B.+Ecology+(54-56)

= **Chapter 54: Community Ecology** = media type="youtube" key="OePvikPQJz8" height="315" width="560"toc
 * Matching Quiz on the Basic Terms of Community Interactions**
 * Here is a nice overview on community interactions!**
 * Physiological Defense Adaptations (How can prey species prevent themselves from being a predator's food?):**
 * Define and give an example of:**
 * 1. Cryptic coloration**
 * 2. Aposematic coloration**
 * 3. Batesian mimicry**
 * 4. Mullerian mimicry**

Highlight text below to check answers (Examples may vary) 1. camouflage that makes prey difficult to spot in environment, canyon tree frog 2. coloration of prey that warns predators of effective physical and chemical defenses, poison dart frog 3. harmless species looks similar to a speices that is harmful to predators, hawkmoth larva looks like green parrot snake 4. two or more inedible species resemble each other, cuckoo bee and yellow jacket Allopatric - populations are separate from one another Sympatric - populations are overlapping one another In the character displacement diagram, similar species of finch that are living closer to one another will have different beak depths, but similar species of finch living separately from one another will have similar beak depths Why are similar species of warbles able to live in the same community in the Resource Partitioning diagram? Instead of competing for the same resources, each species of warble lives in a different parts of the tree and gain resouces from that one part, which becomes the species' niche.
 * Character Displacement:**
 * Resource Partitioning:**
 * Competitive Exclusion:**


 * Define:**
 * 1. Fundamental Niche**
 * 2. Realized Niche**

Highlight text below to check answers fundamental niche- niche potentially occupied by a species realized niche- the portion of a species' fundamental niche that the species actually occupies in a particular environment

If you still having trouble understanding resource partitioning, character displacement, and competitive exclusion principle, this video sums them up nicely. media type="youtube" key="lvsqc1fqAFg" height="315" width="560" Which community is more diverse? Community 1! Highlight text below to check answers: 1. variety of different kinds of organisms that make up a community 2. number of different species in a community 3. proportion each species represents of all individuals in a community **Trophic Structure AKA Feeding Relationships:**
 * Species Diversity:**
 * Define:**
 * 1. Species diversity**
 * 2. Species richness**
 * 3. Relative abundance**

Highlight text below to check answers (Answers may vary) primary producer: seeds, primary consumer: grasshoppers, secondary consumer: sparrows, tertiary consumer: foxes, quaternary consumer: hawks
 * Name a primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, and quaternary consumer in the food web: **


 * Food Chain || Food Web ||
 * one food chain || several food chains in a community ||
 * single energy transfer || energy transfer throughout different food chains in a community ||
 * single path || various paths connected with one another ||
 * Why are food chains short?**
 * Energetic** hypothesis: length of food chain limited by inefficiency to transfer **energy** along food chain

Dynamic **stability** hypothesis: long food chains are less **stable** than short food chains

Dominant species- species in a community that are the most abundant or relatively have the largest biomass An example of a dominant species: Why? The chestnut was once the most populated tree in northeastern US
 * Important Species:**

Keystone Species: media type="youtube" key="xUYpo3cw9PA" height="315" width="560" Foundation Species- species that influence a community through physical changes in the environment An example of a foundation species: Why? By building dams and making ponds, beavers can create flooded wetlands from forests Facilitators- foundation species that have positive effects on survival and reproduction of other species in a community

Bottom-up: lower trophic levels influence higher trophic levels Top-down: higher trophic levels influence lower trophic levels Highlight text below to check answers 1. low levels of biomass for primary producers 2. low levels of biomass for tertiary consumers causes high levels of biomass for secondary consumers How is the top-down model related to **biomanipulation**? Top-down model can alter ecosystem characteristics. For example, by reducing the fish, roach, ecologists reduced the massive blooms of cyanobacteria in a lake in Finland. Roach eat zooplankton that maintain the amount of cyanobacteria in the lake.
 * Bottom-Up and Top-Down Models:**
 * primary producer>primary consumer>secondary consumer>tertiar****y consumer**
 * primary producer<primary consumer<secondary consumer<tertiary consumer**
 * If there was a decrease in the population size of primary consumers, how would the 1. bottom-up model and the 2. top-down model explain the cause?**

**[|Disturbance and Community Biodiversity Matching Quiz]**

= = = =

1. Early-arriving species may promote the appearance of later-arriving species by creating a more favorable environment to later-arriving species 2. Early-arriving species may inhibit the appearance of later-arriving species by creating a less favorable environment to later-arriving species 3. Early-arriving species may be independent of the appearance of later-arriving species and so later-arriving species are tolerant of the conditions created by early-arriving species, but are neither helped or harmed by such conditions
 * How do early-arriving species and late-arriving species interact during ecological succession?**

