1. Third Exam Thursday 4 May 2017
Chapters 11-15, plus 8 readings
Energy
Money
Land
Food
Water
Sewage
Solutions
Space Travel
28th Lecture
November 2017
Final Exam May, PM Welch 1.308

2. Modes of Transmission of Parasites
Biological Control
Oryctolagus x Myxoma
Opuntia x Cactoblastis
Cane Toads
_____________________________________________________________
Darwinian Medicine: Application of an evolutionary approach to medical treatment
Don’t treat symptoms. Distinguish host defenses from parasite manipulation
Coevolution
Pinworms x Primates
Drosophila pachea and Senita cactus
Wild ginger, Asarum caudatum, and slug Ariolimax columbianus
Plant Apparency
Expensive quantitative vs inexpensive qualitative chemical defenses
Janzen’s Seedling Ring Hypothesis Pine squirrels (Tamiasciurus) seed predation and coniferous food trees

3. Community and Ecosystem Ecology Macrodescriptors = Aggregate Variables Compartment models, trophic structure, food webs, connectance, rates of energy fixation and flow, biogeochemical cycles, ecological energetics, ecological efficiency, trophic continuum, guild structure, ecological pyramids, successional stages, transition matrix, species diversity, stability, relative importance curves.
Bottom Line. Communities are not designed by natural selection for smooth and efficient function, but are composed of many
antagonists (we need to attempt to understand them in terms of
interactions between individual organisms)

4. Gross Productivity = rate at which plants capture solar energy
Energy Flow and Ecological Energetics
Gross Productivity = rate at which plants capture solar energy
Gross annual production (GAP)
Net productivity = gross productivity minus respiration losses
Net annual production (NAP)
Respiration in tropical rainforest 75-80% of GAP
Respiration in temperate forests % of GAP
In most other communities, it is % of GAP
Only about 5-10% of plant food is harvested by animals
Remainder of NAP is consumed by decomposers
Biogeochemical cycles

5. Biogeochemical Cycle for Calcium
Hydrologic Cycle
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac X

6. Compartmentation Trophic Levels Autotrophs = producers Guild Structure
Heterotrophs = consumers & decomposers
Primary carnivores = secondary consumers
Secondary carnivores = tertiary consumers
Trophic continuum
Horizontal versus vertical interactions
Within and between trophic levels
Guild Structure
Foliage gleaning insectivorous birds
Food Webs
Subwebs, sink vs. source food webs
Connectance [n (n-1)] / 2

8. Energy Flow and Ecological Energetics

9. Energy Flow and Ecological Energetics

10. Energy Flow and Ecological Energetics
At equilibrium (dLi/dt = 0 for all i), energy flow in the system portrayed in the figure may thus be represented by a set of simple equations (with inputs on the left and rate of outflow to the right of the equal signs):
l10 = l01 + l02 + l03 + l04
l10 = l21 + l01 + l41
l21 = l32 + l02 + l42
l32 = l03 + l43
l41 + l42 + l43 = l04

11. Systems Ecology

12. Food Web
R. T. Paine
(1966)
Chiton Patella Mytilus Balanus Mitella

13. Food Web
Bottom Line

14. Food Webs
Kirk Winemiller

16. Ecological Pyramids (numbers, biomass, and energy)
Pyramid of energy
Measures of standing crop versus rates of flow

18. Secondary Succession

19. Institute Woods in Princeton
25, 65, 150, 350 year-old stands

20. Transition Matrix for Institute Woods in Princeton 11 species of trees
_________________________________________________________________________
Canopy Sapling Species (%)
Species BTA GB SF BG SG WO OK HI TU RM BE Total __________________________________________________________________________
BT Aspen
Gray birch
Sassafras
Blackgum
Sweetgum
White Oak
Red Oak
Hickory
Tuliptree
Red Maple
Beech
__________________________________________________________________________
BTA in next generation = 0.03 BTA SF BG Grand Total = 3286
Henry Horn

21. Distributions of Trees Observed in 4 Forests and Predicted Climax
__________________________________________________________________ __________________
Age (years) BTA GB SF BG SG WO OK HI TU RM BE __________________________________________________________________ __________________
Predicted
climax
Data from the
Institute Woods in Princeton (Horn 1975)
Henry Horn

22. Diversity and Community Stability
Diversity and Community Stability Saturation with Individuals and with Species Species Diversity = Biodiversity Species Density or Species Richness Relative Abundance/Importance Equitability

23. Species Diversity, Relative Abundance. Species. Site A. Site B. A. 10
Species Diversity, Relative Abundance Species Site A Site B A B C D E F G H I J

24. Relative Abundance / Importance
Ways two systems can differ in diversity
Relative Abundance / Importance

25. All 10 Sites: Total Number of lizards: 20,990
Total numbers of lizards of 67 species
collected on 10 desert study sites from
plotted against their ranks in
relative abundance. The 12 most common
species (blue) are named, along with 7 of
the 54 less common to rare species (green,
red).
Samples exceed 30 for 48 of the 67 species.

26. Latitudinal Gradients in Species Richness

29. From: Schall and Pianka
1978 Science 201:

34. Latitudinal gradients in diversity
Time theories, degree of saturation with species
Climatic stability and climatic predictability, niche breadth
Spatial heterogeneity, range of available resources
Productivity and stability of productivity
Competition —> specialization, narrow niches, higher diversity
Disturbance, intermediate disturbance hypothesis, niche overlap
Predation-induced diversity (Paine’s Pisaster experiment)

36. Productivity Hypothesis

37. Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

40. Tree Species Diversity in Tropical Rain Forests
Seed Predation Hypothesis Nutrient Mosaic Hypothesis Circular Networks Hypothesis Disturbance Hypothesis
(Epiphyte Load Hypothesis)