mate.

A fruit fly will also vibrate its wings to sing to the female in a
courtship ritual. Pheromones, chemical substances used for
communication, can also serve reproductive and warning purposes.
Associated Learning:
Associative learning is being able to associate an environmental factor
as good or bad. Through habituation, behaviors are learned. In
classical conditioning, a stimulus is associated with an outcome and
response. Social learning involves imitating other members of the
same species to learn behaviors. In operant conditioning, trial and error

Ecology is the study of interactions between organisms and the

environment. Ecology can be studied at various level of the environment
which are as follows. An organism is a single member of a specie.
The population is the group of individuals of the same species in a
given area. The community is a group of populations of all species in
an area. The ecosystem includes the community of organisms in an
area and abiotic factors such as lakes, mountains, temperature, and

is used to associate a behavior with a punishment or reward. Below, a

skinner box is used, and the mouse learns to pull the lever to receive
food (operant example above).

Chapter 51: Animal Behavior

Behavior is any response to an environmental stimulus. These
responses are carried out by muscles that receive messages from the
nervous system. Ethology is the study of this animal behavior. Behavior
is subject to selective pressure. Tinbergens four questions to help
understand animal behavior are
1. What is the stimulus and how is the response carried out?
2. How does an animals life experiences influence the response?
3. How does the behavior relate to fitness?
4. What/How/Why did the behavior evolve?
The first two questions deal with proximate causation, or the how and
what regarding the stimulus and behavior, and ultimate causation, or
the evolutionary/selective origins.
Simple and Complex Behavior
Behaviors are classified as innate or learned.
Behavioral ecology is the study of the ecological and evolutionary
basis for animal behavior. Fixed Action Pattern (FAP) is a sequence of
behaviors caused by a simple stimulus. Once started. The FAP must be
completed. Ex: Even after the egg is taken away, a mother goose still
egg rolls. This simple stimulus that initiates the FAP is also referred to as
the sign stimulus, which is the egg in this example. Imprinting uses
both innate and learned behavior to create lifelong response to a
stimulus. There is a sensitive/critical period in which the imprinting
must be done. Ex: baby gosling imprints on the first object it sees after
birth.
Movement:
One of the most basic behaviors is movement, and there are two kinds:
kinesis and taxis. Kinesis is a non-directional response to the stimulus
while taxis is highly directional towards or away from the stimulus (+/-).
Ex: A centipede crawls around a room randomly, bumps into a wall, and
then starts climbing up the wall. Ex: termite moves randomly on the
paper, encounters pheromones in ink trail, and follows the ink trail.
Migration is a long distance change in location, usually periodic. Most
migrating animals rely on Behavioral Rhythms such as a circadian
clock and circadian rhythms internal mechanisms that maintain
24hr cycles. Circannual cycles are in sync with seasonal changes.
Communication:
Stimuli transferred between animals are signals. Exchanging signals
constitutes communication. The main types of communication are
auditory, visual, and tactile. Ex: A fruit fly orients himself in front of a
female to get attention, then taps the female indicating a desire to

Behavior and Selection:

Natural selection favors a foraging behavior that minimizes the cost of
foraging, risk, and maximizes the benefits, rewards, - optimal
foraging model. Risk and reward must be balanced. Ex: Crow drop
height is balanced for minimum combined drop height and times
dropped to crack the whelk to perform the least amount of work.
Mating Behavior:
In promiscuity there is no strong pair-bond. In monogamy one
individual mates with only another of the same species for a long time.
In polygamy individual of one sex mates with many of the other. In
polygyny a single male mates with many females. In polyandry a
single female mates with many males. The needs of the young and
certainty of paternity determine the mating system through evolution.
Ex: For many birds, offspring need to be provided with food and care, so
monogamy is practiced so both mates help out. For aquatic fish that
lay hundreds of eggs, mating is promiscuous as parental care is not
needed. In mate choice, females choose characteristics they want in a
male to mate with. These characteristics are passed down, and
preferred by offspring: mate choice copying. Altruism and Kin
Selection:
Altruism is any behavior that reduces an organisms fitness, but
increases the fitness of other related organisms. Inclusive fitness is
essentially fitness plus altruism. For altruistic behavior to occur, the
coefficient of relatedness (shared genes) r times the number of
individuals saved must be greater than the cost for altruistic behavior to
occur.

