Intro Chapter- The Biosphere

Biosphere: the combination of all ecosystems on the planet

Biota- the sum of all living things
Ecotone- boundary
Biomes- large regions characterized by similar climate, soil, plants and
animals- regardless of where they are found.
o Largely dictated by climate and soil
Climate- a regions long term atmospheric conditions
o Tilted earth axis causes seasons
o Climate varies predictably
Warm, moist air rises, cools, condenses and falls as rain
Rainforests found near equator
Major deserts found near 30 N/S
Coriolis effect- as the earth rotates, the tangential velocity at the equator is
greater than the poles
o Objects travelling from the equator (north or south) has greater
velocity than the earth underneath
Warm Currents- carry water away from equator on the surface- less salty
Cold Currents- carry denser water away from the poles toward the Equatorsaltier
Change Biology
o Deserts stayed deserts
o Woodlands declined
o Grasslands became agriculture
Soil
o O Layer- Organic Layer- freshly fallen organic material
o A- mixture of minerals, clay, silt and sand
o B- Clay, humus, and other materials from the A horizon- often contains
plant roots
o C- Weathered parent material. Rock fragments/bedrock

Water Biogeo

Biosphere- 71% of surface water

o Ocean- 97
o Ice caps/glaciers- 2
o Freshwater 1
Lakes
o Lentic systems- not flowing
Thermoclime- a layer of water that divides temperature
fluctuation in large water bodies
o Oligotrophic- Have oxygen/lots of life
o Eutrophic- no oxygen/no less
o Too much nutrients leads to poor water quality/low oxygen levels
Rivers
o Lotic systems

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Size driven by watershed (Drainage area)

Have a hierarchical structure and stream/river orders
Riffle/Run/Pool
Riparian zone- interface between land and a stream/river
Water column
Benthic Zone (most biological activity)- lowest level of water, at
a streambed
Hyporheic Zone (groundwater/surface water interaction)
Phreatic Zone- aquifer
River continuum concept
Lotic system processes change in a downstream direction
Higher nutrient input in headwaters
Headwaters are more diverse
Lower down, we have more nutrients TOTAL

Carbon=Net Primary Productivity

Higher NPP = Higher amounts of stored Carbon
As plants photosynthesize, they accumulate carbon
Estuaries, Salt Marshes and Mangrove Forests- characterized by
junctions of river and sea or along low-lying coastal areas

Speciation

Hardy-Weinberg Rule
o Assumptions:
No gene flow between populations
Mutations are negligible
Population size is large (infinite) no genetic drift
Mating is random
Natural selection is not operation on populations
o Directional/Stabilizing/Disruptive Selection
Speciation
o Ecological Speciation: divergent natural selection drives the evolution
of reproductive isolation between taxa.

Appearance isnt everything

Ring species- ones where distributions form a ring, but
overlap at ends (slight differences, but still reproduce
together)
Chronospecies- different stages in the same evolving lineage
that existed at different points in time
Biological Species Concept
Members of populations that actually or potentially interbreed in
nature
Phylogenetic Species Concept- Phylogeny of a group determines
species status
Ring Species would be considered a single species
Morphological Species Concept- Species identified based on
characteristics
How speciation occurs
Allopatric- speciation by geographic isolation
Dispersal, environmental barrier, physical barrier
Sympatric speciation- specified niche
Organisms adapt to different resources within the same
geographic region
Parapatric speciation
Populations in geographic proximity, but ranges do not
overlap entirely.. No barrier, but population does not mate
randomly.

