Ecology and Animal Behavior

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Ecology and Animal Behavior

• Lecture 11
• MACC BIO 101
• Bill Palmer

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Ecology

• MACC BIOLOGY 101
• Bill Palmer

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EcologyWhat it means.

• eco - oikos house
• logy - logos the study of
• the study of the house

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Ecology

• The study of the distribution and abundance of
  organisms, their relationships, and the flows of
  energy and materials.
• There are abiotic and biotic components of
  ecosystems.
• Abiotic nonliving elements (rain, slope, wind)
• Biotic living elements(Plants and Animals)

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Ecology
Study of the relationships of organisms to their
environment
Why animals live where they do
Why animals eat specific foods
Why animals interact with each other in certain
ways
How human activities effect animal populations
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Current Research in Ecology
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Are boat accidents having an impact on the
future of manatee population sustainability?
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Are boat accidents having an impact on the
future of manatee population sustainability?
Sure! Just look at the pictures.
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How can we measure biodiversity? How can we
preserve biodiversity?
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Which has the greatest biodiversity?
Missouri Corn Field
Puerto Rican Rain Forest
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Can tropical forests absorb the extra carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere that is causing climate
change?
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Can Biodiversity contribute to the overall health
of humans by supplying new pharmaceuticals?
TAXOL from Taxus (yew) is best ovarian cancer drug
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The field of Ecology is derived from

• Natural history
• 2. Physiology
• 3. Evolution

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Scales of Ecological Organization
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Scales of Ecological Organization
Organism Survival and reproduction unit of
natural selection
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Scales of Ecological Organization
Population Population dynamics unit of
evolution demography sex ratios
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Scales of Ecological Organization
Community Interactions among populations specie
s diversity, trophic dynamics competition,
succession
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Scales of Ecological Organization
Ecosystem Energy flux and nutrient cycling,
primary productivity material fluxes
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Scales of Ecological Organization
Biosphere Global processes includes biotic and
physical systems oceans, atmosphere, geology
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How do ecologists study natural patterns?

• APPLY THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD!
• 1. Observation and description
• 2. Development of hypotheses
• 3. Test hypotheses, often with experiments

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Ways to test hypotheses

• 1. MANIPULATIONS
• small scale
• microcosms
• large scale
• 2. NATURAL MANIPULATIONS
• 3. MODELS

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Manipulation of natural systemssmall scale
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Manipulation of Natural Systems Microcosms
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Manipulation of Natural Systems Large scale
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Computer Generated Models
Mg C ha -1 yr-1
Global Potential Net Primary Productivity
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Five Common Ecological Topics

• I. Population growth
• II. Diversity
• III. Interactions among communities
• Predator/prey relationships
• Mimicry/camouflage
• Symbiotic relationships
• Food Webs
• IV. Sexual selection
• V. Succession

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I. Population Growth

• Growth rates
• Type I
• Type II
• Type III
• R and K selected species
• K species whose populations sizes are limited by
  resources (carrying capacity)
• R species whose population sizes are limited by
  reproductive rate

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I II III
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II. Diversity

• Species diversity
• Geographic diversity
• Genetic diversity

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III. Community Concepts

• Habitat
• The physical surroundings in which a species can
  normally be found
• Niche
• Organisms occupation
• How and where does the organism make a living?
• What does it do to obtain resources?
• How does it deal with competition?

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Interactions among communities

• Predator/prey relationships
• Mimicry/camouflage
• Symbiotic relationships
• Food webs

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Mimicry
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Symbiotic Relationships

• Parasitism
• One organism gains
• One organism harmed
• Parasitoid
• One organism gains
• One organism killed

• Mutualism
• One organism gains
• One organism gains
• Commensalism
• One organism gains
• One organism is unaffected

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Symbiotic RelationshipsParasitism

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Symbiotic RelationshipsMutualism
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Symbiotic RelationshipsCommensalism
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Symbiotic RelationshipsParasitoid
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Predator/Prey (producers/consumers)

• Producers (photosynthesize)
• Plants
• Algae
• Consumers
• Herbivore (eat only plants)
• Carnivore (eat only meat)
• Omnivore (eat meat and plants)

p. 719
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Predator/Prey (producers)
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Predator/Prey (Three types of consumers)

• Herbivores-Eat producers
• Carnivores-Eat herbivores
• Omnivores-eat producers and herbivores

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Predator/Prey (Herbivores)
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Predator/Prey (Carnivores)
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Predator/Prey (Omnivores)
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Decomposers

• Consume detritus (dead, decaying material)

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Food Webs/Trophic Pyramid

• Web
• diagram of the feeding relationships between
  plants and animals
• more realistically than a food chain or trophic
  pyramids.
• Trophic level feeding level

TROPHIC PYRAMID
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Food Web
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10 RuleEnergy is lost as you move up the food
web(JJoules-measure of energy)
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IV. Sexual Relationships
Definitions

• In Eukaryotes sex is production of gametes
  (sperm and egg) by meiosis, and then
  fertilization
• Female the form of the organism that carries the
  most provisioning for the offspring (i.e., the
  egg). All other "sexes" are by definition males.
• Fitness the contribution of a genotype to the
  gene pool of subsequent generations as compared
  to that of other genotypes

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Asexual reproductionWalking Fern-a Missouri
species
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Advantages of sexual reproduction

• Populations can evolve more rapidly to meet
  changed circumstances or develop new defenses
  against disease.
• Diversity

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Disadvantage of sexual reproduction

• 1. Producing males
• Cost of producing males -- halves the productive
  part of the population.
• Cost resulting from discarding half the genes --
  no guarantee that male genes are better (cost of
  meiosis)

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Sexual selectionMuch energy/time is wasted to
attract female.
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V. Succession

• A series of replacement of community members at a
  given location until a relatively stable final
  state is reached
• Primary
• Starting state is one of little or no life
• Pioneer species (lichen, bacteria, mosses)
• Secondary
• Soil contains nutrients
• Brush, shrubs, grasses
• Climax community
• Stable community at the end of succession
• Deciduous trees

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V. Primary Succession-Volcano
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V. Secondary Succession-Prescribed Burn
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1980
1999
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SUCCESSION
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Wrap-up

• 1. What is ecology?
• 2. What is abiotic? Biotic? Examples?
• 3.The field of Ecology is derived from?
• 4. What are the scales of ecological
  organization?
• 5. What are the 3 ways to test a hypothesis in
  ecology? Examples?
• 6. What are common ecological topics?
• 7. What is population growth? Types? Examples?
• 8. What are K and R selected species? Examples?

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Wrap-up

• 9. What are the 3 types of diversity? Examples?
• 10.What are the 4 types of interactions among
  communities? Examples?
• 11. What is mimicry and camouflage? Why do it?
  examples?
• 12. What are predator/prey relationships?
  Examples? What are food webs? Trophic levels? 10
  rule?
• 13. What are the 4 types of symbiotic
  relationships? Examples?
• 14. What is succession? Primary? Secondary?
  Examples?