Chapter 52: Intro to Ecology and the Biosphere:

rainfall. Landscape ecology is study of factors that control all biotic

and abiotic exchanges across ecosystems. The biosphere is all the
ecosystems on the planet taken together all biotic and abiotic factors
and their interactions. The ecology at each level is just the interaction
between organisms and abiotic factors present at each level.

Distribution of Terrestrial biomes

Biomes are life zones that have similar vegetation, physical
environment, climate, and usually latitude. Climographs are used to
show graphically the temperature and precipitation of biomes and
these two features are the main characterizers of biomes. The six main
biomes and their biotic and abiotic features are described in the
following chart.
Aquatic Biomes:
Aquatic Biomes are similarly affected by temperature and depth. They
are separated into zones. The layers in depth order are the photic
zone with light penetration, aphotic zone with no light penetration,
the pelagic zone which includes both photic and aphotic zones, and the
benthic zone more than 6000 ft below the surface. The narrow layer of
abrupt temperature change in the ocean is the thermocline.
Temperature decreases with depth as light penetration decreases.
The aquatic biomes include
Lakes, Wetlands, Streams and Rivers, Estuaries, Intertidal Zone,
Oceanic Pelagic Zone, Coral Reefs, and Marine Benthic Zone.
Marine biomes are either described as oligotrophic or nutrient low and
DO high or eutrophic nutrient rich and DO low
Species Distribution:
Biotic and abiotic interactions affect as species distribution. To better
understand distribution, scientists place species in areas they previously
were not in and observe the results: species transplant. Ex: Sea
urchin predation limits seaweed distribution.
Chapter 53: Population Ecology
Population is characterized by density and dispersion. Density is the
number of individuals per area, while dispersion is how spread out the

individuals of a population are. The main methods are Mark and

Recapture, and Quadrat Sampling. Mark and recapture determines
population size while quadrat sampling determines density. The three
dispersion patterns are Clumped, Uniform, and Random, as depicted
below. Clumping occurs around resources, random is for plants, and
uniform is for birds competing for nesting space.

coloration is warning colors for hamful prey (blues, yellows, reds) such
as on poison dart frogs. Batesian mimicry is when harmless animals
mimic harmful ones in coloration. In Mullerian mimicry, animals
resemble each other. Herbivory is also +/- in which an organism eats
plants.
Symbiosis:
Symbiosis is when two or more species live in contact with each other
and their relationship. Parasitism is one kind in which a parasite lives
off of the host for nutrition and for survival. +/- parasite benefits, host
loses out. Commensalism is +/= in which one individual benefits and
the other is unaffected. Ex: remora fish attaches to sharks. Mutualism
is +/+ and both individuals benefit. Species biodiversity =
healthiness and species richness/abundance.
Food Webs likewise connect all predatory/energy flow amongst
organism in a community

Demographics:
Immigration is the coming in of new individuals to a population and
emigration is the leaving of individuals. Demography is the study of
characteristics of populations. These are charted in Life tables.
Similarly survivorship curves plot the proportion of a cohort alive at
each time stage. A cohort is a similarly aged group of individuals in a
population that can
reproduce at similar
times. Type I
survivorship curve, like
humans, features low
death rates at early and
mid stages and drops off
at the end. Type II
features organisms with
a constant mortality rate
such as Belding ground
squirrels. Type III
features a high mortality rate among young individuals. R-selection is
associated with type III because high birth rates (boom all at once) is
necessary for some individuals to survive the unstable environment. Kselection is associated with Type I because the environment is stable,
organisms are large, there is late maturity, lifespan is long, and so a few
offspring are made at a time.

