Ecology The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine distribution and abundance Begon, Harper, Townsend, 2006, Ecology, Blackwell

Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine distribution and abundance Lecture outline The evolution of life and life histories The flux of energy and matter Individuals and populations Ecological communities Positive and negative species interactions Trophic networks Distributions in time Distributions in space Function and diversity The human impact

Literature

Literature

Ecological slideshows http://www.slideshare.net/marglema9/ecology-1 Ecological e-books http://www.ebooksdownloadfree.com/download/ecology-1.html

The manifold of genes or species is called diversity. The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the interactions that determine distribution and abundance Distribution and abundance might relate to genes, individuals, populations, or species The manifold of genes or species is called diversity. Applied to all living beings we speak of biodiversity Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) Number of marine families

Allopatric , peripatric, and sympatric speciation Allopatric speciation is generally slow Species home range Spatial breeding barrier Peripatric speciation might be fast Time Allopatric and peripatric speciation: New species emerge by genetic divergence in geographically isolated regions Sympatric speciation: New species emerge within the same habitat by any other breeding barrier. The include behavioural, resource use, or morphological barriers.

The diversification of species Tinamou South Amercia / Africa Ostrich Tinamou Rhea New Zealand Spotted Kiwi Great Kiwi North Island Kiwi Rhea South Island Kiwi Australia Cassowary Emu 80 Time Cassowary Low diversity of nine species Comparably high genetic diversity Today’s biodiversity is largely caused by evolutionary history and plate tectonics

Zosterops poliogaster Zosterops abyssinicus

Postglacial colonization of Europe We reconstruct colonisation routs by the analysis of genetic diversity across Europe. Because colonising populations are often small they are generically impoverished (founder effect). During the last 10,000 years Central and Northern Europe was recolonised from multiple glacvial refuges where species survived the ice age. The refuges are centres of gentic diversification. Major refuges where: The Maghreb Spain Turkey Sicily Cyrpus Crete Hewitt G.M. 1999. Postglacial recolonisation of European biota. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 68: 87-112.

Postglacial colonization of Europe Carabus auronitens Colonisation gradient Founder effects Ordered genetic loss Popu-lations Relict populations Vicariant (scattered) genetic loss Colonisation gradient The allele - sites matrix is sorted according to allele richness

Postglacial colonisation of European Tenebrionidae (Coleoptera) Reconstruction of postglacial colonisation using phylogenetic relatedness of species Three major colonisation routes Three major postglacial refuges with high numbers of endemics and high rates of glacial speciation

Two niche dimensions of a plant Performance of a species Ecological niches Charles Elton, 1900-1991 Joseph Grinnell, 1877-1939 G Evelyn Hutchinson, 1903-1991 The niche is the role a species plays in a community, rather than a habitat. The niche is the sum of the habitat requirements that allow a species to persist and produce offspring. The niche is an n-dimensional hypervolume, where the dimensions are environmental conditions and the resources that define the requirements of an individual or a species to practise Profession Place Two niche dimensions of a plant Performance of a species Light Suboptimum Optimum Performance Repro-duction Condition Water Growth A given habitat filters species according to the abiotic conditions Survival

A habitat is the place where a species occurs. Specialist species Generalist species Performance Condition Ecological niches emerge from differences in performance along the gradient of habitat conditions Formally a niche is the place of a species within a multidimensional hypervolume spanned by all resources used by this species. Generalist species have relatively broad niches in comparison to specialist species. A habitat is the place where a species occurs. Do not mismatch habitat and niche! Fundamental niche Performance Realized niche Condition

Ground beetles (Carabidae) on Mazurian lake islands The carbon isotope ratio of body tissues (13C ⁄ 12C = δ13C) depends on resource width, while the nitrogen isotope ratio (15N ⁄ 14N = δ15N) increases in insects with trophic level. Ground beetles (Carabidae) on Mazurian lake islands top Trophic position Error bars denote a standard error basal Zalewski et al. 2013, Ann.Zool.Fenn Number of resources Parts of the species are well segregated in trophic niche space, while another part of species highly overlaps in resource use. The plot shows also three different guilds of species with similar resourse use.

Trophic niche spaces in eukaryotes The specific trophic needs of organisms define their trophic niche. Trophic niches are generally not species specific. They are highly variable in time and space. Animals Consumers Carnivores Green plants Herbivores Parasites Producers Fungivores Omnivores Omnivores are animals that feed on other animals and plants Latin Greek Herbivore Phytophage Carnivore Zoophage Fungivore Mycetophage Omnivore Pantophage Saprovore Saprophage Microvore Microphage Bacteriovore Bacteriophage Mineralisers Saprovores Reducers Fungi, slime moulds, animals