Muhammad Kabir [Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist]

PhD [Wildlife Ecology] Quaid i Azam University Islamabad:

Allele effect: The Allele effect is a phenomenon in biology characterized by a correlation

between population size or density and the mean individual fitness (often measured as per
capita population growth rate) of a population or species.

Mechanisms: Due to its definition as the positive correlation between population density and
average fitness, the mechanisms for which an Allele effect arises are therefore inherently
tied to survival and reproduction. In general, these Allele effect mechanisms arise from
cooperation or facilitation among individuals in the species. Examples of such cooperative
behaviors include better mate finding, environmental conditioning, and group defense
against predators. As these mechanisms are more easily observable in the field, they tend
to be more commonly associated with the Allele effect concept. Nevertheless, mechanisms
of Allele effect those are less visible such as inbreeding depression and sex ratio bias should
be considered as well.

Ecological collapse: refers to a situation where an ecosystem suffers a drastic, possibly

permanent, reduction in carrying capacity for all organisms, often resulting in mass
extinction. Usually, an ecological collapse is precipitated by a disastrous event occurring on
a short time scale.

Ecosystems have the ability to rebound from a disruptive agent. The difference between
collapse and a gentle rebound is determined by two factors —- the toxicity of the introduced
element and the resiliency of the original ecosystem.

Ecological extinction is defined as ―the reduction of a species to such low abundance that,
although it is still present in the community, it no longer interacts significantly with other
species. Ecological extinction stands out because it is the interaction ecology of a species
that is important for conservation work. They state that ―unless the species interacts
significantly with other species in the community (e.g. it is an important predator,
competitor, symbiotic, mutualism, or prey) its loss may result in little to no adjustment to
the abundance and population structure of other species.

Ecological traps: are scenarios in which rapid environmental change leads organisms to
prefer to settle in poor-quality habitats. The concept stems from the idea that organisms
that are actively selecting habitat must rely on environmental signals to help them identify
high-quality habitat. If either the habitat quality or the cue changes so that one does not
reliably indicate the other, organisms may be lured into poor-quality habitat.

Edge effects: refer to the changes in population or community structures that occur at the
boundary of two habitats. Areas with small habitat fragments exhibit especially pronounced
edge effects that may extend throughout the range.

Intraspecific competition is an interaction in population ecology, whereby members of

the same species compete for limited resources. This leads to a reduction in fitness for both
individuals. By contrast, interspecific competition occurs when members of different species
compete for a shared resource.

Individuals can compete for food, water, space, light, mates or any other resource which is
required for survival. The resource must be limited for competition to occur; if every
member of the species can obtain a sufficient amount of every resource then individuals do
not compete and the population grows exponentially.
Muhammad Kabir [Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist]
PhD [Wildlife Ecology] Quaid i Azam University Islamabad:

Overpopulation occurs when a population of a species exceeds the carrying capacity of its
ecological niche. Overpopulation is a function of the number of individuals compared to the
relevant resources, such as the water and essential nutrients they need to survive. It can
result from an increase in births, a decline in mortality rates, an increase in immigration, or
an unsustainable biome and depletion of resources.

Species diversity is the number of different species that are represented in a given
community (a dataset). The effective number of species refers to the number of equally
abundant species needed to obtain the same mean proportional species abundance as that
observed in the dataset of interest (where all species may not be equally abundant).
Species diversity consists of two components: species richness and species evenness.
Species richness is a simple count of species, whereas species evenness quantifies how
equal the abundances of the species are.

Ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a

standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the
planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically
productive land and sea area necessary to supply the resources a human population
consumes, and to assimilate associated waste.

Ecological yield is the harvestable population growth of an ecosystem. It is most

commonly measured in forestry: sustainable forestry is defined as that which does not
harvest more wood in a year than has grown in that year, within a given patch of forest.

Effective population size Ne "the number of breeding individuals in an idealized

population that would show the same amount of dispersion of allele frequencies under
random genetic drift or the same amount of inbreeding as the population under
consideration".

An introduced, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an

introduction, is a species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived
there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental. Non-native species can have
various effects on the local ecosystem. Introduced species that have a negative effect on a
local ecosystem are also known as invasive species. Not all non-native species are
considered invasive.

Population dynamics: short-term and long-term changes in the size and age composition
of populations, and the biological and environmental processes influencing those changes.
Population dynamics deals with the way populations are affected by birth and death rates,
and by immigration and emigration, and studies topics such as ageing populations or
population decline.

Ecological diversity is a type of biodiversity. It is the variation in the ecosystems found in

a region or the variation in ecosystems over the whole planet. Ecological diversity includes
the variation in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecological diversity can also take
into account the variation in the complexity of a biological community, including the number
of different niches, the number of trophic levels and other ecological processes. An example
of ecological diversity on a global scale would be the variation in ecosystems, such as
deserts, forests, grasslands, wetlands and oceans. Ecological diversity is the largest scale of
biodiversity, and within each ecosystem, there is a great deal of both species and genetic
diversity.
Muhammad Kabir [Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist]
PhD [Wildlife Ecology] Quaid i Azam University Islamabad:

Flagship species is a concept with its genesis in the field of conservation biology. The
flagship species concept holds that by raising the profile of a particular species, it can
successfully influence more support for biodiversity conservation at large in a particular
context.

