Ecology & Diversity Quiz

To Do List

• Go through and summarize notes on a Google Doc
• Upload notes to Quizlet and do practice tests
• Focus on plant biology
• Review exam 1 quizlet/notes
• Practice drawing 2 diagrams: carbon cycle and plant reproduction
• Print and re-do worksheets
• Complete Kahoot study questions and jeopardy study questions
• Complete textbook problems if time
• Purple text = items that require review.

Topics Summary: Community Ecology & Diversity

Community Change: Succession & Biogeography

• Primary succession occurs after disturbances, like volcanic eruptions, wiping out all life forms. Pioneer species are the first to establish.
• Secondary succession follows the establishment of pioneer species in areas where life previously existed. Sand dunes are a type of secondary succession where sea grass helps prepare the soil for trees.
• Succession involves three main types: Primary, Secondary, and Biogeography. Biogeography relates to the distribution of organisms across geographic areas and energy availability.

Energy Flow in Food Webs

• Trophic levels represent different steps in energy flow. Energy decreases the higher up the levels.
• Primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers are involved in transferring energy.
• The equation representing energy assimilation: (amount of energy assimilated by org)/(energy assimilated) * 100 = Production efficiency.

Climate Change & Carbon Cycle

• Carbon cycles constantly in the biosphere/atmosphere, but climate change disrupts usual cycles.
• Trees, soil and ocean are reservoirs of carbon.

Plants

• Eudicots and monocots are types of flowering plants.
• Plants have leaf characteristics, venation, and adaptations (stomata).

Plant-Animal Interactions

• Plants have chemical and physical defenses to avoid being consumed by herbivores.
• Two hypotheses for why the world is green: Bottom-up and top-down controls.

Communities & Ecosystems

• Mutualism describes interactions that benefit both species involved.
• Examples of mutualism include leafcutter ants and fungi for food production and acacia trees and ants for protection from herbivores.
• Commensalism is when one species benefits and the other is unaffected.
• An example of commensalism is phoresy, seed dispersal, etc.

Species Richness and Communities

• Species richness is the number of species in a community. Communities differ in species richness based on factors like species-time, species-area, and species-productivity.
• Species accumulate over time through speciation and immigration.
• Species richness is influenced by the area, and productivity of organisms, etc.

Community Stability and Diversity

• Community stability refers to consistent species abundance in a community over time.
• More species richness leads to greater stability and more niches being occupied by organisms that can endure certain disturbances.
• Diversity indexes (e.g. Shannon's Index) quantify community diversity by considering species richness and relative abundance.

Succession and Biogeography

• Succession is the change in species composition in a community following a disturbance. There are primary and secondary types.
• Primary succession occurs on newly exposed surfaces like volcanic rock.
• Pioneer species are the first to colonize these surfaces.
• Secondary succession occurs on disturbed surfaces where life existed previously, like following a fire.

Mechanisms of Succession

• Facilitation: Early species create favorable conditions for later species.
• Inhibition: Early species prevent the growth of later successional species.
• Tolerance: Later species are unaffected by the presence of early species.

Island Biogeography

• The balance between immigration and emigration determines species richness on islands.
• Island size and distance from the mainland affect immigration and extinction rates.

Energy Flow and Food Webs

• Food chains are linear representations of energy flow. Food webs are complex networks of interconnected food chains.
• Trophic levels are the feeding positions in a food chain. Energy is lost as it moves up the trophic levels due to cellular respiration, etc.

Biogeochemical Cycles

• Biogeochemical cycles involve the continuous movement of chemical elements like carbon and nitrogen through the environment and living organisms.
• Reservoirs and fluxes drive biogeochemical cycles.

Greenhouse Effect

• Greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit outgoing longwave radiation, increasing the earth's temperature. This is a natural process, but increasing concentration from human activities can create a negative impact.

Additional notes:

• This is just a summary of notes. Additional detail and examples may be found on the original material.
• The provided document may contain questions, but there is no summary of responses here.
• Some subtopics have multiple subtitles that were combined.