Regulatory Factors:
Density dependent: Disease spreads through higher densities easier,
predation increases as prey density increases, competition for resources
increases with density, toxic waste increases with density. These factors
limit maximum population growth.
Density independent:
Intrinsic factors and physiological forces limit population growth.
Predator-Prey relations follow boom-bust cycles. As the prey
increases, the predator increases. Prey die, and then predators dont
have enough food and die. Cycle repeats. Always more prey then
predators.
Ch. 54- Community Ecology
Intraspecific interactions are between individuals of same species,
inter- is between different species. Interspecific competition is -/individuals of different species compete for resources. Competitive
exclusion leads to an ecological realized niche, and resource
partitioning. Over time, organisms with similar niches will be
specialized in microhabitats and locations. Ex: Darwinian Finches have
many species varieties, and due to competitive exclusion, over time
each finch specie developed a realized niche to collect food at different
tree heights. In this example, the finch species are sympatric and
character displacement occurs and their beak shapes change slightly.

Ch. 55 Ecosystems
Ecosystem: all living and abiotic factors combined in an area. For
trophic levels and energy see CH 54. Energy and mass is conserved
in all ecosystems and systems. Gross primary production (GPP) is the
total amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy. Net
primary production (NPP) is the GPP Energy used. NPP = GPP
- Ra
Energy Transfer Pyramid:

Nutrients Nitrogen and Phosphorous follow slightly convoluted

cycling patterns through intermediate using bacteria and the inorganic
reservoir environment/air. Detritivores recycle the nutrients.

Population Growth Models:

Exponential population growth expresses population growth in ideal
conditions with unlimited resources. The equation is dN/dt = rmaxN. This
graph is a J curve. dN is the change in population size or per capita
birth rate death rate. Dt is the change in time. R is the per capita rate
of increase. N is the current population size. The logistic population
growth model introduces a carrying capacity K and population size is
limited by density dependent and independent factors. This
equation is dN/dt = rmaxN(K-N)/K.

Succession:
Ecological Succession is when a disturbed area gradually gets more and
more species and diversity from virtually nothing. Primary succession
is when all soil is destroyed and only a bedrock exists. Secondary
succession is when soil still remains, some life and seeds remain, and
is much faster than primary succession. As succession progresses, soil
increases, biodiversity increases, stratification and layering occurs,
canopies are created, soil pH changes, etc. Many biotic and abiotic
factors change due to succession. First, in primary succession,
pioneer species such as lichen populate the bedrock. As they die, soil is
formed. Then grasses populate. Then as more soil is created small
shrubs populate. Then larger and larger tress come in until a stratified
forest with an understory is created. Deforestation and fires can
cause secondary succession. Glaciers and volcanic eruptions expose
bedrock and cause primary succession. Only secondary succession can
be human caused. However, in some cases, deforestation can lead to
desertification. This is because as roots systems are destroyed, the
soil is no longer held together and nothing new can grow. The land dries
up.

Predation:
Predation is =/-, predator kills prey. To survive, prey have adapted
techniques over time. Cryptic coloration/Camouflage. Aposematic

Water and Carbon also cycle through the ecosystem. Just REMEMBER
a huge part of the water cycle is TRANSPIRATION in which water is lost
through plant leaves and evaporates. The carbon cycle is based largely
on photosynthesis and decomposition. Nutrients can limit growth,
but conversely can also increase growth to the point of species loss.
Eutrophication is when too much N and P is introduced to an aquatic
environment causing algal blooms, less light penetration, plant death,
decomposition, DO use, and fish death. Eutrophication eventually fills in
lakes. To fix such problems, bioremediation or using organisms to
detoxify is used. On the other hand, biological augmentation
introduces organisms to increase nutrients.
Chapter 56 Conservation Biology and Restoration Biology
Conservation biology uses all of our biological knowledge to conserve
biological diversity at all levels. Humans create problems such as

biological magnification. Usually only 10% of everything is passed

down level to level. However, toxins in pesticides cannot be broken
down in animals, and the full dosage is passed on to the consumer. The
consumer consumes 10x the biomass and therefore 10x the toxin. A
notorious example of this was with DDT and how this traveled up the
trophic levels to bald eagles, almost driving the species to extinction.
DDT has been long since banned. Biodiversity is an indicator of the
health of an ecosystem. Another human problem, overharvesting, can
lead to desertification.
However, humans can remediate the situation in most cases. We
preserve biodiversity through national parks, protected zones, and
sanctuaries. Also, endangered species are bred in captivity and then
released into the wild. The problem with smaller populations is the
genetic diversity is limited, which increases susceptibility to disease and
more rapid extinction. There is little to be done during late stages.