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Patterns from the buffaloes' population
The population and the size of the African Buffalo increased from 1961 to 1975 by almost 50,000.
The population and the size of the African Buffalo decreased from 1976 to 1998 about 62,000.
At the year of 1999, the population and the size of the buffaloes begin to increase again.
From the years 1975 to 1985, they didn't collect any data.
Serengeti information
Lions, Buffaloes, Elephants, Cheetas, Jaguars, Zebras, Hippos, colorful birds, monkeys in trees, girraffes, caribo
A lot of predators
Grassy plain
Lots of competition
Hunted in groups
Predators looked outnumbered
Prey traveled in groups
Animal patterns
Prey traveled in groups
There were adult animals watching their young
The groups seem like they're separated
Where is the Serengeti located in the continent of Africa?
In the country of Tanzania
What predictions can we make about the climate of the Serengeti based on its location on the map? Be specific.
It is mainly hot and dry, because it is close to the equator
According to the photo capture data, which 6 animals are most represented in the data? Be sure to list the name of the species and the number of photo captures.
Buffalo (13,672)
Elephant (10,178)
Hartebeest (12,431)
Thomson's Gazelle (41,420)
Wildebeest (100,660)
Zebra (70,577)
What are at least 2 things that all these animals have in common? (Besides that they live in the Serengeti!)
They are all prey to predators like cheetahs, leopards, and lions.
They are all herbivores or eat plants.
Compare and contrast the number of photo captures for predators like cheetahs and lions, to the number of photo captures of the animals you listed in question 3. What do you notice?
Lions: 4,266
Cheetahs: 1,272
Hyenas: 5,420
I notice that the predators have some of the fewest photo captures compared to the prey.
Considering your observations from the video and the photo capture data, what conclusions can we draw about the biodiversity of the Serengeti? Be sure to use at least 1 data point to justify your response.
The predators are outnumbered due to the higher amount of prey.
There were 100,660 photo captures of the wildebeest. Their main predators are lions, cheetahs, and hyenas. The total amount of photo captures of their main predators is only 10,958. The photo captures of the wildebeest are a little more than 91 times the amount of captures the main predators have.
What buffalo eat
Grasses and sedges, leaves and shoots of other plants, shrubs, trees, herbs. Adult need 39-55 liters a day. Plant based diet. 6.1 - 17.5 kg a day.
Themeda triandra
Hyparrhenia
Laudia kagarensis
Green leaf vegetation
44.8% themeda triandra. 17.0% eragrostis exasperata. 11.7% hyparrhenia filipendula.
80-100 g/m.
Primarily based on green leaves
Dry and green leaves mixed together during the dry season
Parafrenia Filipéndula
Loudetia Kagerensis
Hyparrhenia Filipendula and Loudetia Kagerensis increases substantially during the dry season
Consume predominantly green leaves during the dry season (72% of diet)
Consume a very small amount (13%) of dry grass during the dry season
Consumes 15% of other plants
Other organism's feeding patterns
Zebra and wildebeest graze
During wet season diets, wildebeest consume 40-80 g/m green leaf matter. Zebra 40-60. Gazelle 20-40
Primarily based on green leaves
Dry and green leaves mixed together during the dry seasons
Wildebeest
Green Leaves - 58%
Dry Leaves - 18%
Other Parts of Plants - 24%
Zebra
Green Leaves - 66%
Dry Leaves - 16%
Other Parts of Plants - 18%
Gazelle
Green Leaves - 42%
Dry Leaves - 47%
Other Parts of Plants - 24%
Gazelles more selective in dry season and wildebeest more selective in wet season
A lot more food in places where it rains more. Grazers effective in finding those. Only 10% serengeti stays green during dry season. Drying out vegetation results in sharp decline of food quality during that time
What happened with the climate of Tanzania between 1960 and 2000?
The trend line shows the climate having an increase in temperature as years go by.
Do the trend lines of rainfall and temperature indicate that climate was the cause of the buffalo population increase? Explain.
Not really because while the lines of the buffalo drastically fluctuate, the others stay steady.
What species regularly hunts African buffaloes in this environment?
Lions
The Law of Conservation of Matter states that matter cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be transferred. How does this simulation of an ecosystem reflect the Law of Conservation of Matter?
We still have the same amount of Carbon atoms and it was never destroyed nor created, but changed into different forms.
The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be transferred. How does this simulation of an ecosystem reflect the Law of Conservation of Energy?
