wildlife ecology midterm (class 2 material)

individual’s habitat consists of…

food, water, cover

“Cover”

places to hide

places to ambush

3d structures for foraging

thermal maintenance

nesting spots

finding a mate

Habitat

assumes a certain species very specific life-history requirements

optimization

maximize energy intake while minimizing mortality risk and energetic costs

Leopold’s view of limits on population growth

steel spring analogy

stability is a single balance point

factors are strictly additive

Evelyn Hutchinson statement on niche

n-dimensional hypervolume

When does co-existence occur?

when intraspecific competition is greater than interspecific

niche spaced is defined by limits to population growth

limits to population growth provides a unified theory for habitat dynamics and population dynamic

Lotka-Volterra Competition

competitive interactions separate species in niche space

novel competitors can be devastating if they are strong competitors

3 factors of growth paradigms

density - growth depends on density of growing population

mechanistic - growth of accounting of reproductive additions and mortality

demographic - growth is the integration of sex-and-age-specific vital rates

Density Paradigm is useful when…

mechanistic/demographic understanding is not possible (lack of data)

The Demographic Paradigm is useful when

age-specific life history differences are important

The mechanistic paradigm is useful when

environmental factors drive population dynamics

uneven aged management

single tree selection (30% removed)

group selection (1-2x the size of the mature tree’s height)

even aged management

shelterwood (50-70% cut)

seed tree (70-90% cut)

cleacut/coppice (everything)

prescribed fire

fall or spring

low intensity

provides fire-tolerant species (competitive advantage)

proper silviculture

needs to align with site conditions and the silvics of the desired tree species

snag

standing dead tree

reserves

Protected public areas of land or water set aside for plants and animals, such as a game or wildlife reserve

slash

woody debris or branches left behind after cutting down

logging road

unpaved road built or used by timber companies to access forests, haul heavy equipment, and transport harvested logs

white tailed deer

eat: young forbs - hard mast

live in dense veg

Wetland

an ecosystem that arises when inundation by water produces soils dominated by anaerobic processes, which in turn, forces the biota, particularly rooted plants, to adapt to flooding

wetland values

hold 43% of endangered species

filter water

regulate stream flow

erosion control

carbon sequestration

4 rules of species in wetlands

number decrease with increasing latitude

number increases with area

number increases with topographical variation

a few species dominate most samples

why a latitudinal gradient

this pattern is consistent for many groups and have persisted for millions of years

Mid Domain Effect

relates the geometry of species ranges to that of geographical boundaries

climate stability hypothesis

tropics provide consistent energy sources for specialization over evolutionary time

evolutionary rate hypothesis

microevolution occurs more quickly in warmer climates

exceptions for species decrease within latitudes

wetlands

mountain ranges