Biogeography Exam 2
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78 Terms
What is soil?
A dynamic material composed of fine particles in which plants grow, and it contains both mineral fragments and organic matter.
What is regolith?
The upper portion of bedrock that’s been weathered by the overlying soil.
What are the factors that shape a soil?
Parent material, organics, climate, vegetation and animal activity, topography, and time.
What layers make up a rainforest?
Emergent layer, middle canopy, lower canopy, shrub, floor, shallow roots.
What are limiting environmental factors?
Light, temp, moisture, wind, and fire.
What is an anamopholis species?
A wind pollinated species.
What is a zoopholis species?
A species reliant on animals to pollinate.
What is an obligate heliophyte?
A plant that needs full sun, shade intolerant.
What is a facultative heliophyte?
A plant that prefers full sun.
What is an obligate sciophyte?
A plant the needs full shade, sun intolerant.
What is a facultative sciophyte?
A plant that prefers shade.
What is a perennial plant?
A plant with a life cycle of two years or more. (woody plants, most sciophytes)
What is an annual plant?
A plant with a life cycle of one year or growing season.
What are stromata?
Small pores on leaves that allow CO2, water, light, and oxygen to enter and exit a plant.
What is photosynthesis?
Plants are autotrophs and make their own food. They use this formula to to photosynthesize carbon dioxide into sugar: 6CO2 + 6H2O + light = C6H12O6 + 6O2
What is respiration?
When plants need energy, they consume the sugar from photosynthesis with this formula:
C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy
What is the compensation point?
The minimum amount of carbohydrates a plant must produce to complete a life cycle.
What is the saturation point?
How much sunlight needs to touch the leaves of a plant.
What is a C3 plant?
Where carbon fixation and photosynthesis happens near the surface of the leaf. Inefficient, chance of loss of raw materials to the atmosphere. 95% of all plants.
What is a C4 plant?
Instead of photosynthesizing at the surface, they store the materials deeper in the leaf. More efficient in hot, dry environments and more defense against photorespiration.
What is a CAM plant?
Stomata is closed during the day, and opens at night to gather materials (carbon) to use when closed during the day. Desert areas.
What is photoperiodism?
Biological clock controlled by daylight.
What is a short day species?
A plant species that flowers only when daylight is shorter than 12-14 hrs.
What is a long day species?
A plant species that flowers when daylight is greater than 12-14 hrs.
What is poikilotherm?
When a plant assumes the temperature of the environment.
What is a cardinal temperature?
A minimum and maximum temp that defines the limits of growth and development.
What is thermoperiodism?
The effect on an organism from the rhythmic fluctuation of temperature.
What is a megathermal plant?
Tropical and subtropical temps
What is a Mesothermal plant?
Temperate temps
What is a microthermal plant?
Boreal temps
What is a Hekisothermal plant?
Polar temps
What is phenology?
regularly recurring events in the life cycle of plants and animals (ex. leafing, migration, freezing and thawing, mating, pollination).
What is the idea of moisture stress?
A bigger leaf will lose water quicker due to transpiration, a smaller leaf guards against moisture loss.
How much water is on Earth and how much of it is drinkable/fresh water?
1.62 billion km³ of water on Earth and 0.72% is drinkable.
What is the hydrologic cycle?
The circulation and transformation of water throughout the Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere.
What is transpiration?
A cooling mechanism of plants where water is taken in through the leaves and allowed to evaporate.
What is evapo-transpiration?
Loss of water due to evaporation and transpiration.
What is potential evapotranspiration (POTET)?
The amount of water an ecosystem needs.
What is actual evapotranspiration (ACTET)?
How much water an ecosystem actually uses.
What is an exotic stream?
A river with no mouth.
What is a hydrophyte plant?
A water loving plant, little defense against drought, aquatics.
What is a xerophyte plant?
A dry loving plant, succulents that store water internally, or non-succulents that have small waxy leaves and very deep roots.
What is a mesophyte plant?
Intermediate range of water need.
How is wind used as a limiting factor of the environment?
It contains ice, salt, sand, etc. that acts as abrasives.
What are different types of vegetation adaptation against wind?
Krummholz vegetation: some plants evolve to grow horizontally instead of vertically due to high wind speeds.
Flag trees: wind coming from the same direction all the time causes the leaves to grow on the side not facing the wind.
What is a generalist species?
