EXAMINATION IN ECOLOGY (AF 22 / BIO 5 / FBS 12)

Prepared by RPManuel

READMEFIRST: Answer each question in not more than 5 sentences. You may answer in Filipino, English or mix of both.
Each item is worth 30 points.

If you are satisfied with just a passing grade (3.0), you only need to answer 18 out of the 30 questions given (kahit sablay
ang sagot). You can rack up more points if you answer more questions. Perfect grade (1.0) depends on BOTH the number
of questions answered (i.e., kung sinagutan mo lahat) AND the quality of answers (kung maganda yung sagot, pero
hindi kailangang perfect).

Submission deadline: February 25, 2021. Buena suerte!

VERGIL S. SANTULLO JR. Turned in Late: February 26, 2021

191-5443

1. Ecosystems are said to be semi-closed, cybernetic, energy-processing organization. In this context, explain what
is:
a. Semi-closed system
 Semi-closed system can be seen in the frequencies played by the players of the ecosystem. For
example, in the environment, waste products tend to build up in water while certain inorganic
trace elements are depleted, all closed systems tend to wind down over time. But, by
exchanging some of the water, wastes are removed from the system, while
inorganic trace elements are replenished. This means that, by changing the frequency of a
certain component changes to try to correct the problem in the ecosystem.

b. Cybernetic system
 It is a nature of an ecosystem in which we can call as cause-and-effect system. This means that,
there is an input-output being determined. Ecosystem maintain its stability through complex
cycle, flow of energy and matter between, for instance, energy, matter, or information coming
from the environment causes the system to respond, and this reaction is transmitted as energy,
matter, or information output back to the environment. Thus, it maintains itself by some forms
of information feedback in to the systems. Moreover, the cybernetic nature of ecosystem

2. Is energy an ecosystem component or not? justify

 Yes, since ecosystem has components such as biotic in which comprise the living organisms and
of course abiotic component or the physical environment like rocks, minerals, and water which
 are considered as sources of energy for living organisms. These two main components of an
ecosystem constantly interact with each other, creating a unidirectional flow of energy. For
instance, energy in a food web flows from producers to consumers to decomposers . Moreover,
Sunlight is a major part of abiotic conditions in an ecosystem. The sun is the primary source of
energy on our planet.

3. What’s the primary advantage of being a poikilothermic animal?

 By definition, I can say that the primary advantage of poikilothermic animal is that they can
conform their internal temperature to the external temperature. This means that these animals
engage in behavior to regulate their temperate, they can allow some aspects of their internal
physiology to vary along with environment conditions. Moreover, as conformers have no
physiological mechanism for controlling metabolic rate, energy costs to the organism are low
which means that little energy is expended to maintain homeostasis.

4. What’s the difference between a habitat and ecosystem?

 Habitat is a biophysical environment that the organism uses as a resource, this is where
organisms achieve a state of balance and is able to adapt and perform their tasks, whereas,
ecosystem is a functional unit in which plants, animals, microorganisms and physical
environments interact with each other. Moreover, an ecosystem consists of many habitats, in
other words, habit lies within the ecosystem.

5. What’s the primary difference between the terms “organism” and “species”?
 Terms such as organism and species represent distinct ecological levels and are not synonymous,
interchangeable terms. For example, a tapeworm living in the gut of a cow is an organism, as is
the cow itself, and types of these organisms are so called species. As a grammatical aside, an
organism is any living individual capable of motion or locomotion, energy use, response to
stimuli, growth and reproduction. Moreover, an organism denotes a species, an individual/s
having the same outward appearance or genotypes. In line with that, an organism as a
taxonomic species is capable of interbreeding, reproductively isolated from all other species and
capable of adapting and evolving as species. As you can see, we can differentiate these two
terms by the level on how they are used, for instance, all organisms are capable of reproduction
however there is an specific

6. What is an ecosystem service?

 In a utilitarian nature of the concept, base, as it is, on human benefits, ecosystem service are the
many different benefits that ecosystem provides to people. For example, a stand of trees can
reduce air pollution, purify the water supply, reduce the likelihood of floods and help regulate
the climate by capturing and storing carbon. It might also provide timber for buildings, a space
for recreation and improve the aesthetic qualities of the landscape. Ultimately, it relates only to
what ecosystems do for us.

7. Agree or disagree: Biological makeup of a species is influenced by its natural external environment. Justify
 Agree.
  Biological makeup such as phenotype, genotype, and ecotype, of an organism is influenced by
its natural external environment. Mainly because, organisms are capable of adapting and
evolving, and this changes in their environment tend to make an impact to organism’s gene
expression, in which ultimately affects their biological makeup. In line with their environment,
species tend to change their original outward appearances until it becomes well fitted to its
environment.

