Unit IV Study Guide Ecology 1 a Define ecology b How does a population differ from a community c How does a community differ from an ecosystem d Please provide a specific example that exists in nature of a population a community an ecosystem a Ecology is the study of interactions between the organisms and their environment b A population is a group of organisms of the same species but a community is all of the organisms living in an area c A community is all of the organisms living in an area but an ecosystem is the biotic abiotic components of a particular environment d Example of a population tree warblers living in a tree Example of a community the African Savannah community Example of an ecosystem a tropical rainforest ecosystem 2 Define demography and list several types of vital statistics used in demography b be able to interpret age structure diagrams for populations c discuss the appearance of an age structure diagram for a population that is growing rapidly as opposed to one that is actually decreasing in size or experiencing ZPG zero population growth a Demography the study of population vital statistics the factors that influence these I Examples of vital statistics i Population size the number of individuals ii Population density the number of individuals per area iii Population dispersion how individuals are distributed in a population CLUMPED UNIFORM RANDOM iv Male female sex ratio even 50 50 skewed 90 10 v Age structure the distribution of different age classes in a population b Broad Base Narrow Base c For a population that is growing rapidly broad base the majority of the population is of child bearing age and as those individuals get older they die off more frequently the country of Afghanistan For a population that is experiencing ZPG narrow base the majority of the population is past child bearing age and the population is mostly middle aged the country of Italy 3 a Be able to interpret survivorship curves b Explain the concept of trade offs with respect to life history c Explain what a species life history refers to and provide an example of two species that have different or contrasting life history strategies describing how they differ a Survivorship curves depict how survival varies with age Type 1 humans and other large mammals low death rate when young most survive to max lifespan Type 2 birds small mammals have constant death rate regardless of age Type 3 trees marine inverts high death rate when young few survive to max lifespan b Trade off exists between Energy spent on survival vs reproduction and energy tradeoffs of a species evolves over time to maximize fitness i Example Tree Sparrows and Albatross c Life History is the strategy of energy tradeoffs of a species that evolves to maximize its fitness Semelparity is a big bang reproduction reproduce once and die and usually many offspring with low chance of survival It is often an adaptive response to a variable environment Iteroparity is a repeated reproduction throughout life and usually fewer offspring but higher survival It is often an adaption to a more stable environment 4 a Explain what carrying capacity is b How does carrying capacity affect population growth a Growth is a function of the carrying capacity K of a particular environment and it is the maximum population size a particular environment can support b Carrying Capacity affects population growth when compared to the number of individuals in the population 5 a Explain the difference between a population that grows exponentially as opposed to one that grows logistically b Describe the shapes of the two different growth curves c What does the logistic equation take into account that the exponential equation does not d Define the meaning of each term in the logistic growth equation e What is the difference between r and rmax Albatross more E into survival than annual reproduction by living longer can produce enough offspring to maintain the species a A population that grows exponentially has a J shaped pattern the equation is dN dT rN and the assumption is that growth rate is constant A population that grows logistically has a S shaped pattern the equation is dN dT rN K N K and the assumption is that growth rate changes with density b Exponential Growth J shaped Logistic Growth S shaped c The logistic equation takes into account the carrying capacity rN K N K and the exponential equation is simply rN d dN the change in the number of the population dT the change in time r the rate per capita of population increase N the number of individuals in a population K the carrying capacity of a population e The difference between r and rmax is that rmax represents the maximum per capita rate of increase essentially meaning that the population grows exponentially 6 Imagine a natural population say a newly established small population of mice in large meadow that is initially small in size and that will proceed to grow logistically Describe how the rate at which this population grows changes over time as it continues to grow in a natural environment in which there are limited resources a In the real world resources are limited and population growth rates will decline as resources are used up as a population grows As times goes on the population size of mice will eventually reach its carrying capacity and if goes beyond that the population will shrink 7 a How does a Type I survivorship curve differ from a Type III curve with respect to both age specific mortality and survivorship lifespan b Name two types of organisms exhibiting Type I survivorship and two others that exhibit Type III survivorship a Type I survivorship curve differs from Type III in that Type I has a low death rate when young and individuals usually survive to max lifespan But in Type III there is a high death rate when young and most individuals don t survive to max lifespan b Type I humans and large mammals Type III trees and fish 8 What is the concept of maximum sustainable yield and how might you best manage a population for maximum sustainable yield a Maximum Sustainable Yield is the amount a population can withstand and the best way to manage it would be to maximize population growth rate by harvesting back to the size where the population grows the fastest 9 Why is it more sensible to clean up your kitchen clean rather than just safely spray your kitchen to kill off a roach infestation a It is more sensible to clean up your kitchen because you are ensuring you are killing off
View Full Document
Unlocking...