Ecology Exam 1 UW Madison

Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919)

Coined the term "oikologie"

Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911)

Introduced English word ecology in 1889, MIT chemist

Terry Root's study

How plants and animals are having their phenology affected by climate change

Phenology

Seasonal timing of ecological events

America, Australia, Canada, Europe

What areas of the world have the highest carbon emissions?

Examples of Nitrogen input

Nitrogen fixation (symbiotic and non-symbiotic), lightning, human fertilizers

Phosphorous transportation

Weathering of rocks, transport by water

Increasing

What is the trend of Nitrogen and Phosphorus levels?

Effects of Nitrogen

Increased plant size, reduced biodiversity, shortens food chain, changes plant composition

Karie Slavik

Did study showing that added Nitrogen led to an increase in moss growth after 8 years

Ruth Patrick (1907-2013)

Coined the Patrick Principle

Eutrophication

Enrichment of an ecosystem with nutrients

Causes Gulf of Mexico dead zone

nutrient loading creates oxygen depletion

Charles Elton (1900-1991)

English, noticed that organisms living in the same place have similar tolerances to physical factors. Came up with food web

Eugene P. Odum (1913-2000)

Quantified what happened at each tropic level and came up with universal models

Respiration

What does net production not include?

Production is a rate, biomass is an amount

What is the difference between production and biomass?

Rainforest

What is the most productive ecosystem?

autotrophs

primary producers, plants

Ecological efficiency

Percent of energy transferred from one tropic level to next

Ecology

The study of interactions between organisms and their environment

Niche

Role or function of an organism in an ecological system. The range of abiotic and biotic conditions that an organism can tolerate

basic research

How many types of bacteria are in the human body

Observational study, conceptual models, field experiments

3 different types of studies used to conduct science

Field experiments

What type of study can distinguish causal effects?

Organism

A living being, the most fundamental unit of ecology

Population

The individuals of the same species living in a particular area

Community

All populations of species living in a particular area

Ecosystem

One or more communities of living organisms interacting with their nonliving physical and chemical environments

Biosphere

All the ecosystems on Earth

Taxonomy

How ecology information is organized (by location, by place, or by function)

Basic Ecology

Based on observation

Applied Ecology

Application of ecology to real world questions

Transparency and multiple perspectives

How does good science minimize bias?

Species Distribution

Describes the spatial extent of a species

Diffusion leads to a dynamic equilibrium

What happens in the presence of a concentration gradient?

High specific heat, strong polarity, can conduct heat amongst itself, mostly liquid on Earth, less dense when solid, universal solvent

What are some special properties of water that make life possible?

Osmotic pressure

Effect of a concentration gradient and gravity high solution moves toward the low for equilibrium

Clay

Which soil particle retains water the best?

Sand

Which soil particle is the largest?

Off the western coasts of continents

Where do upwelling zones occur?

upwelling functions

Causes nutrient rich cool waters which foster productive communities

River Continuum Concept

Describes the differences between streams of different orders

Osmosis

The movement of water across semi permeable membrane

Hadley Cell

The 2 circulation cells of air between the equator and 30 latitudes

Coriolis effect

The deflection of an objects path due to the rotation of Earth

Upwelling

An upward movement of ocean water

El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event

Periodic changes in winds and ocean currents in the South Pacific, causes global weather changes

Rain shadow

dry conditions behind humid mountains due to humidity rising and falling

Adiabatic cooling

The cooling effect of reduced pressure on air as it rises higher in the atmosphere and expands

Melting freshwater and upwelling centers

Why is chlorophyll so abundant in the arctic?

C4 photosynthesis

Which type of photosynthesis is more suitable for warmer and drier climates?

Walter diagrams

Describe biomes using temperature, precipitation, and the months of the year when the minimum temperature is above zero

Whittaker diagrams

Describe biomes by relating temperature, precipitation, and also disturbance by fire to vegetation patterns

Allochthonous

Inputs of organic matter, such as leaves, that come from outside an ecosystem

Autochthonous

Inputs of organic matter that are produced by algae and aquatic plants inside an ecosystem

Terry Root

Ecology expert from Stanford

Camille Parmesan

Nobel prize winner on climate change

Ecoregion

Large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities

FACE experiments

How eastern deciduous forests will be affected by co2 enrichment of the atmosphere

-more fine root production

-more carbon stored in soil

Negative consequence of elevated CO2

Can affect plant tissue quality and have consequences for herbivores

Assimilatory process

Changes reactants to products, requires energy (photosynthesis)

Dissimilatory process

Changes products to reactants, releases energy (restoration)

Models

What can be used to understand natural climate change

Temperate Upwelling

West side, highly productive, cooler relative to tropical, abundant phytoplankton

Temperate shelves and seas

Cold water sinks, tidal action, highly productive, freshwater influxes, relatively shallow

Freshwater wetlands

Swamps, marshes, and bogs

Salt marsh

Contains nonwoody emergent vegetation

Mangrove swamp

A biome that occurs along tropical and subtropical coasts, and contains salt-tolerant trees with roots submerged in water

Edith Bellamy Shreve

Transpiration in the desert. Discovered CAM photosynthesis in 1914

Robert Whittaker

Taxonomy classification

Littoral zone

The shallow area around the edge of a lake or pond containing rooted vegetation

Limnetic/Pelagic zone

The open water beyond the littoral zone, where the dominant photosynthetic organisms are floating algae

Profundal Zone

The area in a lake that is too deep to receive sunlight

Benthic zone

The area consisting of the sediments at the bottoms of lakes, ponds, and oceans

Lotic

Characterized by flowing freshwater

Haber process

Human creation of nitrogen

Patrick Principle

Uses biodiversity as an indicator of water health

Open ocean

What is the least productive ecosystem?

Primary consumers

secondary producers, herbivores

Secondary consumers

tertiary producers, first carnivores

tertiary consumers

quaternary producer, second carnivore

organism, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere

What are the levels of biological organization

Edith Bellamy Shreve

Which scientist studied desert plant adaptations and transpiration?

Fundamental niche

abiotic potential

Realized niche

actual occupied space due to biotic restraints