Ecology Final Notes

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60 Terms

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Competitive Exclusion

Two species using a limiting resource similarly cannot coexist for extended periods.

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Disturbance

Event disrupting a stable habitat, often increasing available resources.

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Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

Species richness peaks at moderate disturbance frequencies.

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Resource Partitioning

Division of resources among species to reduce competition.

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Character Displacement

Evolutionary change leading to differences in species traits to reduce competition.

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Ecological Release

Niche expansion due to reduced competition.

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Predation

Introduced predators can impact native prey populations significantly.

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Population Cycles

Factors like habitat complexity and prey switching can prevent predator-induced extinctions.

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Evolution

Change in allele frequency in a population over time.

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Mechanisms of Evolution

Includes non-adaptive mechanisms like mutation and genetic drift, and adaptive mechanisms like natural selection.

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Proximate vs

Proximate mechanisms explain how traits work, while ultimate mechanisms focus on why traits evolved.

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Migration/Gene Flow

Changes in allele frequency due to individuals joining or leaving a population.

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Adaptive Mechanisms

Natural selection and sexual selection are conditions under which evolution occurs.

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Evolutionary Ecology of Virulence

Study of how harmful a pathogen is to its host and the evolution of parasite traits.

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Virulence

The harmfulness of a pathogen to its host, affecting the host's fitness.

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R_0

Basic reproductive number, indicating the number of new hosts infected per original infection.

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Adaptive trade-off hypothesis

The idea that virulence evolves to an optimal level based on a trade-off between costs and benefits.

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Avirulence hypothesis

The concept that pathogens evolve towards zero virulence as virulence comes at the cost of transmission.

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Central place foraging

Foraging behavior where animals leave and return to a central location, considering travel time and optimal food choices.

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Marginal value theorem

Theory predicting how long an animal should exploit a resource patch before moving to another based on diminishing returns.

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Fitness of Parasites

Depends on transmission, with parasites evolving to maximize their basic reproductive number (R_0).

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Vectored Parasites

Parasites transmitted by vectors like fleas or mosquitoes, with lower costs for immobilizing hosts and potentially increasing transmission.

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Waterborne Parasites

Parasites transmitted through water systems, with high replication benefits and low costs, like Cholera toxins increasing dissemination.

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The Four F’s of Behavior

Foraging, Fighting, Fleeing, and Fornicating, key behaviors influenced by costs and benefits in maximizing energy intake and reproductive success.

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Slope

The difference between time spent and not spending time.

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Optimal choice

The best duration for staying in a given patch, depending on costs to reach the next patch.

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Tangent line

The line that defines the optimal duration for staying, derived from the gain function and travel time.

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Marginal Value Theorem

Considers travel time, richness of patches, and optimal time in a patch for foraging decisions.

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Extrinsic Constraints

Factors in the environment affecting foraging behavior, like predator presence.

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Intrinsic Constraints

Cognitive limitations influencing optimal foraging strategies.

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Plasticity

Expression of traits in response to environmental changes, allowing for different phenotypes.

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Quantity vs Quality

Trade-off between number and size of offspring, often seen in egg size and number trade-offs.

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Semelparous

Organisms that reproduce once and then die, like salmon or mayflies.

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Iteroparous

Organisms that reproduce repeatedly, such as bluegills or mosquitos.

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r vs K selection

The ultimate (evolutionary) cause of r vs K strategies is the selection acting in a way that maximizes r in a population.

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r-selection

Strategy where population is growing rapidly, resources are not limiting, and quantity (not quality) of offspring explains fitness differences among individuals.

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K-selection

Strategy where the population is near carrying capacity (K), competitive ability of offspring explains fitness differences, and it occurs in persistent, stable habitats.

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Altruistic behavior

Behavior that reduces an individual’s fitness but raises the fitness of another individual or group, leading to less conflict and potential outcompeting of selfish populations.

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Kin selection

Altruistic behavior directed at other copies of the same gene, reducing gene fitness but benefiting related individuals.

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Population Ecology

Study of characteristics, growth, and dynamics of populations, including properties like density, sex ratio, and age distribution.

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Survivorship curves

Graphical representation of mortality rates in a population, categorized as Type 1 (high survival rate), Type 2 (constant survival rate), or Type 3 (high mortality rate at young age).

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Logistic Growth

Population growth that levels off at carrying capacity (K), influenced by factors like resource availability and density-dependent mechanisms.

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Community Ecology

Study of interactions among species in a shared environment, focusing on factors like species richness, evenness, and diversity at different scales.

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Dispersal

Movement of organisms from one location to another, influencing species distribution and persistence in communities.

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Biotic factors

Factors such as herbivores, predators, competitors, parasites, and pathogens that affect species distributions.

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Abiotic factors

Non-living factors that can make individuals more sensitive to biotic factors and influence the survival of populations.

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Allee effect

When rare species struggle to find mates, making it hard for the population to persist.

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Source-sink

A situation where more deaths than births occur, but the species does not go extinct due to a favorable habitat.

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Niche

The set of factors defining the space where an organism can survive and reproduce.

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Fundamental Niche

The full range of environmental conditions where a species could exist.

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Realized Niche

The narrower set of conditions where a species is actually found.

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Species Interaction

The way species interact with each other, affecting distribution and population viability.

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Commensalism

An interaction where one species benefits, and the other is unaffected.

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Mutualism

An interaction where both species benefit, which can be obligate or facultative.

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Coevolution

Evolutionary process where traits evolve in response to characteristics of interacting populations.

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Trophic mutualism

Partners trade food/resources, like plants and mycorrhizal fungi exchanging nutrients.

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Habitat mutualism

One partner provides a place to live in exchange for defense or food.

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Service mutualism

Partners exchange services like cleaning, pollination, or seed dispersal.

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Competitive Exclusion

Principle stating that two species using a limiting resource in the same way cannot coexist indefinitely.

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Predation, parasitism, herbivory

Interactions where one species is harmed, and the other benefits.