1. Evolutionary history: Since tropical communities are usually older than temperate and polar communities, more events occurred in tropical than temperate and polar communities that allowed species diversity to increase more than in temperate and polar communities 2. Climate: Since solar energy and water availability are generally higher in tropical communities than in temperate and polar communities, species diversity to increases more than in temperate and polar communities
 * Key Factors of Latitudinal Gradients of Species Diversity:**
 * Solar energy and water availability can be measure by the rate of **evapotranspiration** in a community. **Evapotranspiration** is the evaporation of water from soil plus the transpiration of water fro plants.

1. Large islands tend to have an overall larger number of species than small islands since immigration rates are higher and extinction rates are lower on large islands than small islands. 2. Near islands tend to have an overall larger number of species than far islands since immigration rates are higher and extinction rates are lower on near islands than far islands. =   =
 * Island Biogeography:**

= **Chapter 55: Ecosystems** = an overview of ecosystems and energy flow media type="youtube" key="o_RBHfjZsUQ" height="315" width="560"
 * Key Concept: __Energy flows (and is ultimately lost from the ecosystem), matter is recycled.__**

Generally, 90 % of energy in organisms is lost from the ecosystem as heat or growth. Only 10 % is retained in the organisms as biomass, available to be transferred to the next trophic level (i.e. eating). This percentage is called the trophic efficiency.

__** What are the implications for the structure of food chains? **__

Because only 10% of the energy produced by primary producers is transferred onto the next trophic levels, by the time the energy flows to the **tertiary consumer** (in this diagram, the snake) only .1% of the original energy fixed is passed on! This limits the abundance of top-level predators an ecosystem can support. The inefficiency of the energy transfer restricts the number of organisms in each trophic level.

Demonstrating this principle, most ecosystems display a bio mass pyramid that narrows sharply at the top.

__Matching:__
 * __Concept 55.2: Energy and other limiting factors control primary production in ecosystems__**

Match each major limiting factor to its respective ecosystem, "Aquatic" or "Terrestrial".

1. Light

2. Temperature

3. Moisture

4. Nutrients

Answers: 1) Aquatic 2) Terrestrial 3) Terrestrial 4) Aquatic pg reference: 1126-1128 Match the definitions with the words word bank: gross primary production, net primary production, primary production

1. The amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by autotrophs during a given time period in an ecosystem.

2. Total amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by photosynthesis per unit time.

3. Amount of new biomass added in a given period of time.

Answers: 1) primary producton 2) gross primary production 3) net primary production pg reference: 1125 [] - the online lab we did in class; contains useful info about aquatic primary production.

**Human activities now dominate most chemical cycles on Earth (Fill in the Blank)** nitrogen biological magnification concentrated 5.2 greenhouse effect human technological nitric agriculture sulfuric acid critical load
 * Word Bank (Some words may be used more than once): **

The human population has grown rapidly in size, and activities and technological advances have disrupted many ecosystems. Human activity can remove nutrients from one part of the biosphere and add them to another, and some can be toxic to the area they are introduced to. Agriculture has a great impact on the nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen is the main ingredient lost through agriculture. Human activities have more than doubled the supply of fixed oxygen to primary producers. Furthermore, with the tampering of chemical cycling on Earth, excess nutrients in an environment is the critical load, or the amount of added nutrient. Another disastrous effect of human activities is acid precipitation. The burning of wood and fossil fuels forms sulfuric and nitric acid. The acids eventually fall to Earth as acid precipitation, which is precipitation with a pH less than 5.2. Humans also release an immense variety of toxins into the environment. Toxins become more concentrated in successive trophic levels of a food web called biological magnification. Another effect of human activity is the rising of greenhouse gases such as CO z. The process of retaining solar heat is called the greenhouse effect, which can be altered by increased greenhouse gases.  The Water Cycle

Key Processes: Evaporation of liquid water by solar energy, condensation of water vapor into clouds, and precipitation.

The Carbon Cycle

Key Processes: Photosynthesis by plants, cellular respiration by producers and consumers, and the burning of fossil fuels adding Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere.