8. In ecology, what is meant by a positive feedback mechanism?

 Positive feedback is a self-amplifying cycle in which a change in an input causes response that
produce continued changes in the same direction. Positive feedback is a source of instability
and strong force of change as it can drive the system outside of its normal operating
parameters. As an example, we could cite exponential population growth, when there is a
surplus of resources, or lack of predators, this allows a plant or animal population to grow
without limit. More population leads to more births, and more births lead to an increasing
population creating a compounding effect over time. As you can see, nothing is being
suppressed in positive feedback, it is a mechanism in which the output of the system stimulates
the system in such a way as to further increase the output.

9. Differentiate the three kinds of crepuscular species: vespertine, matinal and matutinal
 Crepuscular animals are those that are active primarily during twilight. The term is not precise,
however, as some crepuscular animals may also be active on a moonlit night or during an
overcast day. With that, crepuscular activity of these animals can be broken down into
matutinal animals, which are most active in the morning, and vespertine animals, which are
most active at dusk. Further, Matutinal organisms wake up before diurnal organisms so they
have the advantage of consuming resources without competition. Matutinal organisms become
active during dawn, thus, they share active states with crepuscular animals at dawn. On the
other hand, Vespertine organisms are similar to Nocturnal organisms. Both are awake at similar
times so some share very close relations, as some nocturnal species are active in the evening
but continue throughout the night. Vespertine organisms get to be active before most Nocturnal
organisms so they can consume some resources before competition from the latter. Vespertine
organisms become active at dusk, thus, they share the active states with crepuscular animals at
dusk.

10. Differentiate the terms Torpor, Nyctinasty, Dormancy and Quiescence

 These terms differ deeply in the behavioral and physiological state of organisms, specifically
their adaptive mechanism to meet changes in environment. With that being said, torpor is a
state of decreased physiological assumed by many animals in response to adverse
environmental conditions, especially cold and heat. During the active part of their day, such
animals maintain normal body temperature and activity levels, but their metabolic rate and
body temperature drop during a portion of the day, usually at night, to conserve energy. This
means that in torpor state, organisms tend to slow their metabolic rate to conserve energy. In
plants, there is also a state or movement in which they tend to exhibit that is associated with
diurnal light and changes in temperature, the nyctinastic movement. However, it is not related
 to a stimulus, but is rather directed by the plant itself in a diurnal cycle. Examples are the
closing of the petals of a flower at dusk and the sleep movements of the leaves of many
legumes. The purpose of, and conferred benefits of nyctinastic movement have yet to be
identified. But there is a hypothesis that nyctinastic behaviors are adaptive due to the plant
being able to reduce its surface area during night time, which can lead to better temperature
retention and also reduces night-time herbivory.
Relatively, as plants have no fixed plan, they have evolved particularly flexible and opportunistic
means to regulate cell division and fate, in response to nutritional availability and abiotic and
biotic stress. Many plants have evolved mechanisms to calibrate growth and reproductive cycles
to seasonal rhythms in the availability of light and temperature. As such, quiescence is a
defining feature of plant development and phenology. Quiescence in plants, is a state of
suspended growth of the embryo, or a resting condition of the seed. Live seeds in which none of
the germination events are taking place, usually due to a low moisture content, are said to be
quiescent. They are alive and have metabolism ongoing at a barely detectable rate but some
environmental factor necessary for germination to commence is lacking. On the other hand,
seeds that are in an environment optimal for germination, that is to say they are provided with
ample water, heat, light, and oxygen and yet fail to complete germination are said to be
dormant.
Apparently, in terms of evolution, dormancy seems to have evolved independently
among a wide variety of living things, and the mechanisms for dormancy vary with the
morphological and physiological makeup of each organism. For many plants and animals,
dormancy has become an essential part of the life cycle, allowing an organism to pass through
critical environmental stages in its life cycle with a minimal impact on the organism itself.
Moreover, animals that can become dormant during the extreme cold of winter can extend their
ranges into regions where animals incapable of dormancy cannot live. Dormancy also ensures
that these animals will be free from competition during their periods of activity. Thus, dormancy
is an adaptive mechanism that allows an organism to meet environmental stresses and to take
advantage of environmental niches that otherwise would be untenable at certain times.

11. Explain the concept of Brumation

 Brumation is a term used for the hibernation-like state that cold-blooded animals utilize during
very cold weather. When a reptile brumates, it becomes lethargic, sometimes not moving at all
for the duration of the cold season. In nature, these animals typically find hibernaculums within
their environment in which they can be somewhat insulated. hibernaculum is simply the place
where the reptile spends these periods of inclement weather. Burrows, rock crevices, caves and
leaf litter are a few examples of hibernaculums documented in nature.

