Ecology Test One

Organisms of the Day

Burying Beetle
o They find dead carcus to feed on
o Attract to mate by smell
Poison Dart Frog
o Used to make poison darts for hunting
o Feed on ants and termites, live in rainforest
o Have a predator fire belly snake
o Pick up toxin from the environment (the ants they feed on)
o Female feeds tadpoles by releasing unfertilized eggs strong parental care
Anaerobic Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria
o Produce sulfide (smells like rotten eggs)
o Purple sulfur bacteria
Small concentration in lake
o By growth of bacteria, chain reaction causes a build up in hydrogen sulfide
o Increase of phosphorus flow into lake Mendota
o Ultimate effect- increase sulfide so smells
o *** more in depth in notes ***
Small Pox Virus
o Spread through fluid in pox
o High mortality
o 1st vaccine and 1st disease eradicated
o Types of vaccines
Related viruses (cow pox)
Killed/inactivated viruses (flu vaccine)
Attenuated viruses (measles)
o Vaccines prime the immune system
o Several theories to explain origins of viruses but they were likely to have evolved several
times
Pandoria
o In freshwater
o Have 16 cells always together
Multicellular Organism
Cell specialization
Cells cant live separately
o Classed as a multicellular organism instead of a colony of 16 individuals because it always
swims with certain cells in the front
Cell specialization
If you remove one cell, theres a chance the other cells will die
European Cuckoos
o Lay eggs in wren nests

o When their chick hatches, pushes wren eggs out of the nest
o Wren parents will feed cuckoo chick
o Specialized on different host populations (egg variation)
o Some birds can tell when cuckoo eggs are present
o Nest parasite
Brown headed cowbirds
o Feed on insects stirred up by grazers
o Parasite nests of other species
Leaf cutter ants huge colonies
o Common in neotropics
o Fungus Farmingdont eat leaves, form a fungus from them
o Take the leaves, clean them, chew it up, and spit in fungus
o Provides the fungus with what it needs and the fungus is food for the ants
Fungus depends on the ants, and the ants depend on the fungus
Fungus do not produce spores
o Castes: have worker ants (big) and minima ants (small) in the back
o Females do the work, males only used for reproduction
o Inclusive Fitness
Fitness based off of genes and not individuals
Genes are deck of cards- 50% of genes from father and your sibling also got 50%
so on average you have a 25% overlap with your sister from your fatherif 25%
from father and 25% from mother than you are 50% related to your siblings
Leaf cutter ants are altruistic siblings
Males are only 50% of a deck of cards when it comes to genes and child
still gets half from father and half from mother so siblings are 75% related
to each other (more apt to sacrifice fertility)
Three spined stickleback males
o Brightly colored in mating season
o Male makes nest and are highly aggressive establishes and defends territory
o Court females and she lays eggs in his nest
o Fertilize outside of the body
o Male stays with eggs, and fans eggs to make sure they have enough oxygen
o Male parental care
Male is the last one with the eggs

NOTES

Ecology
o Study of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment
Evolution can be observed in a lab
Biome
o General category of ecological community
What is Life
o Bacteria

Round shaped, rod, coiled shaped

Structure:
Flagellum (to swim)
Pili
Cell wall
Cell membrane
Chemistry
Bacteria have many ways of getting energy
Photosynthesis: plants
o Water+ Carbon Dioxide+ Light Oxygen + Carbohydrates
Respiration: animals and plants
o Carbs + O2 H2O + CO2+ energy

o Viruses
Tobacco masiac virus
In 1892 Dimitri Ivanosky discovered it wasnt a bacteria
Then in 1898- Martinus Bejerinck discovered infected only dividing cells
Virus- Latin for poison
Contain genes
Subverting protein synthesis apparatus of host cells (how they live)
**Review of Genetics**
Gene is the information for producing one protein
DNA (RNA) proteins
Gene= sentence encoded in DNA
4 molecules: A T C G
codons- 3 letter works
-ATA-CGG-ATA
o gene is a sequence of 10s of 1000s of protons
ATA= glycine
CGG= alanine
o Amino acids
Proteins are chains of amino acids
o Building blocks
o Enzymes are proteins= catalyst that controls a chemical reaction
If you control protein synthesis then you can control chemical reactions
and can control life
Viruses take over DNA process
Viruses bacteriophages
Hand, neck, collar, sheath, tail fiber, DNA)
starts taking over the chemistry of the cell because injects its own DNA
Virus DNA has how to create more virus proteins
Eventually new viruses are assembles
o Death of bacteria cells, then more viruses

Contains genes
Evolve
Reproduce
Free Living
Transform energy

Virus cells are always diseases

Evolution of viruses
Evolution= change in genetic make up of population through time
Virus generations break down bacteria
o Viruses and DNA degrades over time (genes dont degrade)
o Genes are potentially immortal
o Changes in genes= mutation
o Mutations are random error during replication (-ATA-CGG-) (ATT-CGG-)
Rare and rarely beneficial
o One mutation can spread through population
Two descriptions of results of evolution
o Virus particles have characteristics that made their predecessors
successful at surviving and reproducing
o Genes that increase the survival and reproduction of viruses are
the most common
Viruses
Bacteria
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes-most/ no
No
Yes

FUNDAMENTAL THING FOR LIFE= INFORMATION (GENES)

Bacteria (and all living organisms) exist because they reproduce
Life is more than just chemicals
Life= information to harness energy to perpetuate the information
Darwin and Evolution
Problem of Evolution
o Why are there natural groupings of species
o Why are species so good at what they do
Pre Darwinian Ideas
o Aristotle and Plato
Raphaels School of Athens
Species reproduce after their kind
Painting was done right before scientific revolution and age of exploration
o New knowledge and things were coming to Europe
o Scientific Revolution
What is main difference between science and religion
Science= understand the world in terms of observable cause and effect
Humans can understand the cause and effects
Religion= relies on faith

Science: Charles Lyell

Came up with uniformitarianism
o Same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe
now have always operated in the past and apply everywhere in
the universe
Erasmus Darwin- Charles grandfather
Jean Baptiste Lamarck naturalist
o Species change (not a lot though)

Charles Darwin
o Lived 1809-1882
o Failed medical school
o Recruited to survey shorelines
Voyage of the HMS Beagle
Different tortoise shells
Pigeon breeds from The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication
Book
He wasnt in good health so wrote journals and books where he talked about
evolution ideas The Origin of Species
o Observations Darwin Made
Differences among Species can be vague
Geological specimens are different from species today
History is important for the present distribution of species
o In 1858 Alfred Russell Wallace made Darwin publish his ideas
Presented it in front of the royal society and then he wrote his book Origin of
Species
Two themes:
o Natural Selection
o All Species are descended from common ancestors
o Evolution is a scientific fact
o Ideas by Darwin
Different species are related
All species are descended from common ancestors
Natural selection explains process of evolution
Natural Selection
o Main driver of evolution
o Evolution
Change in genetic makeup of a population of organisms through time
1. Genetic makeup= traits are heritable offspring tend to look like parents
2. Population= group of potentially interbreeding individuals (single individuals do
not evolve)
3. Changenot improve
4. Through time= can be fast or slow
Effects us all the time (new flu every season)

o Natural Selection
Variability among individuals
Variability is heritable
Variability effects fitness
Fitness number of offspring
o Involves survival of reproduction
o Relative contribution to the genetic make up of future population
Can happen with traits and fertility
REVIEW DISCUSSION NOTES
Natural Selection will always drive evolution but other things can drive evolution as well
Genetic mutation= random change in genes between generations
Natural Selection does not require mutations in the short run, but does in long run
50% genetically related to mom, 50% genetically related to sister
In terms of evolutionary fitness, saving life of your child is equivalent to saving life of how many of
your siblings 1
Genetic Mutations
o Ultimate source of new genes
Artificial Selection
o Rather than nature, humans do the selection
DIVERSITY OF LIFE
Chapter 2:
Cataclysms occur in nature
Ecological communities can recover from cataclysms- Krakatau recovered through recolonization
Chapter 3:
Five great extinctions have occurred in geological history
The Cretaceous- Tertiary extinction of dinosaurs could have been caused by meteors hitting the
earth
The larges extinction event at the end of the Permian could have been due to continental drift and
global climate change
Although we dont definitely know the reasons why, mass extinctions have occurred in the past,
and recovery of species diversity following extinctions takes millions of years
Chapter 4:
Life can be viewed as the struggle to get energy
Biomass vs. energy pyramids
The Biological Species Concept
Identifying species of Anopheles was important for controlling malaria
Problems with applying the Biological Species Concept: sibling, species, semispecies,
chronospecies, and parthenogenesis

Chapter 5:
Speciation is the formation of populations that are not infertile
Speciation as a by-product of vertical evolution
Geographical speciation- example of a butterfly species
Speciation through polyploidy
Sympatric speciation: example of a fruit fly
Notes from Review Session:
Darwin never knew what maintains individual variation
However mutation is not necessary for natural selection to happen from one generation to the next,
it just keeps going
Darwin didnt look at genes
Evolution of traits by natural selection will be faster when large amounts of variability in the
survival of individuals is explained by the traitstrong selection pressure
Living organisms dont have to mate with other individuals (can be asexual)
Viruses are not alive
Rate of evolution of a population may increase due to global change because of increasing natural
selection
Punctuated equilibrium things dont change much but are punctuated with big events
Test 2 Ecology

Chronic wasting disease

o Disease of deer/elk in WI and the west
o Prion Disease
Infectious misfolded proteins
Convert other proteins to abnormal form
o Can be transferred through environment
o Management for other livestock prion diseases involves killing all potentially infected
animals
o Other prion diseases: Kuru, Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease, Scrapie
American Dog Tick/ Wood Tick
o Engorged after feeding
Nymphs feed on small rodents
Larvae feed on large animals
o Need~3 blood meals in lifetime
Nymph to larva
Larva to adult
Adult to make eggs/find mate
o Hard for ticks to find hosts
Can detect by smell, infrared heat, and carbon dioxide emission
o Common in WI
o Carry diseases

Rocky Mountain spotted fever

Lyme Disease
Caused by a bacteria
Flu- like in short term, arthritis long term

Platypus
o Three mammal groups: placental, marsupial, monotreme
Mammals are defined as having mammary glands to produce milk
o Live in river banks in Australia
o Their bills sense electric activity and help them find food
o Lay eggs and have intensive parental care for several months
o Both sexes are poisonous when young but only males retain poisonus spurs
Sexual selection
Pea aphids
o Feed on phloem of peas, beans, clover
o Most common aphid is alfalfa
o In the summer theyre parthenogenic
Reproduce without sex
Only produce females
Produce genetically same as mom (clone)
Because genetically the same, something bad for one is bad for all
Males allow diverse offspring (more likely to be resistant)
Allows for survival
Main predator is the lady bug
Insectivorous Bat
o Sonar allows them to fly at night
o Flying mammal (bats are only one)
o Flight for bats arose differently then it did for birds
Tuatara
o Located at only 30 small islands around New Zealand
o Only species that has distinct wing of evolution (evolutionary tree)
Closer to crocadiles and birds
o Concern to preserve them
o Live to 60 and reproduce at 10
o Slow birth rate
o Humans give females food that increase hormones so they can produce more
o Endangered
Grevy Zebra
o Largest of the 3 zebras (Plain, Mountain, Grevy)
o Male guarding territory
Females go through male territory and males in that territory tries to mate with her
Mountain= 5 or 6 females per 1 male (small harem)
Plain= large herds (large harem)
o Grevy has largest testes/ weight

Natural Selection in the Wild

o Rosemary grant worked on Dapne Major
During drought season seed abundance decreased
And the seeds become became really hard
During draught bill size increased (bill depth)
Heritability of Bill Depth
Sexual Selection
o NS but on traits regarding sex
o NS on traits that increase quantity or quality of males
o Males (more mates)
Compete with other males
Attract more mates
o Females (better mates)
Provide better resources
Better genes
Most amount of children a female has had is 69
Drivers of Evolution
o Genetic Drift
Change in the genetic make up of a population caused by random chance (not
natural selection)
In natural selections, traits must affect fitness, but not with genetic drift
Most important for small populations
Leads to loss of genetic diversity
Example
Red/blue geterozygote couples have 2 offspring; how many red genes do
you expect in the generation
Important for endangered populations
o Evolutionary Adaptations
Trait favored by natural selection
Example: beak depth in finches
Trait must be heritable
Adaptations increase relative fitness; there is an implied comparison
o Whether or not a trait is an adaptation depends on the
environment the same trait can be beneficial in one
environment and detrimental in another
Example sickle cell anemia
o In areas with high malaria prevalence, the sickle cell gene stays in
the population
Industrial Melanism
Until Industrial Revolution, moths in England were all light colored to blend
in with trees
Pollution on trees made them dark, and light color moths were then easy
to see by birds

o Resulted in a change in the color frequency of moths

o After pollution was controlled, frequency of different colored
moths changed again
Mimickry
Viceroy and Monarch are not closely related but look very similar
One or both species benefit by trained predators
o Resistance Evolution
Human driven
Insecticide resistance
Number of resistant species sharply increased after humans started
creating toxins
First case: San Jose scale bug 1908
o Insecticide killed a great number of individual scale bugs which is
a condition for rapid selection
Multiple drug-resistant Tuberculosis: how did it become so difficult to treat?
Treatment is long term and intensive, many people did not complete
treatment
Remaining bacteria are most resistant, and they survive to reproduce
o Coevolution
Simultaneous and interactive evolution of 2 or more species
2 species evolving
evolution of the first effects the second
evolution of the second effects the first
Maintaining genetic diversity
o A lot of these mutations are neutral
Balance between mutation and genetic drift
o Balancing selection
Natural Selection acts on individuals, not for the good of the species
o There can be a trait thats bad for the species
o Only selection for individuals within a species
o No traits that would save a species
Speciation
o Biological Species Concept: Species are organisms that freely interbreed in nature and
produce fertile offspring
o Speciation is the permanent genetic isolation of population in natural conditions
o What feature of carion flies make it easiest to distinguish species male genetalia
o Speciation in the wild
Divisions among species are not always clear because speciation is an active
process
o Phylogeny
Pattern and timing of speciation
Evolutionary tree
Phylogenies form fossil record fine for general patterns and groups with fossils

Phylogenies from characters (traits or DNA)

Key characters- vertebrae, boney skeleton, limbs, hair, etc.
o Geographic (Allopatric) speciation Speciation that occurs when biological populations of the same speciation become
isolated from each other to an extent that prevents them mating
Snapping shrimp
Ishtmus of Panama arose 3 million years ago
Adaptive Radiation
o Speciation of a lineage into diverse ecological forms
o Fruit flies in Hawaii
o More species move quickly and variation among (chart in discussion notes)
Evolutionary Convergence
o When species from different evolutionary lineages share similar traits
o Very similar types of selection or something like that
o Convergent evolution between jackrabbit and kit fox
o Convergent evolution between placental mammals and marsupials
o species from different evolutionary lineages share similar traits
Macroevolution
o Evolution of individual species
o Speciation and extinction
o Biological diversity depends on speciation and extinction
o Species reflect evolutionary history, because evolution works from what already exists
1.Characteristics reflect natural selection (convergence)
2.Characteristics reflect evolutionary history (development)

Summary of Evolution
o Evolution is a scientific fact
o Natural selection- variability, heritability, and differential fitness
o Natural selection acts on individuals but is measured by changes in the genetic makeup of
populations
o Natural selection leads to adaptions
o Speciation = permanent genetic isolation
o Evolution has no purpose
Ecology Test 3 Notes
Organisms of the Day
Polar Bears
o Almost exclusively meat eaters
Main prey is seals
o Females milk has high fat content
o Mate in spring but give birth in winter
o Fur is hollow and colorless
Allows light to penetrate black skin

o Conservation concern: shrinking ice pack reduces feeding time and leads to drowning
Sea Lamprey
o Jawless fish
Ancient group of early vertebrate
Cartilaginous skeleton
o Complex life history
Juveniles filter feed in streams and rivers
Adults parasitize fish (sea or lake)
Spawn back into streams and rivers
o Invasion of Great Lakes
Migrated through Erie Canal
Currently in all Great Lakes
o Consequences of Invasion
No natural predators
Larger than native lamprey
Pops of lake trout drop in 30s and 40s
Alewives pop explodes following loss of predators
Muskox
o Related to sheep/goats
o Winter: in the high arctic due to lower snowfall; group sizes of up to 50 for herd protection
o Summer: move southward and have mixed diet; smaller groups
o Historic populations in Asia, Europe, and North America
Locally extinct due to climate change and hunting, but re introduced into Europe
and Canada
Alpine Lichen
o Fungus and algae mutualism
Fungus traps algae and provides nutrients and moist environment
Algae performs photosynthesis and provides sugars for energy
Fungus farms algae: no one specific species of algae
o Grow very slowly used for dating
Typical of the tundra
o Efficient at getting nutrients, even out of the atmosphere
o Took up radioactive nutrients, which were transferred to reindeer and eventually to humans
in high latitudes
Atlantic Puffin
o Not good flyers, fish eaters
o Spend life at sea but come back to breed
o Males slightly larger
o After chicks hatch, go to sea
Global Biomes and Global Problems
Biome

o General category of ecological community

o Determined largely by temperature and rainfall on land, and by temperature and depth in
oceans
o How biomes are categorized is variable
Primary Production
o Rate of plant production of biomass
o Combines rate of photosynthese of all photosynthetic organisms in an area
o Rate at which plant community translates light energy into biomass
Biodiversity
o Number of species
o Many measurements of diversity; one example is number of species
o Changes hugely from arctic to tropics
Its colder at poles than tropics because sunlight is more intense at the tropics
o Because earth is a sphere (sunlight rays go parallel)
o Less energy hits poles
Why is it warmer in summer than winter at higher lattitudes
o More hours of sunlight, sin rises higher in the sky
What is the main cause of winds?
o Differential heating and cooling in geographical locations on earth
Climate and World Biomes
Climate: rainfall, wind, and temperature
o Temperature: the tropics receive more direct sunlight than the poles, which is why the
tropics are warmer than the poles
o Seasonality: the summer has more hours of sunlight and the sun gets higher in the sky
Tilt of the earth creates different number of daylight hours
Light comes in more perpendicular to earth
Water buffers temperature change difference in extreme temps in north
and south hemispheres
o Winds: caused by the differential heating and cooling of different geographic locations on
earth
Warm air rises and cool air sinks
Air at equator is warm and starts to rise, eventually it cools and settles down at
earth around 30 degrees north and south
Wind patterns drive ocean currents
Cold air holds less water than warm air
Deserts at ~30 degrees north and south
Rainfall patterns of winds coming from sea and rising over mountains
Differential warming and cooling across globe is how you get winds
o Differential heating of earths surface
o Ocean currents are driven by winds and redistribute heat
o Picture in notes
Why does it rain on windward side of mountains and why is it dry on leeward side
o Picture in notes

o Google it
http://www.mpsaz.org/mtnview/staff/yamoreland/class5/powerpoint/files/rain_shadow_effec
t.pdf
More rainfall at equator because more clouds form along it (warmer air)
Terrestrial biomes determined by temp and precipitation
o Cold and wet do not occur together
Arctic and Alpine Tundra
o Tundra characteristics
Arctic- high latitude
Alpine- high altitude
No trees, cold, low rainfall
Arctic= little evaporation
Wet in summer
Soil frozen
Dry in winter
Productivity is low soil formation low
Diversity is low
Has standing water because low evaporation
Permafrost
Ice that is permenantly frozen (even in summer)
Low living plants
Animals- lemming and acrtic foxes
Why are there no trees
Little snow cover
Short and cool growing season
Permafrost
Alpine tundra=
Arctic and alpine climates are different because of seasonality, daily
temperature change, and UV radiation
Large fluctuation
Environmental issues
pix in phone
ANWA
Skaftafell
o SUMMARY
Tundra: cold, fairly dry (low to moderate precipitation), and treeless
Acrtic tundra: high latitude (north or south)
o Little evaporation, can be wet in summer
Soil frozen in winter (functionally dry); drought is common
Alpine tundras: high altitude
o Low productivity and low diversity
Most tundra occurs in northern Russia and Canada

Examples
o Shefferville, Labrador
Lots of erosion because of little growth
Not huge amounts of precipitation, but low evaporation,
so there is a lot of standing water
Permafrost permanently frozen ground, although there
can be soil on top
Lack of trees occurs due to low snow cover, short cool
growing season, and permafrost
Differences between Arctic and Alpine
o Seasonality- sunlight due to latitude
o Daily temperature change- temp changes in arctic is not
substantial
o UV radiation- in alpine areas, little atmosphere cover
Environmental Issues in Tundra
Low productivity= low recovery
Conflicting interests in ANWR
o Coastal plain is under heaviest consideration due to oil drilling
o Continuous discussion about opening up ANWR for drilling
o Coastal plain is near to arctic ocean, which is fairly productive,
important area for wildlife
Conservation of Skaftafell, Iceland
o Not conflicting interests, but conflicting strategies
o Preserving human lifestyle vs, preserving pre-human landscape
o Alaskan lupine: invasive plant species
o Broad agreement that conservation is a goal, but what is
conserved and hot to pay for it can be contentious
Coniferous Forests
o Made up of needle trees
o Boreal forests
o Mountain forests
o Located in northern forests
o Boreal forest- spruce moose
Cols and low moderate precipitation
Low diversity
Low productivity
Acidic needles
Pour soils
Central
Spruce, fir, boring
Southern
More diverse, trees drop leaves (more color)
Typical animal= elk

Lots of bogs
Very acidic
Tollund Man?
Sphagnum Moss
Strong competitor (grows a lot)
Bog succession is so slow
Diagram in notes
o Mountain Coniferous forests
Moderate tree diversity= more varied terrain
Temperate Rain forests
Extreme coniferous forests
Pacific north west
Very high precipitation (20 ft/ year)
Cool summers, mild winters
Highest coniferous tree diversity
Redwood forest, western red cedars, sitka spruce, duglas fir, western
hemlock
Hard to walk through because a lot of dead wood
o Summary
Boreal Forest
Spruce-moose forest
Cold and low moderate rainfall
Low diversity, low productivity
Acidic needles and therefore poor soils
Northern Russia, northern north America (Canada, Alaska)
Bogs in Coniferous Forest
Bog biological activity is very slow
Positive feedback loop: acidic soil nutrient poor soils sphagnum
moss is one of the few things that can grow sphagnum moss lowers pH
of waters around it
Bogs fill in with sphagnum; peat is compacted sphagnum
Mountain Forest
Moderate tree diversity
More varied terrain
o North facing slopes vs. south facing slopes
o Altitude
Temperate Rainforest
Primarily in Pacific Northwest
Cool summer and mild winter due to coast
High rainfall
Highest coniferous tree diversity

Nurse Log: important for regrowth of forests; trees grow out of trunk of
fallen trees
o Environmental Issue
Logging
Converting natural forest into a managed forest
o Straight compact trees, stay for about 60 years
Conflicting interest on public land
Deciduous Forests
o Temperate, tropical
o Wisconsin, east coast, Russia, china
o Tropical- costa rica, brazil
o Strong seasonal environment
o Can be temperate or tropical but most importantly must be seasonal
o Moderate productivity
o Moderate Diversity
o Distinct seasons, trees drop their leaves
o Why do deciduous trees (which drop their leaves) live in warmer climates than coniferous
trees?
Broad leaves= more efficient for photosynthesis (2x more)
Cost to a tree dropping its leaves- lose mass
Length of growing season in warmer climates- longer
Google
By having longer growing season beach can take advantage of the leaves
o Local plant diversity depends on local environment diversity (true for all biomes)
o
Ecology Test 4:
Organisms of the Day
Three-toed sloth
o 4 species in New World
o Important herbivores in tropical rain forests
Feed selectively
o Poor quality food source
Have huge stomachs
Move very little
Very little musculature
Low metabolism
o Mutualism with algae
o Mothers carry young on stomach
Cultural transmission of food sources
o Defecate on forest floor 1/wk
Ant Acacia Tree
o Mutualism between Tree and Ant

o Tree produces resources for ants

Hollow thoms
Nectaries: sugar
Beltian bodies: fats and protein
o Ants string and defend the plants
Many tropical trees have toxins
Acacia trees have few chemical defenses
Also protect from competitors
o Mutualistic interaction: tree and ant pair occur together
Lions
o Females do most hunting, but also often take over hyena kills
o Females in prides are related
Unrelated males will kill or drive off males in prides
Incoming males will also kill all possible cubs to force females to become fertile
o Females are receptive for about 3 days each month
Females need stimulation of intercourse for ovulation
All of females in a pride will go into estrus at the same time all males are paired
with a female
600 copulation events/new cub
Desert Locust
o Green form is solitary and red form is swarm forming
Determined by juvenile encounters (hopper bands)
o Distribution: North Africa/ Sahara; swarms can inhibit places with high human density
o Sand needs to be moist for the eggs to survive; need recent rain
Follow pressure system in atmosphere to lay eggs
o Control by insecticide and fungus (biocontrol)
African Elephant
o Largest land mammals
Frequent bone fractures
Few enemies besides human
o Female dominated social groups
Related females remain in the same herd and males join other groups
o Elephants emit calls at low pitches
o Musth: only a single male will enter musth at a time
Even a smaller male can be dominant during musth
Larger males will remain in musth for longer periods of time

Tropical Rain Forests

o Located along the equator
o High rainfall and warm, high diversity, high productivity
o Vegetation structure
o Competition for light
Seedlings and saplings grow very slowly

Gaps in the canopy allow new trees to take their place

Canopy layers
o Epiphytes- plants that live on trees
Use host plant to gain height
Have roots that do not go into soil; often water limited
Are able to live in tropics because air is so moist that can pick up water from the
air
Lianas: vines with very flexible trunks
o Get high into canopy without strong trunks
o Lianas have roots that go into the ground, but top part is most photosynthetic
Strangler fig- figs that exist as vines
o Start life as epiphyte- dispersed into trees and have roots that grow down into the soil
o Strangler figs will wrap around host trees and use their structure
o Grow aggressively and put on branches that shade out host tree
o Very important for food supply because they fruit at times that few other trees fruit
Biodiversity: contain 70% of terrestrial animal and plant species but only 5% of land area
o Most plant/ animals are more diverse near equator
o There is no one single compelling explanation for why diversity is higher in the tropics
Productivity: soils are very nutrient poor
o Low nutrient retention
High rainfall and erosion nutrients washed out
Rapid decomposition, so soils have low humus content
o Tropical plants are adapted to low nutrient soils
Root mats, mycorrhizal fungi, nitrogen fixing bacteria
Deforestation
o Ultimate causes of deforestation are population growth, economics, and poor policies
Islands in Indonesia have different strategies to accommodate population growth
Economic incentives often lead to deforestation
Randonia, Brazil- roads and resettlement of urban poor
Country borders show how policy affects landscape
o Rain Forests contain ~70% of terrestrial species
Land conversion is the main cause of extinctions
Other causes of extinctions: hunting, invasive species
Extinction
o Extinction rate today is 50-500x the natural rate
Mainly due to habitat loss/ deforestation
6th great extinction (from Wilson)
known extinctions are probably the minority
o Threats of extinction not Uniform
Mammals 20%, others between 4-30%
Threats uneven globally, combination of diversity and the human population
o Why care about extinctions?
Economic value (meds, tourism, livelihood)

 Intrinsic/ Ethical/ Inherent Value

Ecosystem Indicators
Genetic Diversity in Food Crops
o 4 crops make up ~50% all calories eaten
o Potato:
o Native to Andes in South America
o 250 varieties in Peru
o Introduced to Europe, caused population growth in 1700s
o Potato blight (1841-1851), 1 million starved
o Some Peruvian varieties are resistant to blight
o Corn in Mexico
o Traditionally plant several varieties
o Zea Mays (2n) crossed with discovered Teosinte Zea diploperennis (2n) which has disease
resistance
o Reserve created to conserve crop diversity
Temperate Grasslands or Prairie
o Asian Steppe: Eastern Europe, Australia, and Midwest US
o Two seasons: hot and cold
o Rich Soil
o Moderate Productivity and Diversity
o Tall Grass (wetter) and short grass (drier)
o Prairie in US West historically diverse in large mammals
o 11,000-12,000 years ago human invasion from Berring Strait
o Animal Adaptations to Prairie life
o Pronghorns amazing stamina
o Hognose snake, pocket gopher, Prairie dogs- underground
o Productivity is weight of new biomass per area
o Grasses have highest productivity per current biomass
o Standing biomass is low, turnover rate is high
o Fire is essential to Temperate Grasslands
o Keeps out trees
o Releases nutrients
o Gets rid of herbivore pests (grasshoppers)
o Plant adaptations to fire
o 2/3 of biomass is below ground
o Growing tissue is close to ground
o Prairies one of the rarest biomes
o <1% tall grass remains
o Rich Soil mostly converted to agriculture
Agriculture
Traditional agriculture uses much less energy investment than modern agriculture, which is
powered by fossil fuels
o Our food system is dependent on external energy sources

The Green Revolution: more food per person now than before due to technological advances
o Chemicals (pesticides)
o Irrigation
o New crop varieties (hybrids)
o Fossil fuels (mechanization and machinery)
Why are people malnourished?
o Distribution of wealth
o Wars and politics
Will there be enough food for the population in 2050?
o Need another 70% food increase to ensure everyone of 9 billion is well fed
o Over last 40 years, has been 150% food increase
Green revolution is showing signs of faltering
o Technological limits, especially to new varieties of crops
Crops are still improving, but at a slower rate
o Limited arable land
Much of undeveloped land is over 6 hours from market
In Asia and middle east, very little undeveloped land
o Land degradation
Soil loss due to erosion and grazing
o Limited water availability
Irrigation was responsible for ~30% of Green Revolution
Chaparral:
Mediterranean and west coast of United States, desert-like area around the coast
o Cool and wet winters but hot and dry summers
o Low productivity due to low rainfall
o Low diversity, but variable
o Fire prone, many seeds need the heat of fire to germinate
o After fires, profusion of new growth
Deserts
30 degrees North and South
o dry by definition, but either hot or cold
o low productivity due to low rainfall
o low diversity, but variable
o Plants must be able to either go without water OR capture it efficiently when it comes in
episodes
Many plants have spines: convergent evolution in extreme climates
o Spines stop the wind from evaporating water
o Trap air next to plant and keeps it more moist
Other plant adaptations: taproots, expandable, gas exchange at night, and quick uptake of water
Animal Adaptations
o Birds produce uric acid rather than urea
All animals have to excrete nitrogenous wastes
Uric acid has little water compared to urea

o Kangaroo rats- can extract water from respiration reaction

Damage to deserts lasts a long time
Pakistan: Sindh Desert
o Heavy irrigation makes agriculture possible BUT problems with increased salt
Ogaila Aquifer: from Texas to South Dakota
o Water is very old because it takes a long time for water to travel from mountains to aquifer
o It is non-renewable because recharge rate is so slow
Southwest USA: California and Arizona
o Water is re routed to reach centers of population
o Most water is used for agriculture
o Small predicted change in precipitation amount but forms of precipitation can be
important snow is a slow release over summer months whereas rain is episodic

Oceans
Productivity in oceans
o Very low productivity between 30 degrees north and south, but a bit by the equator
o High productivity along coasts and close to poles
o ~half of global primary productivity occurs in oceans
Productivity in surface waters is determined by nutrients which have 2 main sources
o Runoff
o upwelling
Test 6
Organisms of the Day
Badgers
American Badger
o Only 1 of 8 species is in North America
o Generally predators: interlocking teeth
o Dig up burrowing prey
o Forced mating by the males, otherwise females wont release eggs
European Badger
o Feed on Earthworms
o Sociality: live in groups
Honey Badger
o Larger and faster then European/ American badgers
o Generally predators
Midges In Lake Myvatin
Live in sediment as juveniles
o Eat algae and detritus
o Build tubes
Mate on land in swarms
o Swarms are mostly males
o Many die on land
Effects on surrounding landscape
o Mygrass- fertilization of plants

o Important food source for birds

Complex population dynamic
o Some years, clouds of midges, and other years, almost none
o Unpredictable population crashes
o Consequence of diatomite mining?
Termites
Build mounds in dry savanna areas
2200 species of termites worldwide
o Closer to cockroaches than ants
Cant outweigh other organisms in the area by mass due to their high density
o Mutualism with bacteria and protozoans
o Able to break down cellulose and access resources that other organisms cannot
Eusocial and have castes
o Only queen reproduces
o Soldier spray out sticky noxious chemical from Nasus, or heavy mandibles
Termites in North America
o Much smaller colonies and queens
o Live in rotting wood (rotting wood is easier to digest)
Salvinia Biocontrol
Salvinia: an invasive aquatic weed
o Forms mats in billabongs
o Salvania weevils that eat both the buds and the vegetative tissue
o Initial biocontrol was successful, but there were still outbreaks
Observed pattern from field work
o At low deinsities, weevil was effective
o Salvinia at high densisties repels weevil because it is dry and poor quality food
Alternative stable states were observed and fitted by a math model
o Flooding caused tipping between states, low to high
Naked Mole Rat
Occur in colonies underground
o Eat roots of plants
o Social digging behavior
o Adapted jaw muscles for digging and eyes to sense wind in order to orient toward burrow
exits
Are Eusocial: all reproduction goes on by queen
o There are worker and helper rats
o Other females are incapable of reproducing due to queens pheromones
o If queen dies, other females can then become sexually mature
Narwhals
Vikings sold horns 13th-18th century
Antidote to counteract poison
The tusk
o Actually a tooth, grows entire life, up to 10ft long, bends up to 1ft

