Chapter 53

Contrast the proximate and ultimate causation of behavior.

Promximate causations of behavior - how questions

Ultimate causation of behvior - Evolutionary questions.

Describe the mechanisms of learning.

problem solving

Explain how instinct influences learning preparedness.

Instinct is like guard rails, which guides determining what type of information can be learned.

Explain how the study of song learning in white-crowned sparrows illustrates the interaction of instinct and learning.

During the critical period, offspring must engage in certain social interactions for normal behavoiral development. Parent—offspring contact stimulates the release of the physiological factore, like hormones, and brain receptors, cruial to growth and brain developments. In young males they must hear their species song to sing it correctly, indicating that both instict and learning effect song development.

Describe different systems for navigation.

looking at methods,

stars, magnetic feilds, the sun.

Explain the nature of signals used in mate attraction.

Pheromones, - chemical messengers used for communication between those from the same species.

Discuss the economic analysis of behaviors. -

some come with costs, example - peakocks and their feathers

Explain parental investment and the prediction it makes about mate choice.

which parent is the main parental figure.

al

Explain why some species are generally monogamous and others are polygynous.

Altrial - they require prolonged care from both parents

percoial - males are polygnous usually since they don’t require prolonged care and develop quickly.

Explain altruism and its benefits.

Altruism - behavior that benefits another individual at a cost to the actor.

• reciproal altruism

• seen in family relations.

Explain kin selection and inclusive fitness.

Kin selection - offspring have your genes, and part of your family.

• helping family, also ensures that some of your genes are being past on.

Explain the possible advantages of group living.

• better protected from predators

• increase feeding success.

Chapter 54

Understand what causes a species’ geographic range to change through time.

population -

Source-sink metapopulation - The populations in the better areas continaully send out dispersers that bolster the population in the poorer habitats.

- In the absence of such replenishment, sinl populations would have a negative growth rate and would become extinct.

• climate change

• climatic factors

• demographic variances

• edge effects.

Explain the significance of survivorship curves.

Survivorship - the percentage of an original population to a given age.

Example: Oysters produce vast numbers of offspring, only a few of which live to reproduce. However, once they become reproductive adults, their mortality rate is extremely low, (type 3 survivorship curve)

Type 2 survivorship curve - Individuals are equally likely to die at any age.

Type 1 survivorship curve - mortality rates rise steeply later in life.

Describe reproductive trade-offs in an organism’s life history.

examples: annual plants and most insects focus all their reproductive resources on a single large event when they die. (Semelparity)

Iteroparity - produce offspring several times over many seasons.

Explain exponential growth.

biotic potential - is the rate at which a population of a give species increases when no limits are places on its rate of growth

Discuss why populations cannot grow exponentially forever.

Define carrying capacity and explain what might cause it to change.

Carrying capacity - where a population stabilizes at a certain size.

can change by:

• seasons

• natural disasters,

• human activities.

Compare density-dependent and density-independent factors.

Density-dependent effects - as a population increases either reproductive rates decline or mortality rates increase, or both can occur (AKA negative feedback)

• occur when reproduction and survial are effected by population size

Density-independent effects -The rate of growth of a population at any instant is limited bu something unrelated to the size of the population.

• include environmental disruptions and catastrophes

• most of these are aspects of the external environment such as extremely cold winters, droughts, stroms, or volcanic eruptions.

Consider how the life history adaptations of species may differ depending on how often populations are at their carrying capacity.

competition - populations have less resources, which causes fighting between species.

• oredators focus on common prey species.

accumulation of toxic wastes - more animals = more trash for the environment.

• when resources are limited, the cost of reproduction will be very high, causing selection to favor individuals that can compete better and use more resources

  k-selected - Organisms that wait long to reproduced 9wait until they are larger and stronger) make small, and fewer offspring,

  r-selected - cost of reproduct are loew, and selection of those that can produce many offsprings, have the highest reproductive rates.

Describe the effects of age distribution on future growth.

population pyramid - The rate at which a population can be expected to grow in the future can be assessed graphically.

• a triangular pyramid is characterisic of a country that will exhibit rapid growth because most of its population has not yet entered the childbearing years.

Chapter 55

Define community.

community - the species that occur at any particular locality.

Define niche and resource partitioning.

Niche - is the total of all the ways it uses the resources of its environment.

This can be decribed in terms of:

• space utilization

• food consumption,

• temperature rang

• conditions for mating

• mosture requirements.

Resource partitioning - a sub-division of the niche where each species of animal has to e evolve so it can utilize a different portion of their resoure, which divides that resource.

• is often seen in similar species that occupy the same geographic

• helps avoid compition between species.

Differentiate between fundamental and realized niches.

Fundamental niche - the entire niche that a species is capable of using

realized nich - where the species can establish a stable population

Explain how the presence of other species can affect a species’ realized niche.

Describe the effects predation can have on a population.

mimicry - allows one species to capitalize on defensive strategies of another

batesian mimicry - a survival strategy in which a palatable or nontoxic organism resembles another kind of organism that is distasteful or toxic.

mullerlan mimicry - a phenomenon where two or more unrelated but protected species resemble one another, achieving a group defense.

Fundamental niche - the entire niche that a species is capable of using

realized nich - where the species can establish a stable population

• They effect prey populations lowering them

• This is a two-ay interaction, where prey can also effect predator populations (having too little prey lowers food source for predador)

Explain the different forms of symbiosis.

3 types of symbiosis:

Mutualism - where both participating species benefit

paraitism - one species benefits but the other is harmed.

commensalism - where one species benefits and the other isn’t harmed or benefited.

Explain how the occurrence of one ecological process may affect the outcome of another occurring at the same time.