12. Why don’t trees grow in the ocean floor?

 Trees, as we commonly define them, are large woody plants that attain great heights by building
a trunk. They evolved on land and used their height to compete with other plants for sunlight.
Unlike marine plants, trees or woods are different in the essence of structural tissues,
specifically the presence of lignin which is why trees use it to build trunks and get so tall. In most
marine plants that live in saltwater have special salt excreting cells which basically don’t have
 that mechanism, however, none of them are classified as trees. But some true trees grow in
water, but none can survive with entirely underwater, because they breathe air through their
leaves. So, basically, on the ocean floor, trees cannot perform photosynthesis. While,
underwater plants don’t need as much support, as they have some buoyancy which helps them
reach sunlight without needing rigid support, so they don’t need lignin. Some are anchored to a
substrate, some are not. While some trees can handle having their roots underwater, the fact of
the matter is that all trees have leaves, and all leaves have stomata through which they breathe,
and they cannot breathe underwater, and thus cannot be submerged. So, no tree anywhere can
survive being fully submerged in water because they must at least have their leaves above
water.

13. What is adaptation?

 Adaptation is a long-term process of adjusting to new set of environmental or ecological
conditions. Its manifest changes in physiological, behavioral or morphological traits, and in other
respects, given by new ecological or environmental conditions until such time that the acquired
changes become well fitted to the new environment it belongs. For instance, the long necks of
giraffes for feeding in the tops of trees is a form of a feature that has evolved by natural
selection for a specific function. It is the result of natural selection’s acting upon heritable
variation over several generations.

14. Explain the concept of niche

 In ecology the concept of niche describes how an individual organism fits into an ecosystem.
This includes how an organism uses its habitat, the physical environment. The niche that an
organism establishes is based on their tolerances to changing environment, to survive. For
example, most birds build nest in tree branches, but two birds cannot nest from the same
branch. In establishing their niche, each bird must find their own branch to nest on, compete in
finding their mates, as well as for food. The best fit organisms win the competition for resources.
Being said that, niche is a term for the position of a species within an ecosystem, describing
both the range of conditions necessary for persistence of the species, and its ecological role in
the ecosystem.

15. How is the concept of niche related to Competitive Exclusion Principle?

 Niche is related to Competitive Exclusion in the sense of competition. By definition, competition
happens when two species spend energy fighting for access to resources, an interspecific
competition. When the niches of two species overlap, competition takes place. This now gives
the idea of Competitive Exclusion, which means that two different species that are competing to
identical resource cannot co-exist in the same environment. Since food is not the only resource
that organisms compete for, it can be space, habitat or other conditions. These different
resources are all part of species niche. So, if two species have identical niches they cannot live
together because one species will be more superior and a better competitor than the other
species, so one species will be better at gathering resources.

16. Explain Justus von Liebig’s Law of Minimum

  The law states that the growth of a plant is controlled by the scarcest resource and not by the
total amount of resources available. Resources that come from the soil such as nitrogen,
phosphorous, and potassium or can come from other places such as sunlight. The law of
minimum states that the plant is dependent on all these resources combined not just the ability
of the plant to absorb a few of the resources such as nitrogen or sunlight. Liebig’s Law of
Minimum is commonly referred to as barrel theory, the same concept applies to wine barrels
and their slides. As I explain, picture a slide full of water, if each slide is complete, the barrel will
hold the maximum amount of water. However, if one of the slides is incomplete or shorter than
the rest of slides, water will flow out until its at the top of the shortest slide. This means that,
the capacity of the barrel now is determined by the shortest slide and not by the longest slide.
Now, let’s assume that the slides represent different resources needed by a plant and the water
in the barrel is the ability of the plants to grow. If all the slides are complete then the plant will
grow to its fullest potential. But if the one of the slides is incomplete, the plant will only grow as
long as the limiting factor allow. In this case, the limiting resource is the defining factor of plant
growth.

17. What is bioavailability?

 Bioavailability is the ability of a chemical contaminant to interact with biological membranes of
an organism and eventually have an adverse effect. In the environment, contaminants are
present in various chemical forms, depending both on their molecular properties and on the
physical and chemical characteristics of the medium. The total concentration of a contaminant is
not a reliable predictor of the actual exposure of organisms and its potential impacts on an
ecosystem. Indeed, not all chemical forms are able to interact with biological membranes.

18. Explain the 10% rule in Ecology

 The 10% rule means that when energy is passed in an ecosystem from one trophic level to the
next, only 10 percent of the energy will be passed on. This is because, the amount of energy at
each trophic level decreases as it moves through an ecosystem. As little as 10 percent of the
energy at any trophic level is transferred to the next level and the rest is lost largely through
metabolic processes as heat. For example, a plant will use 90% of the energy it gets from the sun
for its own growth and reproduction. When it is eaten by a consumer, only 10% of its energy will
go to the animal that eats it. That consumer will use 90% of that energy and only 10% will go on
to the animal that eats it. By the time you get to the top level, there is only a minor fraction of
the original energy.

