Wildlife conservation test 1

Mammals

• most give life birth, some lay eggs

• have hair

• have mammary glands (produce milk)

• have 3 specific ear bones

Birds

• have feathers

• 9,900 species, which 13% are endangered

Reptiles

• no specific defining characteristic

• scales, dry skin without glands, lay eggs with internal fertalization, and are cold blooded

• 11,000 species, 21% endangered

Amphibians

• Most endangered catagorie

• 8,100 species and 41% endangered

Classifying organsisms

King Phillip Came Over For Good Soup - goes from least specific to most specific

Writing scientific names :

• First word is the the genus ( upper case and ittalicized )

• Second word is the species ( lower case and ittalicized )

King Philip Came Over For Good Soup

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

Ecology

scientific study of thr distributions, abundances, and relations of organisms and their interactions with the enviroment

Ecosystem

the biological enviroment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area including all biotic and abiotic compnents at which the organisms interact ( examples: air, soil, water, sunlight )

What processes drive interactions between organisms

Nutirents and energy

Nutrients

cant be created or dystroed

Nutrient cycle

the carbon cycle : carbon gas is taken in through photosynthesis then becomes fossil fuel and then humans use

Nitrogen cycle

integrated with energy flow and cannit happen without one another

Second law of thermodynamics

no process is possible without loosing a large ammount of energy

energy flowing through food chain

only 10% of the energy used in one tropic level is avalible to the next

Food chain

Producers, Primary consumers, Secondary consumers, detritivores

Communities

• the living part of the ecosystem - when grouped together we call a biome

• can vary over space and time

• climates similar in diffrent parts of the world reflect similar communities in diffrent parts of the world

Sucession

• varriation in communities

• primary vs secondary sucession

Primary sucession

occurs where no community has prevoiusly existed and starts from bare rock ( volcanic island)

Secondary sucession

occurs where there are some remaints of a prevoius community, has some dirt

Pioneer community

first step in a community - first step in sucession

Climax community

The final step in sucession

Allopatric speciation

are seperated geographically - can no longer interact with one another

Sympatric speciation

within the same location, but the species evolves to exploit diffrent reasources that are avalible

Speciation

The production of a new species from a prevoiusly existing species

Range of tolerance

• general range of where an organism can survive

• Diffrent species have diffrent ranges

• Can be anything that limits where their rate of survival and where they are found ( Tempature )

Optimal range

temp where the species would have the largest survival and reproduction rate

Generalsit feeder

• eats many diffrent things

• have a greater range of optimal conditions

Specialist feeder

• will only eat speficic things

• have a lower range of optimal conditions

Niche

• The functional role an organism considered in the enviroment it lives in

• The organisms job

• has a lot of diffrent aspects

Competitive exclusion theory

• No two organisms can occupy the same Niche at the same time in the same place

• The more similar the organisms are, the more intesne the compitition is between them

• The less fit species will have to evolve into a diffrent niche, move to a diffrent area, or become extinct

Natural selection

the process that determines which individual will pass on their genes to the next generation

extinction

• the loss of an entire species

• Mass extinction can lead to explosive diversification

• we are currently in our 6th mass extinction and is happening rapidly due to humans

Predation

one organism known as the predator kills and eats another organism knows as the prey

Predators

employ strategies to make them more effective at capturing prey

Prey

are constatly adapting, causeing them to have increased reproduction rates compared to predators

Compitition

• two organisms strive to obtiaon the same limited resource

• occurs in two ways: intraspecific or interspecific

Intraspecific compitition

compititoin between memebers of the same species

interspecific compititon

compition between members of a diffrent species

Symbotic relationship

a long standing physical relationship between two diffrent species

Paratism (+/-)

one organsim known as the parasite lives on/in another organism known as the host - derivies nutrients from the host

Commensalism (+/0)

A relationship between organisms where one organism benifits and the other has no effect

Mutualism (+/+)

a relationship where both species involved benifit - many times the two species involved cannot live without one another

Habitiat

the physical and biological resources required by an organism for its survival and reproduction ( food, water, shelter/cover, space )

what are the two most important features of habitat selection

food and cover/shelter

Habitat selection

choice of setting that favors survival and reproduction

adaptations to food

• when food resources are limited → animals adapt

• long term adaptions = hibernation + migration

• short term = fasting + reduced activity + torpor

population dynamics

a branch of the life sciences that studues the short term and long term changes in the size and age composition of population as well as the biological and enviromental processes influenceing the changes

population

a group of individuals of the same species that inhibit a defined area at a specific time

Factors that eddect population size

Natality, mortality, sex ratio, age distribution, dispersal

Natality

• Birth rate - births over time

• fecundity ( the potential number of offspring produced by an individual over time )

• fertility ( the actual number of offspring reprodiced by an individual )

• Production ( total number of offspring reproduced by a population )