Keystone species - a species whose effects on the composition of communities are greater than one might expect based on their abundance.

Define succession and distinguish primary versus secondary.

Sucession - communities have a tendency to change from simple to complex

secondary succession - occurs in area where and existing community has been disturbed but organisms still remain.

• when a wooded area is cleared or burned and left alone plants will slowly reclaim the area.

primary succession - occurs on bare, lifeless substrate, like rocks, or in open water wher organisms gradually move into an area and change its nature

• occurs on land exposed after the retreat of glaciers and on volcanic islands. that rise from the sea.

Chapter 56

Define ecosystem.

Ecosystem - includes all the organisms that live in a particular place, pkus the abiotic (nonliving) environment in that location.

List four chemicals whose cyclic interactions are critical to organisms.

biogeochemical cycle - cycles of chemical elements that move through ecosystems that are involved in biological and geological systems and processes,

nitrogen fixation - the synthesis of nitrogen-containing compounds from N2.

• Certain genera of prokaryoites have the ability to accomplish nitrogen fixation.

four chemicals that are critical to organisms:

1. Nitrogen

   • certain prokaryotic microbes can synthesis ammonia and nitrate from nitrogen in the atmosphere, contributing to the nitrogen cycle that is helpful to plants and algae.

2. Oxygen

3. carbon

4. hydrogen

Describe the different trophic levels.

trophic level 1: Primary producers - consist of all the autotrophs in the system

heyerotrophs (AKA the consumers):

trophic level 2: herbivores - Heterotrophs that feed directly on the primary producers

Trophoc level 3: Primary carnivores - The heterotropjs that feed on the herbivores (eating them or being parasitic on them)

Trophic Level 4: secondary carnivores - those that feed on the primary carnivores.

Explain how energy moves through trophic levels.

Explain the meaning of trophic cascade.

Trophic cascade - the process by which effects exerted at an upper trophic level flow down to influence two or more lower levels.

Distinguish between top-down and bottom-up effects.

Top-down effects - limitation by enemies

• effects that effect the bottom of the cascade trophic

bottom-up effects - species limitation by resources

Name possible factors that contribute to species richness in the tropics.

Tropical regions have the highest diversity, because:

1. The greater age - this gives the stability of tropical communities to have a complex populationto coevolved with their interacts, making different plants and animals.

2. Increased productivity - more solar energy and a year-round growing season increases te overall photosynthetic activity of tropical plants.

3. Stability/constancy of conditions - Seasonal variation, is reduced in the tropics, which can encourage specialization with iches subdivided to partition resources which helps avoid competition.

4. Predation - more intense predation could reduce the importance of competition, allowing greater niche overlap and thus promoting greater species richness.

5. spatial heterogeneity - helps promot species richness.

   Explain how area and isolation affect rates of colonization and extinction.

Small islands far from the mainland had fewer species.

• Has a larger extinction rate

Large islands near the mainland would have the most.

• has a lower extinction rate.

Chapter 57

Describe changes in wind and current direction with latitude.60 N.

wind paterns can direct temp, and rainfall.

• this is why the tropics have a lot of rain fall.

• rain is seen in the 60 N.

• Many of the greatest deserts occur at latitudes near 30 because of the steady decent of dry air to the surface at those latitudes.

Describe how temperature changes with altitude and latitude.

WHen air flowing landward from the oceans encounters a mountain rang, air rises and , becomes cooler at high altitudes, causing precipiation to fall on the mountain slopes facing the sea.

as the aur-stripped of much of its moisture—then desends on the other side of the mountain range, it is warmed and its moisture holding capacity increases, meaning it can readily take up moisture from soils and plants.

• one consequence is that the two slopes of a mountain range often differ dramatically in how moist they are.

• a desert may develop on the dry side.

Explain the primary factors that determine which type of biome is found in a particular place.

The differences between habitats. based on rain.

Explain what causes spring and fall overturns in lakes.

overturn - where the water mixes becoming consistent in temperture.

• midsummer - cold water deeper, warm water on top

• fall overturn - sink and the bottom layer rise, allowing a consistent tempature until the wheather gets colder.

in autumn, the temp of the upper waters in a stratified lake drops until it is about the same as the temp of the deep waters.

• the densities of the two waters become similar.

Know the different marine habitats.

nutrient availability -

oligotrophic oceans - has few nutrients in its waters.

• these regions are biological deserts with low productibity per until area.

Explain why El Niño events occur.

El nino events - The water along the coastline becomes very warm and simultaneously the primary productibity becomes unusually low.

• weakening of the Trade Winds allows the warm surface layer to become thicker, Upwelling continues but it merely recirculates the thick warm surface layer, which is nutrient-depleted.

biosphere -

Chapter 58

Describe the history of extinction through time.

• a species found in only one geographic area and no place else is said to be endemic to that areal

  • massive events in the past causes two big waves of extinction.

List the major causes of species extinction.

Habitat fregmentation - as habitat become fragmented and shrink in size, the relative proportion of the habitat that occurs on the boundary, or ede increases.

Explain how these causes can interact to bring about extinction.

• studies of radar images from national weather service stations in Texas and Louisiana indicate that only about half as many birds fly over the Gulf of Mexico each spring as did in the 1960s, suggests a total loss of about a billion birds.

  • one of the reasons for this is habitat fragmentation and loss.

Define evolutionary rescue.

extinction vortex - a population gets smaller it become more vulnerable to demographic catastrophes.

Evolutionary rescue - where a population that would have gone extinct ontinues to persists due to natural selection.

List the strategies for environmental restoration.

strategies for environmental restoration:

1. focus on intact ecosystem, rather than a particular species.

2. biodiversity.