Bio 286 Lecture 24

Front 1

what is species richness?

Back 1

number of species in an area

-proxy for bio diversity

Front 2

what is relative abundance?

why is it a useful measurement?

Back 2

-proportional representation of a species in a sample or community

-useful for

Front 3

The figure above shows communities of birds in a deciduous forest in West Virginia;vascular plants in a subalpine fir forest in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee And vascular plants in a deciduous cove forest in the Great Smoky Mountains.

What does the rank-abundance plot tell us about how rare or common each species is?

Back 3

more rare plants in great smokey mountains than rare birds in west virgina

Front 4

is the relationship between species richness and area typically positive or negative?

Back 4

positive

Front 5

why is species richness positively correlated with area at different scales?

Back 5

more animals in total are sampled

-more habitat types in a state, more in continent

Front 6

how does species richness change from north to south?

Back 6

richness increases from north to south

-increase as temperatures warm

Front 7

how does mammal and bird species richness change from east to west?

Back 7

increases from east to west

due to habitat heterogeneity (variability)

Front 8

how does reptile and amphibian species richness change from east to west?

Back 8

increases from north to south.

reptiles no change east to west

amphibians increase west to east because more soil moisture

Front 9

how does species richness change with increasing habitat heterogeneity?

how does species richness change with increasing primary productivity?

Back 9

bird species richness increases as habitat heterogeneity increases

primary productivity and number of bird species have positive relationship

Front 10

how did robert and john macaruther study the relationship between species richness and habitat heterogeneity?

what did they find?

Back 10

species richness of bird in different habitats vs foliage height

-richness increased with foliage height

Front 11

how does solar energy input and precipitation influence species richness?

Back 11

In northern regions, solar energy was best predictor of species richness

In southern regions water availability was better predictor of species richness

Front 12

what is potential evapotranspiration? (PET)

Back 12

amount of water than can be evaporated from soil and transpired by plants, given average temperature and humidity of area

Front 13

how does PET influence species richness?

Back 13

both positively correlated

Front 14

why does the relationship between species richness and PET plateau at a certain point?

Back 14

reaching threshold, increasing temp fails to improve ability of environment to suppose additional species

Front 15

Define local and regional diversity

Back 15

local = number of species in a small area of homogenous habitat

region= total number of species observed in all habitats within a geographic area

Front 16

define beta diversity

Back 16

difference in species composition from one habitat to another

Front 17

what do high and low jaccard index values indicate?

Back 17

0 = species composition between habitats is low

1= species composition between habitats is exactly the same

Front 18

why is the slope of the best fit line greater in zone A than in zone D

Back 18

slopes refelect difference inspecies compostion between habitats

-greater slope = greater the beta diversity

Front 19

why are all members of the regional species pool not present in each total community?

Back 19

each local community is made up of a subset of the regional species pool

Front 20

define fundamental niche, realized niche, and species sorting.

Back 20

fundamental = range of conditions and resources within which individuals of a species can persist

realized = range oh physical conditions and resources within which individuals of a species can persist in the presence of competitors and consumers

species sorting = process that determines membership in a local community based on the tolerance of species from the regional species pool to local conditions, also resource requirements and interactions with other species

Front 21

how does mark bertness' study of mussels and algae illustrate the species sorting process?

Back 21

rock exposed to waves are dominated by mussels

-upper intertidal zone rock is mostly bear as both mussels and algae are excluded.

-lower intertidal zone the algae outcompetes and excludes the mussels

Front 22

how does the figure above provide evidence of ecological release?

Back 22

when there are fewer species to compete with for resources, the indvidual species experience ecological release

-can use more habitat type and resources and increase in abundance

Front 23

what is niche diveristy?

Back 23

different types of specialization and different ways of life that species exhibit

Front 24

how does ecological specilization reduce competition between species?

Back 24

less competition for resources

Front 25

describe the two axes scientists used to describe the morphological adaptations of tropical and temperate bats?

Back 25

ear length to forearm length

distance between 3rd and 5th digit

Front 26

how do tropical and temperate bats differ in terms of niche diversity?

Back 26

temperate bats are all morphologically similar

-tropical have greater bat species richness due to promotion of greater niche diversity (specialization to eat fruit, nectar, fish, other bats, etc.)

Front 27

the figure above describes species diversity and resource use of fis in the rio taresi drainage.

How does species diversity change as the habitat and food resources become more diverse?

Back 27

species diversity increased with more diversity for niche

Front 28

what does the equilibrium theory of island biogeography argue?

Back 28

number of species on an island balances regional processes governing immigration against local processes governing extinction

Front 29

what is the stable equilibrium?

Back 29

point where colonization and extinction curves cross

colonization and extinction balance

Front 30

what predicitions can be made about small and large islands?

Back 30

large harbor greater habitat variability than small islands and means greater niche diversity

-lower extinction rate on small islands

-stable equilibrium is smaller number of species for small islands

Front 31

what predictions can be made about island that are near or far from the mainland?

Back 31

near mainland receives more immigrants, rate of colonization will be higher

-stable point is smaller number of species for far islands than near islands

Front 32

what process occurs in continental communities (and influences species richness) that does not occur on islands?

Back 32

speciation

Front 33

why is it difficult to make predicitions about rates of speciation and extinction?

Back 33

-rate of extinction may increase as species richness increases because of competetion between species

-speciation can decrease as species richness increases because decreased opportunities for diversification.