What are the main two reproductive stratigies

R strategist and K stratagist

R stratigist

• are small organism

• short lived

• have many offspring and provide limited parental care

• high juvinlile mortality

K strategist

• larger organisms

• long lived

• prodice few offspring and provide extensive parental care

• low juvinile death rate

Mortality

• death rate - deaths over time

• specifically high in young organisms

additive mortality

• some number of a population is going to die

• unavoidable

• usually due to a natural disaster

sex ratio

• The relative number of males and females

• can change over time within a population

• typically 50: 50 at fertalization of eggs

• female driven

Polygynous

• one male to many females

• 50 males / 50 females = 100 offspring

• 30 males / 70 females = 140 offspring

• 70 males / 30 females = 60 offspring

Monogamous

• one male to one female

• 50 males / 50 females = 100 offspring

• 30 males / 70 females = 60 offspring

• 70 males / 30 females = 60 offspring

age distribution

• number of individuals of each age in a population

• reproduction capacity differs at each age class

• mortality differs at each age class

• is important to number of offspring produced

Dispersal

• movement into a new area

• emigration ( move out ) / immigration ( move in )

• often a result of overcrowding

an exponential growth rate is what shape

a j chaped curve

density dependent factors of growth rate

causes higher mortality or decreased birth rate as the population increases

density independent factors of growth rate

causes higher mortality or decreased birth rate regardless of population density

Carrying capacity ( K )

the maximum sustainable population size - a logistic growth rate

Behavior

the actions or reactions of an organism in response to external or internal stimuli

Learned behavoir

• range from simple beavhior ( birds singing ) to complex problem solving ( getting a treat out of a contraption )

• some involve a combination of innate behaviors and experince

imprinting

lerning limited to a specific critical period in life and is generally irriversable - baby seeing the first thing they see and attaching (whooping crane example)

circadian rythem

• daily activity patterns of animals with a regular pattern of about 24 hours

• Feeding, sleeping, singing

• adjusted by external cues like sunlight

Diurnal

active during the day

crepuscular

most active at dawn and dusk

Circannual cyles

• approximatly one year

• seasonal behavior patterns

• molting, breeding, hibernation, and migration

Types of behavior

learned behaviors, inate behaviors, reproductive behaviors, social behaviors, territorial behaviors, group behavior

courtship behavior

• physical characteristics and ritualized displays to increase mating recognition

• also displays the organisms status in life, good food and resource acess

• ex : blue footed boobie showing off their blue feet : feet blue due to food

• ex : Bower bird preforms intricate routine and have bright colors

• ex : superb lyrebird - peacock spiders

social behavior

• behavior directed towards or taking place between members of the same species

• involves some kind of communication

• involves a helpful behavior

type of helpful behavior : Alturism

benificial to recipents and possibly harmful to the signaler - animal calling to alarm others of a predator ( vervet monkeys )

home range

area included in the daily, seasonal and annual travels of an animal

Territory

area defended by an individual/group against intrustion by otherd of the same species

• smaller than home range

• insures appropriate spacing for avalible food and resources in a habitat

Kin selection

natural selection operating on the interactions between closly related cooperating individuals

parts of group behavior

kin selection, territorality, thermagegulation, predator avoiadance, predator detection, finding food

territoralality

territirial behaviors - a group defending a shared territory

thermagegulation

bobwhite quail huddle to keep warm

predator avoidiance

patterns and grouping confuse predators - larger groups create dilusion to avoid predators

predator detection

many eyes hypothsis = group predator vigilance increases as well as faster predator detection

Biodiversity

diffrent species of plants and animals living in the same space - diversity of genes, species and ecosystems in a region

hierachy of diversity

Genetic diversity, species diversity, ecosystem diversity

genetic diversity

the number of diffrent kinds of genes in a population or species

High genetic diversity

has a lot of variation of genotypes and phenotypes

Low genetic diversity

have a lot of the same characteristics

population size related to genetic diversity

small populations have less diversity and large populations have lots of diversity ( cheetas have low genetic diversity )

Mutations regarding genetic diversity

changes genetic diversity which can either be harmful, helpful, or do nothing

immigration regarding genetic diversity

can change genetic diversity by introducing new genetic material to the population

sexual reproduction regarding gentic diversity

can change genetic diversity by generating new genetic combinations that may be more sucessful in the long run

species diversity

the measures of diffrent species present in a area

factors that influence species diversity

history of the region ( tropics have long history of a maintianed climate) , immigration ( may introduce species to a new area- good if happens naturally - bad if human influenced ) , size of the area ( larger area larger biodiversity ) , human activity

ecosystem diversity

the number of kinds of ecosystems present in an area - larger area being looked at the more ecosystems present

higher biodiversity =

higher ecosystem services

4 ecosystem service catagories

provisioning services, regulating services, supporting services, cultural services

provisioning servies

what we are phycially able to get from the enviroemt - food, timber, fuel, soil, water

regulating services

things that are basic servies that make life possible - climate regulation, carbon sequestration, water purification, pollenation