1 Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Wet outdoor lab – wear closed-toed shoes Week of Sept. 29 Oct. 3 Exam 1 Week of Oct. 6 Indoor lab – bring calculator Week of Oct. 13 No labs – Fall Break Week of Oct. 20 Wet, muddy outdoor lab – wear closed-toed shoes

2 Outline for organisms Introduction and review of adaptation What do organisms need to survive and reproduce? How do organisms cope with variability? -example of variability in food resources

3 optimal foraging theory – organisms will forage in a way that maximizes energy intake per time while minimizing risk In lab – had to forage in way that maximized bean capture and minimized getting tagged by predator

4 Central place foraging - bigger area, more food - bigger area, more travel time

5 Figure 9.16

6 Figure 9.17

7 Figure 9.18 Do starlings forage optimally?

8 Risk-sensitive foraging - balancing benefit of food with cost of predation

9 Figure 9.19 Should an organism risk predation to forage in an area with a lot of food?

10 1. Which of the following biomes have water deficits during the growing season? a. tundra b. desert c. woodland/shrubland (chaparral) d. both b and c 2. Only one of the following lists correctly ranks four terrestrial biomes from most to least productive. Which is it? a. tropical rain forest, temperate seasonal forest, savanna, tundra b. tropical rain forest, temperate seasonal forest, tundra, savanna c. temperate seasonal forest, tropical rain forest, tundra, savanna d. temperate seasonal forest, tropical rain forest, savanna, tundra e. temperate seasonal forest, savanna, tropical rain forest, tundra

11 3. Of the following types of adaptations, which is/are reversible? a. developmental b. behavioral c. physiological d. both a and c 4. On an island off the east coast of central Africa, wind blows over the Indian Ocean from the east and then goes over a tall mountain range that runs from north to south down the length of the island. As a result, a. tropical seasonal forests occur on the east side of the island, and tropical rainforests occur on the west. b. tropical rainforests occur on both sides of the island. c. tropical rainforests occur on the east side of the island, and tropical seasonal forests occur on the west. d. tropical seasonal forests occur on the east side of the island, and woodland/shrublands occur on the west.

12 5. Which of the following systems has the most clearly defined boundaries? a. organism b. population c. community d. ecosystem e. all of the above have clearly defined boundaries 6. Which of the following phenomenon triggers an ENSO (El Niño- Southern Oscillation) event? a. development of an unusually cold high-pressure air mass in the Antarctic region b. a volcanic eruption, which cools global climate by several degrees Celsius c. reversal of high and low pressure areas in the equatorial central Pacific Ocean d. any of the above can trigger an ENSO event.

13 7.The formulation of hypotheses represents a critical step in the scientific process. In the simplest terms, what is a hypothesis? a. an explanation b. an experiment c. an observation d. a proven fact 8. Coral reefs can be found on the southeast coast of the United States but not at similar latitudes on the southwestern coast. Differences in which of the following most likely account for this? a. sunlight b. salinity c. day length d. ocean currents

14 9. Many populations of different species living in the same place make up an ecological __________. 10. The earth's atmosphere circulates in massive belts, three each in the northern and southern hemispheres. These belts account for some climate variability and are referred to as __________.

15 Structure of course Environmental variability Organisms Ecosystems Populations Species interactions Communities Applied Ecological Issues

16 Outline for ecosystems Introduction How does energy move through an ecosystem? How does matter move through an ecosystem?

17 Ecosystem – communities of organisms and the physical and chemical components of their environment Ecosystem approach – focus is on movement of energy and matter through different compartments of ecosystems

18 Questions asked by ecosystem ecologists How productive are ecosystems? What controls their productivity? How are primary and secondary productivity related? How are nutrients transformed and cycled in ecosystems?

19 Ecosystem services / ecosystem functions -processes carried out in ecosystems that benefit humans - e.g., food production, nutrient regeneration, degradation of pollutants, erosion control

20 Ecosystem Management - process of sustaining ecosystems, their processes, and the services they provide for future generations

21 Ecosystem Management 1. People must manage ecosystems 2. Ecosystem processes and services can be reasonably self-sustaining under some but not all management regimes.

22

23 Figure 6.3 Biomass = stored energy = energy lost Gross production Net production

24 Figure 6.8

25 Net photosynthetic efficiency = percentage of energy from sunlight that is converted to net primary production.