Meta-population consists of a group of spatially separated populations of the same species

which interact at some level. A metapopulation is generally considered to consist of several
distinct populations together with areas of suitable habitat which are currently unoccupied.

A population model is a type of mathematical model that is applied to the study of

population dynamics. Models allow a better understanding of how complex interactions and
processes work. Modeling of dynamic interactions in nature can provide a manageable way
of understanding how numbers change over time or in relation to each other. Ecological
population modeling is concerned with the changes in population size and age distribution
within a population as a consequence of interactions of organisms with the physical
environment, with individuals of their own species, and with organisms of other species.

Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological

community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does
not take into account the abundances of the species or their relative abundance
distributions. Species diversity takes into account both species richness and species
evenness.

Niche is a term with a variety of meanings related to the behavior of a species living under
specific environmental conditions. The ecological niche describes how an organism or
population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors (for example, by
growing when resources are abundant, and when predators, parasites and pathogens are
scarce) and how it in turn alters those same factors (for example, limiting access to
resources by other organisms, acting as a food source for predators and a consumer of
prey). "The type and number of variables comprising the dimensions of an environmental
niche vary from one species to another [and] the relative importance of particular
environmental variables for a species may vary according to the geographic and biotic
contexts".

Ecotone is a transition area between two biomes. It is where two communities meet and
integrate. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and
forest) or regional (the transition between forest and grassland ecosystems). An ecotone
may appear on the ground as a gradual blending of the two communities across a broad
area, or it may manifest itself as a sharp boundary line.

Ecotone and ecoclines: An ecotone is often associated with an ecocline: a "physical

transition zone" between two systems.

Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an

organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation. Habitat
fragmentation can be caused by geological processes that slowly alter the layout of the
physical environment (suspected of being one of the major causes of speciation), or by
human activity such as land conversion, which can alter the environment much faster and
causes extinctions of many species.
Muhammad Kabir [Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist]
PhD [Wildlife Ecology] Quaid i Azam University Islamabad:

Minimum viable population (MVP) is a lower bound on the population of a species, such
that it can survive in the wild. This term is used in the fields of biology, ecology, and
conservation biology. More specifically, MVP is the smallest possible size at which a
biological population can exist without facing extinction from natural disasters. In population
genetics and population ecology, population size (usually denoted N) is the number of
individual organisms in a population.

Umbrella species are species selected for making conservation-related decisions, typically
because protecting these species indirectly protects the many other species that make up
the ecological community of its habitat. Species conservation can be subjective because it is
hard to determine the status of many species. With millions of species of concern, the
identification of selected keystone species, flagship species or umbrella species makes
conservation decisions easier. Umbrella species can be used to help select the locations of
potential reserves, find the minimum size of these conservation areas or reserves, and to
determine the composition, structure and processes of ecosystems.

Ecological threshold is the point at which a relatively small change in external conditions
causes a rapid change in an ecosystem. When an ecological threshold has been passed, the
ecosystem may no longer be able to return to its state. Crossing an ecological threshold
often leads to rapid change of ecosystem health.

An indicator species is any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the
environment. Indicator species can be among the most sensitive species in a region, and
sometimes act as an early warning to monitoring biologists.

Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource

to the point of diminishing returns. Sustained overexploitation can lead to the destruction of
the resource. The term applies to natural resources such as: wild medicinal plants, grazing
pastures, game animals, fish stocks, forests, and water aquifers.

Relative species abundance is a component of biodiversity and refers to how common or

rare a species is relative to other species in a defined location or community.

Locomotion

Like most reptiles, the majority of mammals travel across land. Mammals, however, move
much further and more often than reptiles. Partly, this is made possible by the possession of
a homoeothermic body (see Warm Blood), partly it is also made possible by the way
mammals' limbs articulate with (join) the body. The result of this is that a mammal moves
its legs backwards and forwards beneath its body, whereas a reptile has its legs stuck out to
the side. The mechanics of mammalian walking and running can get quite complicated and
involve the use of tendons (A tendon (or sinew) is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually
connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension) and the back as energy storing springs
to enhance efficiency. The modes of locomotion used by animals have been divided up into
more than 30 different types, and it is not unusual for an animal to change from one type of
movement to another, i.e. from walking to jumping in a given period of locomotion. A horse
for instance has three natural gaits, a walk such as the giraffe walk, a trot and a gallop.

Walk - The most common four-legged locomotion which you will observe is the walk,
sometimes called the diagonal walk. This is used by most hoofed animals as well as cats and
Muhammad Kabir [Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist]
PhD [Wildlife Ecology] Quaid i Azam University Islamabad:

dogs. In this walk, the animal uses diagonally opposing legs, i.e. front left and right back
legs move forwards then the front right and left back legs move and so on.

Giraffe walk - Giraffes and a few other animals such as brown bears and camels move
both legs on one side and then both legs on the other side. In some cases the hind leg
starts first so there is a slight lag. This is also called 'Pacing' and it is the first gait observed
in young 'colts'.

