Ecology Study Guide

Introduction: Ecology
-Ecology: relationships between organisms and the environment or each other
-Spirituality:
-Deep Ecology: Getting in touch with your roots
-original hunters, foragers, gatherers
-Ecology is the study of home
-Ernst Haeckel: explains kinds of organisms, relative abundance, dynamics
-Issues: overpopulation, famine, pollution, extinction
-Biodiversity is needed for stability (Example: lionfish)
-Cornerstone of Ecology: Darwins theory of natural selection
-Ecosystem: environment in which organisms carry out their struggle for existence
-Biotic: living
-Abiotic: nonliving
-Hierarchy and Importance:
-Individuals: birth and death rates
-Population: 1 specie, growth rate
-Community: multiple species, relative abundance
-Ecosystem: flow of energy and nutrients
-Landscape
-Biome
-Biosphere
-Laboratory experiments for ecology have many variables
Gaia Hypothesis: All of Earth is one organism

Climate, Weather

-Earth intercepts solar radiation

-51% is absorbed by Earths surface
-rest is scattered by atmosphere and clouds
-planet cools or heats up based on how much is trapped
-Moisture decreases East to West, and goes up when closer to the ocean
-More energy/higher temperature at equator, less at poles
-Seasons are caused by tilt and rotation
-Diurnal cycle (hours of day/night) varies with seasons on Earth EXCEPT at equator
-Troposphere: where we live
-Stratosphere: formation of ozone
-Adiabatic cooling: decrease in air temperature as altitude increases
-Coriolis effect: A point moves faster at the equator than at the poles
-series of belts and winds break up air flow from equator to poles
-currents:
-gyres: 2 giant water motions
-clockwise: Northern Hemisphere
-counterclockwise: Southern Hemisphere
-latent heat: measure of amount of energy released or absorbed
-more ordered state to less ordered state: energy absorbed
-saturation vapor pressure: relative humidity at 100%
-dew point temperature: where water condenses
-The lower the dew point temperature, the lower the humidity
-Precipitation is highest in equatorial regions
-Dry weather where there is high pressure
-Hurricanes absorb heat and get pushed by trade winds
-As they move, they get more heat

-Evaporation, condensation, repeat

-Declines of precipitation are not continuous because of prevailing wind effects
-Wider continents are more advantageous
-El Nio: Pattern in the Pacific Ocean where it gets very hot, suppresses hurricanes
CQ: Hurricanes spin counterclockwise in Northern Hemisphere
CQ: Ocean gyres spin clockwise in Northern Hemisphere

Terrestrial Environment
-The physical and chemical features of terrestrial environments set constraints for
life
CQ: 2 most important constraints of the terrestrial environment? Desiccation and
gravity
-Desiccation: loss of water
-organisms must maintain a water balance and minimize water loss
-concentrated urine to conserve water
-covering (skin, scales, shells, exoskeletons)
-Gravity: have to invest in structural materials to remain erect
-skeletons for animals
-cellulose for plants
-Skeleton evolution: Originally storage for calcium?
-High degrees of variability in terrestrial environments
-Temperature variations, availability of water
-PAR: Photosynthetically active radiation
-Canopy
-Light hits top of canopy: 80%
-Wide leaves and vines at bottom
-Plants can angle leaves for more or less PAR

-Sunflecks: 70-80% of solar energy reaching the ground in forest environments

-Seasonal changes strongly influence leaf area
-Deciduous plants shed their leaves in winter
-Increased light availability during dry conditions in regions with distinct wet
and dry seasons
-Weathering: destruction of rock into smaller particles
-Mechanical: Action of water, wind, temperature, organisms
-Chemical: Particles are chemically altered (water, oxygen, acids) and are
further broken down
-Parental material: Bedrock
-soil properties are primarily determined by the original characteristics of the
parent material
-Biotic factors contribute to soil formation (e.g. plant roots hasten weathering,
pump nutrients)
-Climate affects breakdown of parent material
-Leaching: movement of solutes through the soil
-Soil color: chemical characteristics
-Darker color: Humus, more organic material
-Yellow-brown to red: iron oxides
-Purple to black: manganese oxide
-Whitish, grayish: quartz, kaolin, gypsum, carbonates
CQ: Why is the dirt white in much of S. Florida? Parental rock is calcium carbonate
-Soil Texture: Gravel > Sand > Clay
-texture affects pore space, movement of air and water in and through soil
-Cation: Positively charged ion (Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+)
-Anion: Negatively charged ion (NO3, SO42)

