What is a biome? And what are they characterized by in both aquatic (water) and terrestrial (land) areas?
- large scale community characterized by environment
- by temp, salinity, o2 content, depth.
- vegetation type, temp, precp
What abiotic factors impact global patterns of animal distribution?
continental drift
climate, temp, precp, alt, food and water
Understand the three-cell model and how to predict the latitude biome position.
- predicts temp, precip, biome loc.
-poles are dry cold 60+ - tropics are hot and wet 0-20
in between - tundras 20-30 hot dry air
What are the factors that impact animal distribution?
abiotic, biotic, migration, adaptation
Be able to explain how and why a mountain can show several major biomes from the bottom to the top of the mountain.
windward side has more abundant vegetation as there is an decrease temp along with precipitation.
While the leeward side is strickly dry air with mininal precip.
What is the definition of a population and how are populations studied?
- a group of interbreeding individuals occupying the same habitat at the same time
- studies the factors affecting population size and how it changes over time
Explain the different ways that ecologists measure populations for specific organisms.
quadrant
pitfall trap
mist net
live mammal trap
line transect
What are the different types of dispersion patterns of organisms and which is most common?
- clumped, uniform, and random disperal
- most common is clumped
Define population density.
number of organisms in a given unit/vol.
Understand the variables that go into a life table and how to interpret those variables in a life table.
age
# alive at start of year
# dead per year
age specific survivorship
age specific fertitility
Be able to identify the 3 different survivorship curves. Also, explain and give an example organism that exhibits each type of curve.
1 parental investment humans
2 steady decline birds small mammals
3 high death when young insects plants
Be able to distinguish between exponential and logistic growth models. Understand the mathematical model for each and what the terms mean.
exponential growth models assume unlimited resources and result in unrestricted growth, while logistic growth models incorporate a carrying capacity and show how populations approach and stabilize around this limit.
What is the definition of and factors that are density dependent and density independent?
What is meant by carrying capacity? What is it that causes a population to have a carrying capacity?
- the max population size that can be sustained by environment
- caused my access to vital resources
Interactions between species can be defined by the effect on the populations concerned. Be able to name and identify the + or – interactions between species.
amensalism -/o
commentalism +/o
yk the rest
Be able to explain the competitive exclusion principle & how resource partitioning affects this principle.
- when 2 spcs have an ecological niche that is to similar, they cant coexist
- differation of niches both in space and time that enables similar spcs to coexist
Understand the different adaptations that prey species have gained to reduce predation on the population and be able to give an example of each.
chem def
aposematic coloration
camouflauge
intimidation
batesian mimicrey
mullerian mim
armour and weapon
Explain the patterns of species richness and how they vary.
they vary by latitude as it grows from poles to tropics
What is species richness? species diversity? What is the difference between the two?
- the number of spcs in a community
- the variety of spc that make up a community
How do you calculate species diversity?
- Using spc richness and abundance
What is the name of the process that occurs after disturbances that is the system trying to reset itself? Be able to distinguish between primary and secondary when it comes to this process.
- ecological succession
-Prim: lifeless area with no soil, volcano, glacier
-Sec: disturbance but soil is left
fire and floods
Be able to explain the 3 different successional models: Facilitation, Inhibition & Tolerance.
- Fac: previous helps out the newer ones
- Inh: previous ones stunt growth of next
- Tol: spc replacement is unaffected
Understand the feeding relationships among the various species in a community and how they impact each other. They can be represented by chains or webs.
- beings with autotrophs the primary producers
- energy loses value with each link
- chains are straight forward while web are complicated
When it comes to food chains and webs understand the following terms: Producers, consumers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, decomposers.
plant
herbivore
carn
carn
carn
