-Fecundity |
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What is a metapopulation and what can it do?
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It's a collection of large sub-populations, and it can:
-occupy large areas -be close to other sub-population. -be less likely to go extinct. |
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Vocab: Biological community.
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The interacting species in a defined area.
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Give the spacial scale, in order.
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Population < Community < Biome <3
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Name the 4 categories of species interaction:
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Commensalism, Consumption, Competition, and Mutualism.
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Who benefits from mutualism? Who is disadvantaged by it?
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Both species involved benefit.
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Who benefits from commensalism? Who is disadvantaged by it?
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One species benefits, neither is disadvantaged.
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Who benefits from consumption? Who is disadvantaged by it?
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One species benefits, one is disadvantaged to some degree.
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Who benefits from competition? Who is disadvantaged by it?
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Both are disadvantaged by competition.
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There is a fundamental concept in community and competition - what is it, and what are its two components?
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It's a niche!
- The range of resources utilized by a species. - The conditions it can tolerate. |
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The main cause of interspecies competition.
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Overlapping niches.
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If a species is competing symmetrically, is the fitness impact similar for both species?
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Yes. If they were competing asymmetrically, their fitness impacts would be different.
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If a species has a fundamental niche in the tide line of 24 feet, how many feet will it be able to use?
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Less than 24 feet - its realized niche is always smaller.
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What can lead to niche differentiation?
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"Escape zones" for an inferior species when niche competition and overlap arises.
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Name and classify the 3 types of consumption:
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Herbivory - grazing organisms feed @ base of food web.
Parasitism - parasite consumes a small amount of tissue. Predation - organsism kills and consumes most of prey. |
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Give an example or two of standing defenses against predation.
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Speed, Schooling, Armor.
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Defenses against predation are responsible for what two types of mimicry?
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Müllerian - organisms with similar defenses resemble each other.
Batesian - organisms without defenses resemble those with defenses. |
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Give an example of batesian mimicry:
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The hornet moth, monarch-look-alike.
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What's the difference between "top-down" control and "bottom-up" control with regard to predation?
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Bottom-up: predator population controlled by food availablilty.
Top-down: opposite. |
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How is mutualism different from altruism?
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Each organism attempts to benefit and succeeds.
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Give one view of community dynamics:
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Clement's view: competition creates sharp boundaries between species.
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Give one view of community dynamics:
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Gleason's view: species distribute independently along environmental gradients.
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Know the spectrum of species distribution along environmental gradients.
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Ok, will do.
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How is species diversity measured?
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Species richness (raw measure of how many species) and
Species diversity (weighted measure of how many species that also takes into account the number of each specie. |
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What is the area hypothesis?
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The idea that since large areas support more species, and since the tropics are the widest band of area, they support the most species.
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What is the speciation time hypothesis?
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Th ideazor that since the tropics have been less disturbed by glaciation than the poles. They've had more time to speciate.
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Are communities with a species diversity of .68 more or less likely to be affected by species loss?
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Well, what the hell are you comparing these communities to? It would be less likely to be affected than a community with a diversity of .4, yes.
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Is a high species diversity likely to increase net primary productivity?
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You bet it is.
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If a species is highly affected by a storm, but is back to normal relatively fast, what are its relative resistances and resiliences?
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It's resistance sucks, but its resilience is great.
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Give an example of a keystone species.
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The sea otter! It keeps sea urchins from taking over kelp beds.
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What types of habitats favor r selected species?
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Habitats with high disturbance rates.
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What does an intermediate disturbance rate give a habitat?
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High species diversity.
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Give the difference between primary and secondary succession.
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Primary succession is a total clean slate, with little to no soil is left.
Secondary is somewhat less drastic than that. |
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What are the three steps of a habitat following disturbance?
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1)Early successional - pioneer species.
2)Late successional - long-lived, good competitors. 3)Climax community! |
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Are abiotic factors less or more important as succession proceeds?
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Less important.
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Are species with good dispersal ability favored in a successional viewpoint?
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Yes.
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Vocab battle: True island vs. Virtual island:
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True island: a chunk of terrestrial habitat surrounded by water.
Virtual island: fragment of habitat surrounded by inhospitable habitat. |
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Does species diversity increase of decrease with increasing island size?
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Increases, duh.
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Increasing size of an island is good for its habitat how?
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It decreases the extinction rate and increases the number of species.
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Do virtual island conform to equilibrium theory?
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Nah.
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What is NPP a basic measurement of?
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The amount of energy available to consumers and decomposers.
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NPP is regulated by _______.
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Photosynthesis.
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Photosynthetic rate is regulated by what 4 things?
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- sunlight
-- temperature --- water ----nutrients (not a problem for terrestrial ecosystems) |
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Energy flows:
a) One way in ecosystems b) Two ways in ecosystems c) Five ways in ecosystems |
A!
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Give the key factor in local nutrient cycles.
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Decomposition rates.
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Decomposition is affected by:
a) abiotic factors b) nutritive quality of detritus c) concentration of decomposers |
A & B
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Do tropical wet forests typically have a large amount of litter accumulation?
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Nope.
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Vocab: global cycle
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An interchange between atmosphere and ecosystem. Unites smaller ecosystems into one giant, interconnected ecosystem.
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Bacteria plays what part in the nitrogen cycle?
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Nitrogen fixation and Nitrification.
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What do decomposers do with regard to the nitrogen cycle?
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Turn nitrates into ammonia.
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How much CO2 is removed from the atmosphere via primary production?
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10-15%. Shells and limestone sequester a large amount.
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Name the three steps in the water cycle.
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Evaporation
Evapotranspiration Precipitation |
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How is natural sulfur released?
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Via volcanic eruptions, where it oxidises to become S02
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Vocab: Biodiversity.
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The variety and abundance of organisms on the planet.
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Give a direct benefit of biodiversity:
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New drugs!
Pollination Flood control |
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Give an indirect benefit of biodiversity:
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Climate regulation
Nutrient cycling |
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Just how much diversity is needed for proper health?
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4 theories!
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Define the rivet hypothesis:
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Independent species are important, loss of a few can be tolerated
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Define the diversity stability hypothesis;
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Linear relationship between ecosystem function and diversity.
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Define the redundancy hypothesis:
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Niche overlap permits loss of species from the same functional group.
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Define the idiosyncratic hypothesis:
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ecosystem change after loss/gain of species is difficult to predict.
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