-Soil Profile

-O Horizon: most organic

-A Horizon: organics mixed with soils
-B Horizon: more minerals, subsoil
-C Horizon: most mineralized, no organic
CG: Where does sand from beach come from? Mountaintops
-Biomes: geographic area with specific vegetation patterns

Plant Adaptations
CQ: Plants exhibit behavior, however this is difficult to determine because: Their
response time scale is a lot slower
CQ: Wild tobacco recruits predatory insects in response to herbivory
CQ: Phenotypic plasticity is the phenomenon by which one genome can produce big
flowers or small flowers in response to the appropriate stimulus
CQ: Plant foraging behavior occurs only at the roots
-Photosynthesis
-sugar out of air
-C3 Pathway
-mesophyll cells
-rubisco: oxygenase, reduces efficiency of C3
CQ: C4 and CAM Pathways minimize photorespiration
-Net photosynthesis: Photosynthesis-Respiration
-respiration (tax)
-Get sugar, then burn it to make ATP
-Light compensation zone
-too much light: enzymes get saturated
-Max CO2, lose water
-transpiration: struggle for water

-tradeoff for high CO2 and no water loss

-stomata adaptations for water
-change size
CQ: Primary source of carbon from which life is constructed? Atmospheric carbon
dioxide
-stomata are usually closed when CO2 demand is low
-Turgor pressure: force exerted by water in cell wall (inflates plant)
-Water potential: soil > root > leaf > atmosphere
-Controlling the stomata is a plants more important way to regulate water loss
-Balance between photosynthesis and respiration is a huge restraint
-Aquatic Plants
-CO2 from water
-Uses enzymes to convert bicarbonate into CO2
-Adaptations in Sunny, Dry Environments
-C4 Pathway
-CO2 concentration means stomata barely open
-saves water
-no rubisco problem
-higher max rate of photosynthesis than C3 plants
CQ: Majority of plants in S. Florida are: C4
-Deserts
-low water availability
-CAM Pathway
-these plants open stomata at night
-malic acid accumulated
-close stomata during the day
-malic acid converted into CO2

-no water loss

Animal Adaptations
-Size imposes a constraint on the evolution of organisms
-Volume increases more when surface area increases
-Surface Area: 6 x L^2
-Volume: L^3
-Convoluted surface is an adaptation for volume increase
-Vascularization adds surface area
-Plants are low in protein, high in carbohydrates
-Herbivores
-Grazers: leaves, grasses
-Browsers: woody material (e.g. stem)
-Granivores: Seeds
-All three are high in cellulose
-Frugivores: fruits
-Specialization
-Plant sap
-nectivores
-Mutualism: bacteria and protists live in digestive tract
-Break cellulose, proteins
-synthesize fatty acids, amino acids, proteins, vitamins
-High-quality plant food is high in nitrogen
-Carnivores
-have problems with digesting cellulose
-no problems digesting and assimilating nutrients from prey

-Quantity is an issue
-Omnivores
-eat both, highly variable diet
-Animals respond to environmental changes:
-Conform: internal same as external (ectoderms)
-Regulate: change internal environment (endoderms)
-Regulation (examples):

graph: -/-

-Biochemical: sweating
-Physiological: shivering
-Morphological: Fur for cold, shorter limbs for less surface area
-Behavioral: migration, moving to shade
-Conformer: Starfish, reptiles

graph: //

-Positives and Negatives:

-Conformer
+ Low Energy Usage
- Needs optimal environmental conditions
-Regulation
+ Good range of environmental conditions
-Costly energy expenditure
-When inactive, lizards are conformers but when active, can regulate to an extent

-Homeostasis: maintenance of constant internal environment

-negative feedback loop
-Vascularization:
-Insects have tracheae, spiracles for gas exchange
-Mammals have lungs, heart for gas exchange

-Water balance:
-Terrestrial animals gain water
-drinking, eating
-cellular respiration
-Terrestrial animals lose water
-urine, feces
-evaporation from skin
-breath
-Migration: leaving areas during dry season
-Artic tern: spends whole life migrating
-Wildebeest: migrate with wet season
-Estivation: avoid effects of drought through period of dormancy
-Spadefoot toads
-Diapause: genetic dormancy where insects go dormant with environment cues
-life stage of arrested development
-Desert mammals-adaptations
-active at night
-very concentrated urine to save water, dry feces
-extract water from food
-Freshwater animals are hyperosmotic in comparison to the water around it
-Hyperosmotic: Higher salt concentration in their bodies than the surrounding water
-Hypoosmotic: Lower salt concentration
-Isosmotic: body fluids have the same osmotic pressure as the seawater
-Brackish water: fish are always adapting
-Osmoregulators, Marine Organisms
-sharks and rays retain urea from higher concentration than seawater