The Terrestrial Nitrogen Cycle



Key Processes: nitrogen fixation- conversion of nitrogen by bacteria to forms that can be used to synthesize nitrogenous organic compounds Ammonification- decomposes organic nitrogen to NH4 Nitrification- NH4 converted to NO3 by nitrifying bacteria

The Phosphorous Cycle



Key Processes: weathering of rocks adds PO4 to soil, phosphate distributed through food web, phosphate returned to soil,  



= = = **Chapter 56: Conservation Biology and Restoration Ecology** =
 * Conservation Crossword Puzzle (Print)**
 * Conservation Crossword Puzzle ANSWER KEY**

media type="youtube" key="5UFGA2synNA" height="315" width="420"toc
 * Three Levels of Biodiversity**
 * Overview of the three levels of biodiversity: Genetic Diversity, Species Diversity, and Ecosystem Diversity**
 * Basic overview with matching at the end of the three levels of biodiversity:**

media type="youtube" key="B5NiTN0chj0" height="315" width="560"
 * KEY CONCEPT: Why is biodiversity important to humans and life as a whole? **
 * **__Biophilia__** - our sense of connection to nature and other forms of life--> a moral and ethical argument to protect biodiversity because all human generations should have a chance to experience the natural beauty of Earth's species diversity
 * Biological reasons:
 * benefits of species and genetic diversity for humans, such as plants giving medicinal benefits
 * each species lost means the loss of unique genes that could have valuable genetic potential
 * __**ecosystem services**:__ the natural systems and inhabitants of ecosystems that we rely on for our survival, such as purified air and water
 * Here is a nice overview of Sustainable Development - meeting the needs of people today without causing long-term damage for people in the future, and protecting the environment for all other species present on the Earth.**

**Biodiversity Fill-In-the-Blank (highlight for answers):** **Word Bank (Some words may be used more than once):** habitat loss fragmentation introduced species extinct extinction over-exploitation negative

The three threats to biodiversity are habitat loss, introduced species , and overexploitation. Habitat loss is when humans alter natural habitats. Agriculture, urban development, forestry, mining, and pollution are major causes of habitat loss. When species are unable to find a new habitat, extinction is the result. With human alteration of habitats, fragmentation, or physically split habitats, can form. Introduced species are those that humans move, intentionally or accidentally, away from the species' native locations to new geographic regions. Some introduced species may have a positive effect. Most introduced species, however, have a negative impact on the environment they are introduced to. Approximately 40% of the extinctions recorded since 1750 have been because of introduced species. Another threat to biodiversity is overexploitation, which refers to the human harvesting of wild organisms at a faster rate than the population of that species can rebound. National bans have been placed on species that are threatened because they are in danger of becoming extinct.

**Here is an overview and an example of a Biodiversity Hot Spot:** Biodiversity Hot Spots **Here is the world's current Biodiversity Hot Spots home page:** [|Biodiversity Hotspots Worldwide] Contains a description and location for all of the current protected areas in the world.

**Word Bank (Some words may be used more than once):** Fungi Substances Degraded Biological Augmentation Detoxify Plants Bioremediation Prokaryotes Removed
 * Restoration Fill-In-the-Blank (highlight for answers): **

Restoration ecology uses prokaryotes, plants , and fungi to restore degraded ecosystems to a better state. Restoratoin ecologists use many different technologies to research and genetically engineer prokaryotes and eukaryotes such as fungi and plants to better restore environments. Bioremediation uses organisms to detoxify damaged and polluted ecosystems. This is commonly used in sites that have been damaged by mining or other human activities. Inversely, biological augmentation uses organisms to ADD essential materials to a degraded ecosystem. These essential substances have been removed from the site and the organisms are used to regenerate the substances. Nutrient-poor soil plants often are used to speed up the rate of change that helps recovery at specific sites. Restoration is unique to each ecosystem and always newly developed methods are used.

**Landscape Structure (Fill-in the Blank)** natural edges edges fewer small movement corridor inbreeding ecosystems fragmenation adapted interior-adapted
 * Word Bank:**

The area between between ecosystems are called edges. There are two different kinds of edges__.__ There are natural edges, which occur without any human human interference or interaction. There are also edges created by humans such as roads that can separate ecosystems__.__ Some edges can have reduced biodiversity because animals have adapted specifically to these edges while others have not been able to. On the other hand, edges can also be very diverse because it is the site of where two different ecosystems meet. Another example of structure is fragmentation, in which continuous ecosystems like rainforests are broken up by natural or human obstacles. It is suggested that landscapes dominated by small fragments will fewer support species, mainly due to loss of interior-adapted species. Isolated patches of an ecosystem that are fragmented can be connected by movement corridor. These can be natural parts of the environment or man made objects like bridges. They can also promote dispersal of species and expose members of species to new populations to defend against inbreeding.