UWSP NRES 151 FINAL EXAM

Primary Succession

occurs on newly exposed substrates

Secondary Succession

occurs after disturbances

Facilitation mdel

early successional species prepare the way for late stage species facilitating their success

Inhibitation

early successionaal species hold the site against all invaders. THey make the site less suitable for other species. New species take over as past species die.

Tolerance model

Later stage species can invade and mature independent of species that precede or follow them. succession is associated with autogenic changes in environmental conditions

autogenic

environmental change resulting from presence and activities of organisms within the community

allogenic

environmental change governed by physical rather than biological processes.

3 elements of topography

altitude, slope, aspect

oxisols

old, highly developed, infertile rainforest soils

As soils develop

they get deeper, clay content increases, OM increases, CEC increases, horizons develop, pH decreases, water holding capacity increases

Oi

intact organic matter (ferric layer)

Oe

Partially fragmented organic matter (hemic layer)

Oa

highly decomposed organic matter (sapric layer)

Intermediate disturbance hypothesis

local species diversity is maximized when ecological disturbance is neither too rare nor too frequent

if disturbance is rare...

only the best competitors remain

if disturbance is frequent

only disturbance-tolerant species remain

Gross Primary Production (GPP)

total amount of CO2 fixed by plants

Net Primary Production (NPP)

GPP-Respiration

Respiration

total amount of CO2 lost by respiration

Exploitation Efficiency

how much of the resource will be consumed

Assimilation Efficienty

how much of the resource consumed will support growth and metabolism

Production Efficiency

Energy associated with growth

Essential elements are most available at pH of

6.5-6.9

What are life tables used for?

to describe age specific mortality as related to population growth rate. Constructed by following a population of individuals until they're all dead. Age specific mortality (qx)=individuals that died at age x/individuals alive at time x

sources of genetic variation upon which natural selection may act (4)

mutation, non-random mating, genetic drift, migration

how would increased stochasticity of mortality rate, survival rate, and birthrate affect the population?

Lambda (population growth) would vary more, wouldn't stabilize

what conditions favor exponential growth

large amounts of resources, lack of predators, lack of competition for resources, small or new populations

carrying capacity

maximum population size that an environment can support over time. occurs when b=d (lambda=0)

k=population of year x/population of year (x-1)

Why should managers care about natural selection

identify limited resources, increase fitness, increase genetic variation

adaptation

any characteristic of an organism that has evolved via natural selection that increases or at least maintains fitness under particular environmental conditions

natural selection

differential success of individuals within a population that results from their interaction with the environment

fitness

relative contribution of offspring to future generations

oxygen absorption

small organisms can easily absorb oxygen. Organisms with more cells may require other shapes or increased complexity ex: folding, branching

How does sphere size relate to SA:Volume ratio and what effect does that have on heat transfer

as sphere radius increases, SA:VOlume decreases. The more spherical something is, the less heat is loses to convection

optimal foraging theory

animals will tend t optimize calorie payoff for calorie ouput

marginal value theorem

organisms will hang out in a patch until there is a bigger energy benefit to go somewhere else

3 methods of predation

ambush, stalking, pursuit

Red Queen Hypothesis

There is an advantage for predators that are efficient at consuming prey.
There is an advantage for prey to adapt to evade predators

Predator chemical defenses

taste bad, look gross, or spray chemicals

cryptic coloration

camouflage

object resemblance

mimic the shape of a natural object

mimicry

one organism looks like another organism

aposematism

having intimidating colors which warn predators that they're dangerous

flashing coloration

distraction technique

armor

armor.

behavioral predator defense

ex: quails sit with their asses together in the nest to keep an eye out for predators

predator satiation

long life cycles with mass birth events

herbivore-biomass interaction

herbivores remove 6-10% of biomass annually from forests and 30-50% in grasslands

Impacts of herbivores on individual plants

loss of individual biomass, reduced growth rate, loss of nutrient reserves through selective tissue removal (fruit), loss of reproductive effort (buds/flowers/seeds)

3 herbivore defense strategies

structural, chemical, satiation

plant strucural defense

armor, unfavorable texture

plant chemical defenses

secondary compounds- nitrogen based compounds, terpenoids, and phenolics

nitrogen based compounds

deadly if consumed ex: morphine, caffeine, nicotine, cyanide

terpenoids

inhibit insects from reaching maturity/going through metamorphosis ex: oils, saps, latex

phenolics

smelly and indigestible ex: tannins, lignins

herbivore satiation

ex: "mast years" of the common beech tree. produce a huge amount of fruit. 3.1% of fruit is consumed during mast years while 38% of fruit is consumed most other years

intraspecific competition

competition between individuals of the same species

interspecific competition

competition between individuals of different species

6 types of interspecific competition

consumption, preemption, overgrowth, chemical reactions, encounter, territorial

consumption

individuals inhibit each other by competing for the same resource

preemption

beating other organisms to the resource

overgrowth

smother other organisms by growing on top of them or taller than them

chemical reactions

chemicals discourage other organisms from growing

territoriality

organisms defend their territories from other individuals

encounter

"flash territoriality" over a resource. One organism inhibits sharing of their resource.

competitive exculsion

lack of coexistence between competitors who occupy the same space and have the same needs

fundamental niche

all the environmental conditions under which a species could survive

realized niche

where a species is observed

parasitism

a symbiosis in which one organism (parasite) benefits from another (host), typically in a prolonged proximal and harmful interaction

intermediate host

parasite uses ahost for one or more developmental stages

definitive host

host in which a host reaches sexual maturity

parasitoid

a parasite that typically relies on an individual host and kills it

how can parasites impact hosts

increase host appetite, some parasites mimic growth hormones, impacts survival of hosts, can cause disease, can modify behavior, can make males look ugly so females don't mate with them, can cause organisms to lay more eggs so they have more hosts

2 host defenses against parasites

behavioral (remove ectoparasites manually),
inflammatory/immune responses (plants trap parasite eggs in shoots

mutualism

a kind of symbiosis in which both species benefit from their interactions

commensalism

one species benefits and the other isn't harmed

benefits of mutualism

transfer of nutrients, pollination, defense

mutualism & nutrient transfer

mycorrhizal bacteria fix Nitrogen
lichen=bacteria and fungus working together to get otherwise unreachable nutrients from rocks

Mutualism & defense

fish eat ectoparasites off sea turtles
ants live inside acacia tree stems. acacia fills stems with nectar. ants defend tree from predators.

mutualism & pollination

hummingbirds pollinate flowers as they consume nectar from flowers