-birds and sea turtles drink seawater and excrete salt through salt glands
-marine mammals eliminate salt through their kidneys
-Thermoregulation
-poikilotherm: variable body temperature
-homeotherm: constant body temperature
-poikilotherms have performance change based on temperature
-low or high critical temperature minimizes relative performance
-endotherms produce heat through aerobic cellular respiration
-not completely efficient
-Smaller animals lose heat quickly (less oxygen consumption)
-Larger animals retain more heat (more oxygen consumption)
-Fur, layer of fat, feathers for insulation
-Mass-specific oxygen consumption
-smaller mammals consume more oxygen (SA to Volume ratio)
-larger mammals consume less
-Counter-current Exchange
-heat in blood (artery) heats up the blood (vein)
-heat is conserved by putting arteries and veins close together

Natural Selection, Evolution

-fundamental constraint: energy acquisition
-Sun
-Eating someone else
-Adaptations: solutions for the environment and getting energy
-330,000 species of beetle
-aquatic: paddle-like legs

-dung beetles roll dung for breaking plants down further

-Darwin: organismal diversity theory
-Natural selection
-differential success (survival and reproduction) of individuals within
the population
-product of 2 conditions
- Variation in heritable characteristics
- Variation results in differences between survival and
reproduction
CQ: Natural selection favors groups of individuals within a population best adapted
to a particular environment
-Fitness: genetic contribution to future generations
-Evolution: process where allele frequency of populations change over generations
-Adaptation: heritable trait that develops in response to environmental conditions
-All DNA in a cell is a genome
-A gene is a length of DNA
-Alleles are variants of a gene
-Gene pool: sum of alleles in population
-Gene flow: no isolation
-e.g. grass shrimp on East Coast
-Natural selection acts directly on phenotype
-Beak size changes with environmental conditions
-Galapagos finches
-Beak morphology of birds can result in speciation over time
-Natural selection types:
-Directional: extreme value of a trait is favored
-Stabilizing: mean value of the trait is favored

-Disruptive: members of a population are subjected to different selection

pressures
-Factors other than natural selection that affect genetic variation:
-Mutations: changes in DNA
-Genetic drift: random chance in recombination that affects small population
-Migration: movement of individuals
-Gene flow: movement of genes
-Hardy-Weinberg principle
-under conditions of random mating, allele frequency remains constant
through time
-not realistic
CQ: Which assumption of H-W was violated during the Grants finch experiment?
Natural selection
-Mating
-assortative mating: individuals choose mates, nonrandom based on
phenotype
-positive assortative mating: mates are more similar to each other
-negative assortative mating: opposite mates
-Inbreeding depression: rare genes that lower overall fitness due to closely related
individuals mating
-Geographic Isolates: no gene flow between subpopulations due to geography
-Adaptive radiation: one species gives rise to multiple species that exploit features
of an environment
-Phenotypic plasticity: one genome can give many different phenotypes
-Norm of reaction: set of phenotypes expressed by a single genotype
-Forms
-developmental plasticity: irreversible
-acclimation: reversible

Aquatic Environments
CQ: The hydrologic cycle: describes the motion of water from atmosphere to water
bodies and back again
-Hydrologic cycle
-Evaporation: water heats up, vapor condenses, forms clouds
-Precipitation: rain due to high condensation
-Runoff: what eventually ends up in the ocean from the surface
-High Plains aquifer
-from South Dakota to Texas
-Sinkholes due to caves not having water
CQ: Water is unique in that: it is more dense as a liquid than as a solid
-Water is polar
-Lot of space between molecules as ice since it is bent
-Specific heat of water = 1
-a lot of heat required to change its temperature
-Cohesion: linakge of H2O molecules due to H-bonding
-Surface tension: differences in attraction among water molecules between surface
of water and air
CQ: Deep sea marine organisms appear dark blue and or black because: only blue
light, if any, can penetrate the depths
-unique adaptations in depths
-lack of pigmentation
-large eyes
-bioluminescence
-Thermocline: layer in ocean where temperature goes from hot to cold (top to
bottom)
-warm, low-density
-cold, high-density

-seasons can affect inversion of Thermocline

-Salinity (index of chlorine):
-Freshwater = 0.065 0.30 parts per thousand
-Seawater = 35 parts per thousand
-Oxygen diffuses from surface to waters below
-cold water holds more oxygen
-concentration of oxygen is a limiting factor for aquatic organisms
-Tides result from gravitational pull from Moon and Sun
-bulge is exerted where pull is
-Intertidal zone: area lying between the water lines of high and low tide
-Estuary: place where freshwater mixes with saltwater
-high productivity