BOIEE 1610 1st Edition Lecture 6Outline of previous lectureI. ReminderII. Deep ocean biomeA) Deep oceanIII. Surface water biomesA) Subtropical gyresB) Upwelling systemsC) Continental shelvesD) High/low latitude watersE) SummaryOutline of current lectureI. Hierarchical organization in ecologyII. PopulationsA) GeneralB) Populations and spaceIII. Life tablesCurrent lectureI. Hierarchical organization in ecology*Biosphere>ecosystem>community>population>orgainism*We’re going to talk about populationsII. PopulationsA) General*What’s significant?-Humans: population growth, immigration, emigration-Management of exploited species-Control of pests-Conservation of endangered species*The population as a unit of study-Population: group of individuals of the same species that live within a particulararea and interact with one another-Populations share characteristics that individuals do notB) Populations and space*Abundance: number of individuals in a population*Density: number of individuals per unit area*Dispersal: the movement of organisms away from their birthplace or away fromcenters of high population density -Dispersal links populations-Organisms vary greatly in their movement capacity (owls vs. buttercups)*Migration: annual seasonal movement (not to be confused with deispersal)*Metapopulation: a group of spatially isolated populations of the same species that are connected by exchange of individuals-Differences in quality of these little habitats (important conservation implication)-Habitat loss and fragmentation are causing certain populations to decrease*Distribution-Different distribution at different size scales-Types1) Random (neutral or little interaction)2) Clumped (attraction between individuals/ common resource/ can’t physical disperse)3) Regular (antagonistic or local depletion of resources*Factors limiting distribution-Temperature-Water-Acidic pH-Abiotic (physical/ chemical factors)-Biotic interactions (predators, parasites, disease, competitors)-Disturbances (stream floods during wet season, dries up during dry season)-Historical factors -Dispersal limitation III. Life tables*A summary of age specific survival and mortality in a population*First used by human demographers for life insurance companies*Brought to ecology by Raymond Pearl in 1920’s*CDC regularly updates life tables for US population*Methods for estimating survival-record patterns of death in large number of individuals-must know the age at time of death (growth rings on trees, fish scales, tooth wear, human cemeteries)*Example of a life tableNumber of deaths per thousand number of survivors per thousand prop surviving0-1 199 1000 1.001-2 12 801 .8012-3 13 789 .789Etc*Then you can create a survivorship curveType IType IIType III*What are survivorship curves classified by?-The life stage at which mortality is most likely to occur*Types of life tables-Cohort life table (follow a group of individuals born at the same time, or a composite of which we know when each individual was born)-Static life table (snapshot of age distribution at a moment, assume age-dependent
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