Trot is the same gait as the dog walk but faster so that there is a moment in each stride
when all four legs are off the ground.

Gallop - a gallop is a succession of leaps. The legs can hit the ground both front then both
back feet together as in the ermine. Or the front feet can be set down one then the other,
then both back feet together as in the hair.

Most terrestrial mammals can jump or leap, but some use this form of locomotion far more
regularly than others. Leaping occurs either from two legs only as in a monkey or from all
four legs simultaneously. Leaps can be mixed and cats for instance leap mostly from their
back legs but get some lift from the front legs also, which leave the ground before the back
legs do.

Primarily aquatic mammals such as seals, etc., have much more ungainly gaits. Most seals
effectively crawl; stretching forward then hunching their back to bring the hind part of the
body as far forward as possible then raising and pushing the front forward again. This is
slow, but gets them where they need to be.

Elephant seals drag themselves forward with their front limbs only. They can, however,
move as fast as a running man when they want to.

Brachiation is the more common means of locomotion of Gibbons and a variety of other
primates. Brachiation means moving by swing from branch to branch with your arms.
Climbing trees can be achieved using gaits similar to both the Dog walk and the Giraffe
walk, while Squirrels actually gallop up trees. Squirrels are also unique in being able to walk
down trees as well. The ankles on their hind legs are so flexible that they can turn through
180 degrees allowing them to be equally useful going up and coming down.

Swimming - Many land mammals can swim, even and including the big cats. Even some
bats can survive falling in the water. Some species are semi-aquatic and are equally at
home in the water as on land, i.e. Otters, Hippopotamuses. For most terrestrial mammals,
swimming involves walking in the water. In other words they use the same gait as they do
on land. The more fully aquatic species are, however, more adapted to the water. Beavers
fold their front legs under their chests while swimming. Moving towards more fully aquatic
species, Sea Otters float quite happily on their back while seals are so adapted to the water
that they are clumsy and foolish looking on land. Different species swim in different ways.
Many seals and sea lions use both front and hind limbs when swimming, but Elephant seals
only ever use their hind limbs.

Finally, some mammals have taken to the air. In fact about 20% of all species of mammals
can fly. These are the bats. Apart from bats there are a few mammals which can glide.
There are flying squirrels equipped with a flap of skin stretched between their fore and hind
limbs which when stretched out allow them to glide often for considerable distances. They
Muhammad Kabir [Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist]
PhD [Wildlife Ecology] Quaid i Azam University Islamabad:

are found in Asia, Africa and America. There are also gliding marsupials in Australia, and a
flying (gliding) Lemur in the Malay Archipelago. Gliding flight only goes down however and
the animals have to climb up a tree eventually to regain the lost height.

Bats, however, really fly, most of them very well. Anyone who has, like me, tried to catch
bats in a butterfly net at dusk will be only too aware of how agile they are. Bats have wings
of skin stretched between greatly lengthened finger and arm bones. Bats tend to fly
erratically, however, some species have been recorded flying at speed of over 20 kmphh
(13 mph) in level flight and the record is for 25 kmph (15.5 mph).

Common Name Scientific Name Speed in kmph Speed in Mph

Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus 96+ 60
Pronghorn Antelope Antilocarpa americana 88.5 55
Wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus 80 50
Thomson's Gazelle Gazella thomsoni 80 50
Grant's Gazelle Gazella granti 80 50
Hare Lepus europeaus 72 45
Domestic Horse Equus ferus 69.6 43.3
Lion Panthera leo 58 36
Polar Bear Ursus maritimus 56 35
Giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis 56 35
Grey Kangaroo Macropus giganteus 56 35
Grey Wolf Canis lupus 45 28
Wild Rabbit Onyctolagus cuniculus 40 25
Camel Camel bactrianus 16 10

Number of legs:
The number of locomotory appendages varies much between animals, and sometimes the
same animal may use different numbers of its legs in different circumstances. A number of
species move and stand on two legs, that is, they are bipedal. The group that is exclusively
bipedal is the birds, which have either an alternating or a hopping gait. There are also a
number of bipedal mammals. Most of these move by hopping – including the macropods
such as kangaroos and various jumping rodents. Only a few mammals such as humans and
the ground pangolin commonly show an alternating bipedal gait. Cockroaches and some
lizards may also run on their two hind legs.

With the exception of the birds, terrestrial vertebrate groups with legs are mostly
quadrupedal – the mammals, reptiles, and the amphibians usually move on four legs. There
are many quadrupedal gaits. The most diverse group of animals on earth, the insects, are
included in a larger taxon known as hexapods, most of which are hexapedal, walking and
standing on six legs. Exceptions among the insects include praying mantises and water
scorpions, which are quadrupeds with their front two legs modified for grasping, some
butterflies (blues and hairstreaks) which use only four legs, and some kinds of insect larvae
that may have no legs (e.g., maggots), or additional prolegs (e.g., caterpillars). Spiders and
many of their relatives move on eight legs – they are octopedal.
Muhammad Kabir [Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist]
PhD [Wildlife Ecology] Quaid i Azam University Islamabad: