G1 COMMUNITY ECOLOGY

G.1.1 Outline the factors that affect the distribution of plant species, including temperature, water, light, soil pH, salinity and mineral nutrients.

Sand dunes are a community of plants and animals which are interacting with the environment and each other. There is a progression of conditions on these dunes. Lets consider this community to illustrate how these abiotic factors can affect the distribution of plants.

Temperature and water:

The temperature of the fordune can be very hot in the summer and there is little water. Marram grass is well adapted to these conditions. The temperature on the mature dune is much cooler and conditions more moist, so the variety of plant species is more numerous.
A common plant that lives here is a fern, which have adaptations to live in the low temperatures and moist conditions of the mature dune.

Light
Marram grass must live in conditions where sunlight is constantly available. It does not have wide leaves for catching sunlight, instead it has leaves to reduce water loss. Ferns are found in the shady areas on the mature dune. They have wide leaves to capture the small amount of light which filters through.

Soil pH:
In the yellow dune, the soil pH is about 7.5. Marram grass, still dominant here, thrives at this pH. In the grey dune, soil had formed from the decomposition of grasses over the years.
This is an older dune with more soil. This soil is more acid, so acid loving plants thrive here.

Salinity:
Foredunes catch salt spray from the ocean. Marram grass and Lyme grass live in this salty environment. On the grey dune, where conditions are much less salty, you see small shrubs, mosses and lichens which cannot tolerate salinity.

Mineral nutrients:
The grey dune shows some diversity of plants. It is older than the yellow dune and foredune and contains some mineral nutrients in the soil. As you increase the levels of mineral nutrients, as you progress across the dunes, you will see a greater diversity of plants. By the time you reach the mature dune, which has been there longest, then you can support large plants.

G.1.2- Explain the factors that affect the distribution of animal species, including temperature, water, breeding sites, food supply and territory
The distribution of animal species is also affected by a range of abiotic factors. We will continue to use the Indiana Dunes habitats previously mentioned. Temperature:
Some animals have adaptations which allow them to live in very hot conditions. A sand wolf spider, which lives in the foredune, is adapted to the extreme high temperatures here by burrowing. This is a behavioral adaptation. Woodland spiders, which live in the mature dune, would die at such high temperatures.

Water:
Many animals are specifically adapted for life in the wetlands. These are the dune ponds. The Blue Heron lives here and catches small fish and frogs in these wetlands, they are not found on the sandy foredune. Woodpeckers live on the mature dune, and do not depend on the water of the dune ponds.

Breeding sites:
Animals have specific needs for breeding sites. Habitat destruction can interfere with their ability to reproduce. Blue Herons breed by their food supply. If these wetlands were not present then the heron would not survive. You find nesting sites of the woodpeckers in the mature dunes.

Food supplies:
Many animals are adapted to feed on specific food and must live where that food supply is available. Other animals are more wide ranging. Some mammals and raccoons that live in the dunes have the ability to go wherever the food supply is located. Other animals, such as rabbits, only live where their main food supply is located, lick rabbits, which feed on marram grass.

Territory:
Some animals live in a specific area. For example, packs of coyotes mark their territory with scent. The male coyote raises its leg and urinates to mark the area which belongs to the pack. These territories separate groups of coyotes from each other and do not overlap.

G.1.3- Describe one method of random sampling, based on quadrat methods, that is used to compare the population size of two plant or two animal species.

If you want to determine how one population (jack pints) compares to another (oak trees), you want to use a sampling method. Ecologists take a random sample and use it to estimate the total number of organisms. Samples must come from all around the habitat. A quadrat is a square of a certain size. Organisms within the quadrat are counted and these counts are used to determine the population size. Use small if small organisms, large for larger organisms like these trees.

Summary of method for the mentioned species:

Map the entire area of the dune. Determine the size of the quadrats. Place a grid with numbers over the map of the dune area. Choose which squares (quadrats) to sample using a random number table. Count the number of jack pines in each sample quadrat. Count the number of oak trees in each sample quadrat. Calculate the average number of jack pines in the quadrat samples. Calculate the average number of oak trees in your sample quadrats. Multiply the average number of jack pines by the total number of quadrats on your map to get an estimate of the number of jack pines on the pine dune. Multiply the average number of oak trees by the total number of quadrats on your map to get an estimate of the number of oak trees on the pine dune.