A species that can put up with wider varieties of temp, water, etc.
What is a specialist species?
A species that needs a specific environment.
What is monophagous?
A species is limited to one prey species.
What is stenophagous?
A species is limited to 3-5 different prey.
What is oligophagous?
A species has a moderate range of prey.
What is polyphagous?
A species has a wide range of prey.
What is the optimal foraging theory?
It is beneficial to predators to focus on prey that gives the highest food energy to foraging energy ratio. (ex. taking down a smaller prey instead of a big prey)
What is the Lotka-Volterra Model?
It shows predator-prey relationships for stenophagous species.
change in prey/change in time = rate of growth of prey - hunting of predator x predator population
What is a keystone species?
A species that heavily impacts an entire ecosystem (i.e american beaver)
What is interspecific competition?
Interaction between two or more species where growth/fertility is decreased or mortally increased in both.
What is intraspecific competition?
Individuals of the same species.
What are the two main forms of competition?
Resource exploitation: competing over a resource
Interference: individuals directly compete by physical or chemical means
What is the Competitive Exclusion Principle?
States that two species cannot have identical requirements and environmental relationships or one will go extinct.
What is a fundamental niche?
Broad space a species can inhabit.
What is a realized niche?
A restricted space a species can inhabit.
What is a no modern analog community?
Plant communities that we find in the paleoenvironmental records that are not found currently.
What is clementsian succession?
Disproven theory that says there’s an interdependence among species/communities that is predictable.
What is gleasonian succession?
Theory that says species are together due to chance and adaptations to environments.
What is symbiosis and what are the types?
A coping mechanism that is the close association between two species that generally develops with coevolution.
Types:
Mutualism: benefits both
Commensalism: benefits one, no impact on other
Parasitism: benefits one at the expense of the other.
What is mimicry and what are the types?
When one species evolves the appearance or behavior of another species
Muellerian: a poisonous or unpalatable species mimics another poisonous or unpalatable species
Batesian: species mimics a poisonous or unpalatable species.
What is a disturbance?
Any relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystem, community, population, or the physical environment.
What is the difference between ecosystem and community?
Ecosystem is all of the interacting biological and physical elements of a specific area (all of the spheres), community is just biologic elements.
What is succession and what are the types?
The changes in physical and biological conditions that follow a disturbance.
Primary: occurs on never before inhabited land
Secondary: occurs when an existing ecosystem recovers from disturbances
What are seres?
The process of succession is divided into stages called seres.
annual grasses and herbs
perennial grasses and herbs
woody shrubs
young forest trees
climax trees
What are other succession models?
Tolerance models: fastest growers dominate first, replaced by the slower growers.
Inhibition: leaves much to chance, proximity determines succession
Random: anything goes.
Describe fire as a form of disturbance.
Requires fuel and ignition source. The biggest fires happen where there’s a lot of fuel, i.e where humans have suppressed natural fires. Low temp fires that burn once every few years only kill whats on the ground and don’t go up or down.
What are some fire adaptations?
Self pruning: Prevents fire ladders
Thick or resinous bark: 1’’ of bark can survive external temps of 500degreesC for 20 min
Deep roots: fires can’t burn deep roots
Epicormic sprouting: seeds lie underneath the bark and sprout when activated by fire
Lignotubers: seeds are under the ground and sprout when activated by fire
How can a species be reliant on fire?
Deerbrush seeds germinate after experiencing temps of 75-100degreesC
Jack pine and Lodgepole pines remain closed until heated by fire.
Ocala pine regenerates poorly underneath its own canopy, so it needs fire to burn the canopy.
Describe wind as a form of disturbance.
Higher wind, higher disturbance. Hurricane and storm prone areas experience a different background mortality (average a forest will lose every year) depending on the storm activity. Wind also provides fire more fuel.
What are catastrophic winds?
Anything over 39 mph
Hurricane winds are 80mph
Tornado winds are 100-250mph
What is a microburst?
Downdraft wind sometimes traveling 260mph straight down like a bullet, experiences radial damage.
Describe flooding as a form of disturbance.
Can be caused by snow melt, rivers, lakes, coastal, or storms. Causes drowned animals, restricts oxygen uptake from roots, can mix with salt or chemicals, causes soil deposition or erosion.
What are some flood water adaptations?
Waterproof/resistant seeds, extra cavities that allow the downward flow of oxygen, adventitious roots that help with stability.