Island Biogeography

Islands created by plate tectonics and volcanos

There can also be islands within continents
o Sky Islands
o Endemic Species- one that is found only in that region and nowhere
else in the world
Became isolated by habitat type and eventually stopped
interbreeding
o Anthropogenic change- Islands created by:
Urbanization
Agriculture
Deforestation
Remnant habitats
How do species arrive? They immigrate, of course!
How do they leave? They emigrate!
How do they survive? Niche partitioning, because of a lack of resources,
island species are very specialized
Island Biogeography Theory
o Number of species on an island becomes constant with time
o Constant number should be a result of a continual turnover of species

Some going extinct, some immigrating

o Large islands should support more species than small islands
o Species number should decline with increasing island remoteness
Larger islands offer more habitat- but they are still islands, so you must be
innovative to survive
So Larger or more connected islands offer more habitat.
o Eventually, islands will reach an equilibrium, regardless of habitat or
isolation
Immigration and extinction rates will dictate how many species
can live on that island

Abundance and Diversity

Species- a group of organisms capable of interbreeding

Species richness- number of species that occur within the community
Species evenness- the relative abundance of rare and common species within
a community- so, if you have 2 members of 4 species, thats better than
having 5:1:1:1
o Sign of ecosystem health- no one species dominating the ecosystem.
Species diversity- a communities species richness and evenness is considered
diversity
Simpsons index- calculates species diversity
Shannons-Weiner Index- Measures the uncertainty of diversity
o If the community is dominated by one species, uncertainty of
prediction is low
o AKA- if you pick a species from a hat, it will most likely be the dominant
species
Rank Abundance Curveso Provides a measure of species abundance
o Long lines equate to greater species evenness/richness
4 Hypotheses on how species diversity is formed
o Time/Stability- Diversity is related to amount of time area has been
around and undisturbed
o Area- the larger the land area- more species diversity
More organisms = more populations
More populations = more opportunities for diversity
o Productivity
More energy = more biomass
More biomass = more diversity
o Metabolic hypothesis
Temperature drives faster metabolism
Faster metabolism = faster mutation rates
Faster mutation rates = faster change, higher diversity
Diversity = Stability
Disturbance can affect diversity
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis

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Frequent, moderate levels of disturbance promote higher levels of

species diversity
Certain species prefer less disturbance, certain species prefer more
Can alter species richness and abundance

Community Ecology

Community- interacting species inhabiting an area

Community Structure- number of species, relative abundance and kinds of
species
Guild- Group of organisms that exploit the same resource in similar ways
Dominant/Foundation Species- Species with substantial influence on
communities due to high biomass
Keystone Species- A species that has a disproportionate impact on a
community, relative to its abundance
Trophic levels- feeding groups of organisms that are partitioned by where
energy is derived
o Top down control of productivity- carnivores depress herbivore
populations that would otherwise consume most of the vegetation
o Trophic Cascade- changes in abundances of organisms at one trophic
level can influence energy flow at multiple trophic levels
o Bottom-up control of productivity- the abundance of organisms at a
trophic level is determined by the rate of food production for them to
eat.
Organismic Concept of Communities
o Each species represents an association with other organisms
o Organisms live together and interact to form communities
Individualistic concept of communities
o Relationships among species is due to similar habitat requirements
o Communities are a coincidence of species doing their own thing
Sorensons Coefficient of community CC = 2 (species common to both) (sc1 +
sc2).

Life History

What
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causes life histories to evolve? Allocation of energy

Energy needed to live and reproduce
Result of extrinsic (outside) and intrinsic (inside organism) factors
Extrinsic- how environmental factors affect survival and reproduction
When do you breed and die
Ecology
o Intrinsic- trade-offs among traits
Genetics, phylogeny, developmental, and physiology
What dictates when born and die
Reproduce early because you are likely to die young
Age of Maturity

Natural selection will favor the age at maturity that results in the
greatest # of offspring produced over a lifetime
4 Trade Off Assumptions
o Older first-time parents have offspring with better survival rates
o Older first time parents are generally larger
o Advantages of later maturity are counterbalanced with faster maturity
o Populations are trying to reach evolutionary equilibrium advantages
and disadvantages of maturing at a given age come into balance
Two Reproductive Modes
o Semelparity
Reproducing once and then dying
o Iteroparity
Reproducing several times, then dying
Parental care vs. number of offspring
o Altricial- born helpless- require parental care
o Precocial- born advanced require little parental care
Selected species
o R-Selected species- life history dominated by intrinsic rate of increase:
reach maturity quickly, high fecundity- produce many small offspring
o K-selected species- life history affected more by resources and
competitive advantage: mature later of at a larger size, produce fewer,
larger offspring
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