G.1.4- Outline the use of a transect to correlate the distribution of plant or animal species with an abiotic variable

Oldest dunes farthest from the beach have had hundreds of years to develop, so walking though the dunes is like waling through time. The transect technique is commonly used for studying how the distribution of plants in an ecosystem is affected by abiotic factors.
At right angles to the sea, lay a tape in a line all the way up the dunes. Every 10 to 20 meters along the tape, mark out a quadrat always using the same size. Identify and count the plant species of interest in each quadrat. Measure the abiotic feature that you have chosen in each quadrat (e.g. temp, light, soil, pH, water, mineral nutrient) You can now determine the pattern of distribution of plant species from the youngest to the oldest dune and see if it correlates with the abiotic factor that you choose.

G.1.5- Explain what is meant by the niche concept, including an organisms spatial habitat, its feeding activities and its interactions with other species.
Every organism in an ecosystem has a particular role in that ecosystem. That is the organisms niche. The concept of niche includes where the organism lives (its spatial habitat), what and how it eats (its feeding activities) and its interactions with other species. Spatial habitat:
Every organism has a unique space in the ecosystem. The area inhabited by any organism is its spatial habitat. The ecosystem is changed by the presence of the organism.

Feeding activities:
The feeding activities of an organism affect the ecosystem by keeping other populations in check, usually though predator prey relationships.

Interactions with other species:

The interactions of an organism with other species living in its ecosystem include competition, herbivory, predation, parasitism and mutualism.

G.1.6- Outline the following interactions between species, giving two examples of each: competition, herbivory, predation, paracitism and mutualism
Competition:
When two species rely on the same limited resource, one species will be better adapted than the other to benefit from the resource. Example 1: Coyotes and red foxes are both predators which eat small rodents and birds. Coyotes inhabit grasslands while the red fox prefers the edges of forests and meadows. Since more forests have been removed, the habitat of the fox is disappearing and is overlapping with the coyote, and eventually one might become extinct. Example 2: Disturbance of a dune area is forcing two toad species to compete.

Herbivory:
A herbivore is a primary consumer feeding on a producer. The growth of the producer is critical to the well-being of the primary consumer. This is an interaction between plants and animals. Example 1: rabbits eat marram grass in the sand dune ecosystem Example 2: Monarch butterfly larvae eat the leaves of the milkweed plant

Predation:
A predator is a consumer eating another consumer. One consumer is the predator and one is the prey. The number of prey affects the number of predators and vice versa. Example 1: The Canadian lynx and the arctiv hare. The lynx preys on the hare, so changes in the numbers of lynx population are followed by changes in the numbers of the hare population. Example 2: The blue heron is a predator on frogs in the ponds of the sand dune ecosystem.

Paracitism Mutualism

G.1.7- Explain the principle of competitive exclusion

The principle of competitive exclusion states that no two species in a community can occupy the same niche. In 1934, the competitive exclusion principle was demonstrated by a Russian ecologist, G.F. Gause. He performed an experiment with two different species in culture. His experiments showed the effects of interspecific competition between two closely related organisms. When each was grown in a separate culture, with the addition of bacteria for food, they did equally well. When the two were cultured together, with a food supply, one culture died out and the other survived, outcompeting the other.

G.1.8- Distinguish between fundamental and realized niches

The fundamental niche of a species is the potential mode of existence, given the adaptations of a species.
It is the complete range of biological and physical conditions under which an organism can live.

The realized niche of a species, however, is the actual mode of existence, which results from its adaptations and competition with other species.
A narrower niche than the species would otherwise encounter.

G.1.9- Define biomass.

Biomass is the total mass of organic matter. Organic matter consists of carbon compounds such as carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Since matter usually also includes water, which is not organic, the material has to be dried. It is measured in g m^-2 yr^-1

G.1.10- Describe one method for measurement of biomass of different trophic levels of the ecosystem.
Measure the total area of the ecosystem. Divide the ecosystem into small areas. The forest can be divided into grids or plots and each plot marked with a stake carrying a number. Choose one plot to sample. Measure the size of each plant species, including trees, (H and D) and low growing vegitation. Cut down all the trees and vegitation on that plot. Dry all the plant samples in a circulating drying oven at 90 degrees C Use a mathematical model to show the relationship between weight and height of each plant species and its biomass. Sample the other plots by measuring the size and height of plants. Cutting down and drying is For the animals in the ecosystem, set traps in the plot and weigh and measure the organisms caught. Use tables to determine their biomass. Average the data for all species per plot. Multiply the average per plot by the number of plots in the ecosystem to discover the biomass of the entire ecosystem. Repeat seasonally or yearly to study changes over time.