WMAN 313 Exam 1

Controlled Experiment

Experimental groups are compared with a control group that lacks the factor being tested

Ecology

Refers to a scientific endeavor not environmental activism

Environmental Science

incorporates concepts from the natural sciences (Including ecology) and the social sciences to focus on how people affect the environment and how to address environmental problems

Spatial scales

small, large

Temporal scales

short, long

Population

A group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area that interact with one another

Community

All the different populations of different species that live together in an area

Biotic

living

Abiotic

Non-living

Ecosystem

A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Landscapes

Areas with substantial differences, typically including multiple ecosystems

Biosphere

All life on Earth plus parts of the Earth in which life exists

Evolution

* change in genetic characteristics in a population overtime

* organisms gradually accumulate differences from their ancestors (descent with modification)

Adaptation

characteristic that increases an organism's chance of survival

Natural Selection

individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than others

Producers (autotrophs)

Organisms that make their own food

Net Primary Production

Energy captured by producers minus amounts lost as heat in cellular respiration GPP - Respiration

Consumers (heterotrophs)

obtain energy by consuming other organisms

Nutrient Cycle

Continuous flow of nutrients into and out of stores in the ecosystem

Photosynthesis formula

6CO2 + 6H2O + sunlight ---> C6 H12 O6 + 6O2

carbon dioxide, water, and light gets you glucose and oxygen

Hypothesis

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory

Weather

current conditions, temperature, precipitation, day to day

Climate

Long-term description of weather, based on averages and variations measured over decades

- determines geographic distribution of organisms

Conduction

kinetic energy is transferred by molecules in direct contact with one another

Convection

Energy transfer by movements of air or water currents

Thermal layers of aquatic ecosystems

Epilimnion, Hypolimnion, Thermocline

Epilimnion layer

Warmer water layer close to the surface. It absorbs the most sunlight

Hypolimnion layer

Bottom zone of most cold and dense water

Thermocline layer

Separates Top (Epil) from Bottom (Hypo) layer of fresh water. The transition area

Turnover

Seasonal changes in warm and cool water layers in lakes. (complete mixing)

Salinity

concentration of dissolved salts in water

Acidity

ability of a solution to act as an acid—a compound that gives up protons (H+) to a solution.

Alkalinity

ability of a solution to act as a base-a compound that takes up up (H+) or gives up hydroxide ions (OH-)

Hypoxia

Low oxygen saturation of the body, not enough oxygen in the blood

Biomes

Tropical rainforest, tropical seasonal forests and savannas, deserts, temperate grasslands, temperate shrublands and woodlands, temperate deciduous forests, temperate evergreen forests, boreal forests (taiga), tundra

Lotic systems

flowing water, streams and rivers

Photic zone

sunlight region near the surface of water

Littoral zone

a shallow zone in a freshwater habitat where light reaches the bottom and nurtures plants

Benthic zone

The bottom surface of an aquatic environment.

Hyporheic zone

substrate below and adjacent to stream

Lentic zone

the open sunlit surface that extends to where the point at which the sun does not shine,

Lentic ecosystems

lakes and still waters

Ectotherms

an animal that warms itself mainly by absorbing heat from its surroundings

Endotherm

an organism that is internally warmed by a heat-generating metabolic process

Torpor

dormant state, body temp and basal metabolic rates are low to conserve energy

Hibernation

Long-term torpor that is an adaptation to winter cold and food scarcity.

Genes

DNA segments that serve as the key functional units in hereditary transmission.

Allele

Different forms of a gene

Genotype

Genetic makeup of an individual, represented by letters

Change in allele frequencies in a population overtime

Evolution

Descent with modification

principle that each living species has descended, with changes, from other species over time

- natural selection can be responsible for the modification part

Natural selection is like a sorting process

the population will evolve but individuals will not

Mutation

source of new alleles, change in DNA

Mechanisms that cause allele frequencies to change overtime

Natural selection, genetic drift, gene flow

Phenotype

observable characteristics that are influenced by the genotype

Directional Selection

individuals on one phenotypic extreme are favored (type of natural selection)

Stabilizing selection

individuals with an intermediate phenotype are favored (type of natural selection)

Disruptive selection

individuals at both phenotypic extremes are favored (type of natural selection)

Genetic drift

occurs when chance events determine which alleles are passed to the next generation

Gene flow

alleles move between populations via movement of individuals or gametes

Adaptive evolution

traits that confer advantages tend to increase in frequency overtime

Speciation

one species splits into two or more

Adaptive radiation

increased diversity of the surviving groups

Coevolution

reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species

Convergent evolution

Evolution toward similar characteristics in unrelated species

Divergent evolution

when two or more species sharing a common ancestor become more different over time

Parallel evolution

independent evolution of similar traits, starting from a similar ancestral condition

Linear growth

expansion that increases by the same amount during each time interval.

Exponential growth

growth whose rate becomes ever more rapid in proportion to the growing total number or size.

Logistic growth

Population growth that is controlled by limited resources

Limitations of logistic growth

- can misestimate K in shifting environments

- assumes a constant carrying capacity

change in population =

growth rate (r) times population size (N) times 1-N over K (carrying capacity) - Harvest(H)

Total mortality

Z = M+H

Z (total mortality) M(natural mortality) H(harvest)

Lincoln-Petersen Estimator

N=M(n)/R

N(population estimation) M(number of total marked individuals) n (number of individuals captured in a sample) R(number of marked individuals recaptured)

Assumptions of mark recapture

Immigration/emigration, lost mark, survival, trap shy, trap happy, poorly mixed

Optimal Forage Theory

animals will maximize the amount of energy acquired per unit of feeding time

- as foraging effort increases, energy will increase rapidly at first but then eventually net energy will decrease with no more benefit

- animals should prefer high-energy low handling time food items

Marginal Value Theorem

an animal should stay in a profitable patch until the rate of energy gain has decline to match the average rate for the whole habitat

asexual reproduction

process by which a single parent reproduces by itself

Sexual reproduction

a reproductive process that involves two parents that combine their genetic material to produce a new organism

Sexual selection

when individuals select mates based on heritable traits

K selected species

a species with a low intrinsic growth rate that causes the population to increase slowly until it reaches carrying capacity

-producing few, large offspring, investing heavily in parental care

r selected species

a species that has a high intrinsic growth rate, which often leads to population overshoots and die-offs

- short lived, mature quickly, low juvenile survival rates

good indicator species

- highly sensitive to environmental changes

- well-understood ecology

- be able to monitor frequently

- amphibians, stonefly larvae

Q10

For every 1 degree increase in Body temp, there is a corresponding 10% increase in metabolism. if the value is 2 or 3 it indicates that the respiration rate doubles or triples for every 10 degree rise.