Mostly males, but up to 15% of females

Purpose is uknown
o Sensory organ, male competition, mate choice
Most live in fjords of Canada and Greenland
Small groups (5-10) in winter and groups join together in summer
Natural predators are man, orcas, and polar bears
Major source of death is getting trapped by ice
Vulnerable to climate change
o Altering seasonality of sea ice
o Strong fidelity to feeding grounds
Pronghorn
Found in Western UW and bit of Canada and Mexico
o Only mammal endemic to N America
o NOT an antelope, convergent evolution
Adapted to Mega-Predators of the past
o No current predators
o Can run at 55 mph for mile and 35 mph for miles
o Have largest eye: body ratio in ungulates
Horns (NOT antler or bone)
o Only forked horn
o Made of keratin
o Is shed and can regrow
o Used by males to defend territories
Periodical Cicada
17-13 year period
o among longest living of all insects
o juveniles live underground where they feed on roots of trees
crawl up from underground at night and split open exoskeleton to molt
protection in numbers by predator swamping
o must have long period because predator populations increase
In adult stage, only mate
Why prime numbers?
o Maybe internal clocks
Notes
Oceans
Productivity in oceans
o Very low productivity between 30 degrees north and south, but a bit by the equator
o High productivity along coasts and close to poles
o Almost half of primary productivity occurs in oceans
Productivity in surface waters is determined by nutrients which have 2 main sources
o Runoff
o Upwelling

Pelagic Zone: shallow enough to allow photosynthesis

o Open ocean with light penetration to ~100 meters
o Low productivity due to lack of nutrients; low diversity
o Two main groups of planktonic organisms: phytoplankton (plant like) and zooplankton
(small herbivore/predators)
Shallow benthos: floor of the ocean is in photic zone
o Moderate productivity and moderate diversity
o Substrate types: sandy, rocky, kelp forest
o Kelp forests have same productivity as temp deciduous
Deep Sea: uniformly cold and dark
o Organisms there feed on decaying material floating down from pelagic zone no
photosynthesis
o Low diversity, but not as low as you might guess
o Animals Adaptations: lights, parasitic lifestyles, no pigments, chemosynthetic
Coral Reefs: biodiversity hotspots in tropical waters
o High productivity and diversity (25% of all marine species)
o Symbiotic dinoflagellates on surface of corals
o Atolls- layers of calcium carbonate are laid down faster than volcanoes sink to form ring
shaped reefs
Environmental Issues
o Pollution
Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 in Alaska Exxon paid substantial damages
Historical conceptualization of oceans as so large that they could not be affected
by human dumping
Sewage is often dumped untreated into ocean
o Coral bleaching
Associated with high temperature events
Corals expel dinoflagellates
Corals die after 2-3 years without dinoflagellates
About 10% of worldwide corals have died due to bleaching
o Overfishing
Dramatic rise in fis catch from oceans since 1980s
Increase in catch is due to better technology
Some fisheries are becoming depleted, some are stable, some are increasing
catch
Fisheries are regulated by treaties
Grand Banks: fisheries collapse
Fishery primarily controlled by Canada but with input from United States
Scientists predicted a collapse but politicians could not keep pace with
policy
Tipping Point of harvesting where population may not recover
Estimates put 75% of fisheries at fully or over exploited
Biomes of Wisconsin

o Temperate Grasslands, deciduous forests, boreal coniferous forests

o Prairie Peninsula- climate of southern Wisconsin says that this area should not have a
prairie but it does
Prairie was established in cooler and drier climate and the end of last ice age
Prairies burn often and maintain the prairies through a positive feedback loop,
even through precipitation would make it unlikely to establish now
Many prairies in WI are not restored and burned to maintain
o Various types of deciduous forests
Dry deciduous forest- dominated by oaks
Mesic deciduous forest- maples and beech
Wet deciduous forest- red maples and white pine
Plants on forest floor in southern WI are more tolerant of low temperatures than plants in northern
WI
o Snow insulates forest floor in the north
o Warmer under snow than in air and keeps soil moist
Wisconsin tension zone
o In middle of WI, counties have many species that experience the northern or southern
edge of plant range
o North of the tension zone, constant winter snow cover
Current Patterns of biomes in Wisconsin
o From 1850- present, transformation of agriculture and managed forest
o Northern WI has managed forest that are harvested
o Major divisions are forest, farmland, and urban center
Ecology of Populations
o Questions that are population regulation deal with
Abundance of populations (rarity vs. commonness)
Variability in abundance in populations
Geographical ranges of species
o Carrion flies: one large female can produce 4 adult females, so why does the population
stop growing?
Egg mortaility increases with more eggs on the carcass
Higher densities of eggs per carcass means smaller adult females, which produce
fewer eggs
o Where population, birth rate, and mortality are equal, there will be zero population growth
o Population regulation comes from changes in birth or death rate as population size
changes
Population regulation can arise from either increasing death rate or decreasing
birth rate
However, birth rates and death rates are variable across years so populations
experience natural variation
o Human Population Growth: currently, about 7 billion people
After very long period of stability, large explosion of population due mostly to
agriculture