We never destroyed nor made energy, but it just changed forms
What is biomass? What does it have to do with carbon?
Mass of the organism or anything living - water
Anything that has or was living is made of carbon
Why do plants do photosynthesis?
To make food to survive
Why do plants and animals do cellular respiration?
To obtain and release carbon
Why is there less biomass in the predators than in the herbivores? Why is there less biomass in the herbivores than in the producers?
There are fewer predators
There is less energy left as you go up the food chain for energy
10% Rule
What is the relationship between chemical energy, motion energy, and heat energy?
They are all different forms of the same energy
In the atmosphere pool, where is carbon found?
In the COâ‚‚
In the grasses pool, where is carbon found?
Simple sugars, glucose, and decaying animals
In the buffalo and lion pools, where is carbon found?
In their energy and exhales, DNA, whole bodies
How can the number of carbon atoms visiting a pool (or amount of heat energy being expended at each pool) be used to estimate the number of predator species in an ecosystem?
Because each animal is a carbon based animal, so it needs a certain amount of Carbon and it will differentiate with each animal
10% Rule
Only 10% of the energy at one trophic level is passed on to the next level. 90% of energy is lost to the environment. The pyramid has levels for producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers. The number with the most is at the bottom of the pyramid and the one with the least is at the top. This rule also helps you calculate how much energy is available in each level. Energy is measured in kilocalories, or kcal. You can figure out each trophic level from T1 to T4 by dividing the previous level by ten, or from T4 to T1 you can multiply the number before it by ten.
Bedrocks of Biodiversity
A food chain begins with a producer who is an autotroph or makes its own food. Next, a primary consumer who is a heterotroph that must feed on other organisms eats the producer. The secondary consumer eats the primary consumer and then the tertiary consumer eats the secondary consumer. The energy flow arrows goes in the direction of which one is eating. The food chain is like a domino effect. If something is removed, it hurts the other organisms because they might not have enough to eat. Even if you took out the apex predator, you could possibly end up with an overpopulated organism to where there wouldn't be enough food for them. An ecosystem doesn't typically have a food chain, but they have a food web. A food web is made up of multiple food chains that interact among a variety of producers and consumers and show biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variety of organisms living in a certain area. Size and climate affect the biodiversity that is there and contribute to an ecosystem being sustained. Animals can have different things they can prey on so if one begins to decrease, there won't be a drastic change. Because of biodiversity, the ecosystem might be more resilient to changes and might recover. It is critical to protect ecosystem biodiversity because it makes the world go round. A food web has more biodiversity. Decomposers are also heterotrops that include fungus and bacteria and it eats everything, making every food web arrow point to them.
Rinderpest Concepts
1. Rinderpest is like measles
- cattle (animal disease)
2. Humans were impacted
- starvation (food, tools)
3. Italian Army 1887
- brought to Africa
cattle > buffalo
4. Vaccine 1945
Rinderpest Timeline:
10,000 B.C. - 2011
10,000 B.C.: Cattle were domesticated in the Indus Valley
3,000 B.C.: Blamed for an epidemic in Egypt that broke out
1000 A.D.: Virtually identical to measles
1200's: Mongol Armies imported cattle with the virus
1000 - 1200: Humans Migrate
1200 - 1900: Pandemics of Rinderpest
1713: Figured out how it was spread
1750: Experimented with a crude early form of inoculation
1887: Italian Army to Africa
1975: Eradicated
1960's - 1970's: Farmers
1945: Vaccine
1923: 3,000 were slaughtered with the virus
1990's: Diagnostic Tests
2001: Last confirmed case
2011: Rinderpest was officially eradicated
Comparison of Wildebeest and Buffalo
Female Sexual Maturities:
W - 1.5 years
B - 3 years
Gestation Period:
W - 243-274 days
B - 340 days
Migration:
W - yes
B - no
Why did the population tend to return to a stable state of about 40 buffalo in many different situations?
There was a balanced limiting factor, space
Sometimes if you start with 100 or more buffalo, the entire population of buffalo will end up dying off. Why?
Too much competition, not enough space
How is the idea of carrying capacity related to the outcomes you observed in this model?
Stable range of the population size for a healthy ecosystem
Why did the changes you made to the environment in this investigation affect the carrying capacity of the ecosystem for the buffalo population?
Because if you had more room, the buffalo can roam around more for food and space so more can be produced. More rain causes the grass to be produced, so they would have a bit more food.
Note 
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