Ecology Exam III

Grass (Few Trees)

10-30 inches Rain

Rolling/Flat

Warm Summers and Cold Winters

Vegetation

Grasses and Forbs

Greatests Productivity per Unity Standing Crop

High Root/Shoot Ratio

1.  Cultivated

2.  Successional

3.  North American Grasslands

4.  Eurasian Steppes

5.  South American Pampas

6.  South African Veldt

7.  Australian Grassland

Tall-grass pairie – Big Bluestem, Needlegrass, legumes, composites, squirrels, gophers

Mixed-grass pairie – Needlegrass-grama, bison, pronghorn, antelope

Short-grass prairie – blue grama, buffalo grass, prairie dogs

Desert grassland – SW US, N Mexico, Bunchgrasses

Annual grassland – San Joaquin Valley, CA

Palosue Prairie – b/n Rocky Mtns and Cascades, cool season bunchgrasses, sagebrush

Grass with Scattered Woody Vegetation

Wet/Dry Seasons

Tropics/Subtropics

Central and Southern Africa

Mammals

Wildebeest, Leopard, Lion, Zebra, Giraffe, Elephants, Cheetah, Rhino, Hyaena, Termites, Bunchgrasses

Arid/Semi-Arid Regions

Types of Shrubland

Mediterranean – Hot dry summers, cool wet winters, sclerophyllous Vegetation

North American Chaparral – thicket of Shrubby Evergreen Oak, Active in Winter, Dormant in Summer, Scrub ak, Chamise

Northern Desert Scrub – Cold Desert of Great Basin, Sagebrush

Heathlands – Heath-like plants, sclerophyllous vegetation, Arctic Regions, NW Europe

Successional – Sumac, Alder, and Willow

Animals of a Given Region or Area

Jackrabbit, coyotes

Found in Chaparral and Desert Shrubs

< 10 Inches of Rain

Hot Summers

Poor Soil

Low Productivity

North America

    Great Basin – Cold Desert, Sagebrush

    SW US – CAM Plants, Cactus (Giant Saguaro),        Yucca, Ephemeral Species, Lizards, Snakes,            Coyotes, Spadefoot Toda, Rodents (Kangaroo         Rat)

Treeless, Cold, Short Growing Season

Arctic – permafrost, dwarf shrub and heaths, lichen, moss, chusion plants, grass, and sedge

Alpine – no permafrost, wetter than Arctic

Western Mountains – Cushion, mat-forming plants, Marmots, Mountain Goats, Bighorn Sheep, and Pika

Appalachian – heaths and sedge meadows

Tropical – Rosette Plants

1. Taiga
2. Montane
3. Southern Pine
4. Temperate Rainforest

Boreal Forest

Not very productive

(little plant biomass produced each year)

Not very Diverse

Vegetation

Spruce, Fir, Larch, Pine, Birch, Aspen, Lichen, and Moss

Central Europe – Norway Spruce, Scots Pine

Rocky Mountains – Engelmann Spruce, Subalpine Fir, Douglas-fir, Ponderosa & Lodgepole Pines

Sierra Nevada & Cascades – Red Fir, Lodgepole Pine, Giant Sequoia, Sugar Pine, Ponderosa

Coastal Plains – Pine

    Pine Barrens (NJ) – Dwarf Pine: pitch pine, dwarf blackjack oak

Southeastern Mixed – Oak and Pine

Pacific NW – Douglas Fir, Redwood (CA), Ferns, and Mosses

Fauna – Bear, Moose, Mountain Lion, Squirrel, and White-tailed Deer

1. Temperate Deciduous Forest
2. Temperate Evergreen Forest
3. Temperate Woodlands

Asia

Eupore – Beech, oak, ash, birch, elm

North America – hemlock, northern hardwood forest, central hardwood forest

Southern Slopes – Oak and Chestnut

Northern Slopes/Cloves – Tulip tree, high diversity of temperate tree species

Ozarks – oak and hickory

Australia – Eucalyptus forest

Gulf Coast and Florida Everglades – Magnolia, live oak, Spanish moss, Palm

Regions:

Amazon Basin, Indo-Malaysian, West & Central Africa

Warm, Constant Temperature with 60 to 160 inches of rain

Flora – Broadleaf evergreen trees, Epiphytes, Lianas

Vegetation structure/stratification:

    Feeding Layers, Most Productive Ecosystem,         Infertile soil, nudtrients are in the vegetation     not soil, Organic matter decomposes quickly,     no significant litter layer

Shorter Trees with gnarles limbs

More even canopy

Transitional – less rain, temperature more variable

Few trees lose leaves during dry period

> 40 % tropical Forest

Most tropical forests are not rainforests

distinct wet and dry seasons

plants lose leaves during dry period

Zones are relative to Light Compensation Points

Limnetic – Light Penetrates

Profundal – Deep water, without Light

Wanderer

Zoo Plankton – Rotifers, copepods

Phytoplankton – Blue-green Algae, Green Algae, Diatoms

Free Swimming Organisms

E.g. Fish, large Invertebrates

Organisms associated with Surface of Lake

E.g.  Water striders

Bottom (on or in)

Zones

Profundal benthos

Littoral benthos

Shoreline

Types:  Muddy and Oozy, Rocky and Sandy Shores

1. Emergent – e.g. reeds, cattails, bulruches
2. Floating – rooted – e.g. water lilies, pondweeds
3. Free-floating – (surface) – e.g. duckweed
4. Free-floating – (submerged) – e.g. hornwort
5. Submerged-rooted – e.g. Chara, Elodea

1. Bare bottom and Open Water – pioneer stage
2. Submergent Vegetation and Phytoplankton (Algae)
3. Emergent Vegetation
4. Temporary Pond
5. Marsh
6. Grassland – Prairie, meadow
7. Forest

Insects:

Dragonflies, mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, midges, backsimmers, water strider, and diving beetle

Fish

1. Light
2. Temperature

Light:

     Zones: euphotic, disphotic, and aphotic

     Light Compensation Point

Temperature

Thermal Stratification: epilimnion, metalimnion, hypolimnion

Dimictic Lakes: 2 mixing periods/overturns

1. Glaciers – e.g. Kettle Lakes
2. Ice Scour – e.g. Finger Lakes, Great Lakes
3. Tectonic Lakes – e.g. Rift Lakes, Lake Tahoe
4. Volcanic Lakes – e.g. Crater Lake
5. Riverine Lakes – Oxbow Lakes, Floodplain Lake
6. Coastal Impoundment – e.g. Coast of S Africa
7. Organic Origins – e.g. Hoover Dam

1. Caspian Sea – Largest Inland body of Water
2. Dead Sea – Most concentrated natural salt Lake in world, Lowest point on Earth
3. Great Salt Lake
4. Baikal – Largest (Volume) Deepest
5. The Great Lakes – e.g. Superior (Largest in Surface Area), Michigan
6. Aral Sea

Associated with Estuaries, Flooded daily by tides, High Productivity, Low Diversity, and Food web Changes with Tide

Flora – Saltwater Cordgrass

Fauna – Fiddler Crab, ribbed mussel, and Marsh Periwinkle

Estuaries

E.g. – River deltas, bays, lagoons

Primarily marine, benthic organisms (e.g. Oysters)

Salinity Stratification

Warm, shallow, nutrient-deficient seas

Very productive, high biodiversity

Living Coral, Coralline red algae, foraminifera, mollusks

1. Surface Water
2. Channels
3. Slope or Gradiant

Stream Orders from 1 to 3 = Headwater Streams

Stream Orders from 4 to 6 = Mid Size Streams

Stream Orders from 6 and Above are Larger Streams

1. Nile – Longest River
2. Mississippi/Missouri River – 12 miles shorter than Nile
3. Amazon River – Widest River
4. Colorado – Drains into the Pacific Ocean
5. Columbia/Snake
6. St. Lawrence

1. Flow
2. Pools and Riffles

Flow:

Must be moving and it Meanders

Water flows the fastest in the Center of the River

1. Sandy Benthic
2. Bedrock Benthic
3. Gravel and Rubble Benthic – Most productive becuase of small spaces for small organisms to hide

1. CPOM – Coarse Particulate Organic Matter – Size is anything > 1 mm in Diameter (e.g. trees, woods, plants, leaves)
2. FPOM – Fine Particulate Organic Matter – Size range from .5 mm to 1 mm (e.g. invertebrates that live in small spaces)  Some of these particles can actually move out and dissolve into UPOM
3. UPOM – Ultrafine Particulate Organic Matter – Size is < .5 mm and Particles generally do not dissolve at this level