Population growth is not distributed equally over the world

Several counties (generally more- developed countries) have low growth rates,
even negative
o Population grew greater than exponentially until recently (1960s)
Due to very rapid decrease in mortality
Birth rate hasnt dropped fast enough to keep population growth at zero
o Decrease in Birth rate
Economics
Children are needed in agriculture societies
Transition from children as social security to children as luxuries
Birth control (however, birth rate started declining in many countries before birth
control was available)
o Decrease in human death rate
Medicine and sanitation
Food- green revolution
o Examples of decreased death rate
Most of the elading causes of death have changed
Current big killers: conditions of the aging congential diseases
Species Interactions
o Competition
1 has a negative effect on 2
2 has a negative effect on 1
o Predation
1 has a negative effect on 2
2 has a positive effect on 1
o Mutualism
1 has a positive effect on 2
2 has a positive effect on 1
o Measuring species interactions
Per capita population growth rate: the average number of adult offspring produced
per capita
The negative or positive indicates how the density of one species changes another
species per capita growth rate
Competition
o Competition for resources: both species need certain resources, which are limited
Direct (contest): there is no confrontation or interactions between individuals
Lions and hyenas compete over a kill
Indirect (scramble): exploiting resources
Warbler taking beetle larvae
o Does competition limit the number of species
There are only about 8 species of flies that will be attracted to a mouse carcass in
any given place on earth

o Competitive exclusion principle- two species that use the same resources cannot coexist
forever
Coexistence and Competition
o How do competing species coexist
o 1. Resource partitioning: species use different resources
there are some resources that unique to the competing species, even if some
portion is shared
coexistence is possible when competition within species is greater than
competition between species
no master of all trades in species; there are always tradeoffs
MacArthurs warblers; birds feed in different portions of one tree
o 2. Predation on one or both species
predation is stronger on the better competitor
stops the most competitive species from wiping out their competitiors
predator can prey on both competitors, so long as it is higher on A
Mussels on Tatoosh
Muscles are good competitors on rocky interdial areas
Consumed by starfish
Predation
o Predator (B) has negative impact on prey (A)m and prey has a positive effect on the
predator
Means an increase in the density of A results in a higher per capita growth rate of
B, but higher B means lower per capita growth of A
Includes a disease, herbivory, predation, parasitism
Organisms, throughout their life cycle, can be both predator and prey to the same
other organism
o Why dont predators kill all their prey
Prey defenses
Complex habitats
Predators have their own predators
-Greenhouse gases produced by humans: Carbon dioxide, CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), CH4 (methane)
-Climate fluctuations in the recent past
- Medieval Warm Period (900-1400s)
- allowed Vikings to settle in Greenland (temporarily)
- Recently coldest (17-1800s)
-Napoleon in Russia 1812
- Past changes explained by natural forcings
-Currently globally warmer than has been in past
-Indicators of a HUman Fingerprint on Climate Change
-shrinking atmosphere, less heat escaping to space, cooling stratosphere, more fossil fuel carbon
in the air, more heat returning to Earth, more fossil fuel carbon in coral, nights warming faster than dats,
less oxygen in air
- Climate models give a range of predictions, but generally show increase of 2-5C over next 100 years
-2-5 degree average difference

-5 degree increase= warmest in 100,000 years

-9 degree increase= warmest in a million years
- Rate of change is 10-100x faster than natural (pre-industrial)
- past rapid changes extinctions
Climate Uncertainties
How much CO2 will be in the atmosphere?
Human Production technology, regulation
Carbon Cycling
o Primary producers can respond to increased CO2
o BUT temp increase decomposition and respiration too
o Ocean may absorb some increase
o overall effect difficult to predict
Temperature Feedbacks
o higher temperature more evaporation more clouds
low clouds insulate, but high clouds reflect sunlight
probably slightly decrease temp
negative feedback
Ice melt
less ice decreases reflection
poles will warm more rapidly
positive feedback
Which of the following is likely to have the largest impact on sea level rise?
the melting of the north pole icecap
the melting of the Greenland ice sheet
Thermal expansion of water
The melting of sea ice in the Antarctic Sea
Effects of Climate Change
Rising Sea-Levels
50% ice melt and 50 % thermal expansion of water
1-5 ft by 2100
lose cities and agricultural land
more intense storm surges
More frequent storms
generated by heat differentials
more heat= more energy to be converted to storms
more variability
Agriculture
precipitation most important
mismatches in soil and climate
Conservation
organisms with low dispersal rates most impacted
trees have to move 3-700 miles/100 years
altered timing
Climate is changing in the West
Climate trends

warmer temperatures
earlier spring snowmelt
longer fire seasons
Fire
from 1987- 2003

Ecosystem Ecology
Ecosystem- organisms and their environment (energy and nutrients)
o Energy flows- in and out of the entire Earth, originating from the sun and then radiating
back out into space
o Nutrients cycle- within the Earths system
Why look at Energy flows?
o Energy flows differ among ecosystems
Aquatic vs terrestrial
o Energy gives a common currency
Compare different ecosystems
o There are too many species to consider each separately
Summary of food webs
Food webs are difficult to map accurately
Trophic Levels
o Bottom is primary producers (plants, photosynthetic)
o Next are primary consumers (herbivores)
o Then secondary consumers (predators)
o Primary productivity is the amount of plant biomass added to the system per area per year
Ecological Efficiency- is how the energy is passed on
o The proportion of energy in one trophic level that gets transferred to the next level
o Efficiency in aquatic systems is higher than terrestrial systems
Land plants have a lot of cellulose
More aquatic organisms are cold-blooded
With each higher trophic level, energy is lost
o In terrestrial systems, explains why top predators are rare
o In aquatic systems, efficiencies are higher, there are greater abundances of predators
o The energy flow pyramid in terrestrial systems tapers extremely rapidly
Variation in food pyramids in fisheries depend on where fisheries occur
o Upwellings produce ~100x biomass of fish caught in open ocean
o Biomass in tuna vs. anchovies
o Trophic position explains distribution of fish in oceans
Nutrient Cycles: Carbon
Carbon and energy are tightly coupled
o Both photosynthesis and respiration require carbon
o CO2+ H2O+light carbs +O2 (photo)
o Carbs +O2 CO2+H2O+energy (respiration)
Carbon cycle

o CO2 in atmosphere gets taken up by plants through photosynthese

o Plants die and become litter
o Which is broken down by decomposers
o Which respire and release CO back into the atmosphere
Some CO2 is released through respiration by plants
Some carbon is taken up by animals and respired
Turnover is faster in aquatic systems
o Biomass of zooplankton may be larger than phytoplankton