19. Discuss:
a. Detritus food chain
 A Detritus food chain, is a food chain which starts with the dead remains of organisms as a main
source of energy. The energy is transferred from the dead remains of plants and animals to the
decomposers and then it is transferred to the predators feeding on the decomposers. In this
food chain, microscopic organisms are mainly involved, the decomposers. Being said that, in
detritus food chain, the first trophic level is occupied by the decomposers and the primary
sources of energy are from the dead remains of plants and animals.
 b. Grazing food chain
 Grazing food chain in the other hand, sun is the primary source from which energy transfer
takes place. A food chain where the energy is gained by the organisms is from photosynthesis.
In this case, green plants form the first trophic level. The process starts with the green plants as
they are producers and can perform photosynthesis. Then the energy is transferred from the
green plants to the herbivores. Being said that, the grazing food chain involves all the
macroscopic or sub-soil organisms.

c. Food web
 Each organism in an ecosystem occupies a specific trophic level or position in the food chain or
web. To maintain their bodies, grow, develop, and to reproduce, autotrophs produce organic
matter from inorganic substances, as a result, living things have evolved special ways to harness
the energy of the sun and use it for their own well-being. They have also developed special
relationships and interactions that allow energy to be transferred. Once the energy has been
captured, it gets passed around through the various organisms in a particular area. This transfer
of energy is called a food web. The linkages in a food web illustrate the feeding pathways, such
as where heterotrophs obtain organic matter by feeding on autotrophs and other heterotrophs.
The food web is a simplified illustration of the various methods of feeding that links an
ecosystem into a unified system of exchange. Moreover, food webs are limited representations
of real ecosystems as they necessarily aggregate many species into trophic species, which are
functional groups of species that have the same predators and prey in a food web.

20. What is the greatest importance of having different trophic levels in the ecosystem?
 Given the different the feeding positions of all organisms in a specific ecosystem or what we call
trophic levels. I believe the greatest importance of this is that it shows availability of energy
levels in an ecosystem which allows organisms to adapt and evolve to occupy certain positions
in the ecosystem. In line with that, if it is subject to trophic cascade, we might expect that the
abundances of the top carnivores and the herbivores are positively correlated, as are those of
the primary carnivores and the plants.

21. Give an example of an apex predator (why)

 Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)
 Their size alone makes them fearsome apex predator, with no natural enemies other than
humans. As the most carnivorous and only marine-living ursid, polar bears are lone among bears
in their reliance on marine mammal prey. Evolution of this Arctic apex predator included
behavioral and physiological adaptations that distinguish polar bears from terrestrial bears
which has made them dependent on the sea ice. Polar bears occupy expansive home ranges
that are considerably larger than those occupied by other ursids or predicted for similarly sized
terrestrial carnivores. They also exhibit remarkable abilities to swim for extended distances.

22. What is meant by “keystone species”?

  These are member organisms in which have an extremely high impact on a particular ecosystem
relative to its population. Which means that without keystone species in a particular population,
the ecosystem would figuratively and literally collapse. A keystone species is very important for
the integrity of the whole profit structure of the ecosystem. Thus, in the absence of a keystone
species, many ecosystems would fail to exist.

23. Differentiate r-selection and K-selection

 The terms r-selection and K-selection are used by ecologists to describe
the growth and reproduction strategies of organisms. In r-selection, the
survivability of the species is based on its reproductive capacity to
produce offspring. Which means that the more offspring a certain species
produced the higher the chance it is to survive considering the fact that it
happens in an unstable environment. They thrive and take advantage of
the seasonal plenty. However, in this growth and reproduction strategy of
species, despite having high growth rate it is considered to have a high
rate of mortality because they are characterized to be small in biomass
which means that there is a less energy to be dispatch into the offspring
causing them to have little ability to survive in maturity. On the other
hand, K-selection can be differentiated as survival by nurture. There are
usually very few offspring per brood, each requiring high levels of
parental care resulting in low mortality. Unlike r-selected species, k-
selected species have large biomass and tend to invest to their offspring
until maturity. In line with that, they tend to store a large amount of
energy in their body which is a precursor to their long life-span and high
rate of survival.

24. Agree or disagree: Adaptation is an Evolutionary process. Justify

 Agree
 Adaptation by definition is a long-term process of adjusting to new set of
environmental or ecological conditions. It is a mechanism wherein species
or individual manifest changes in their current environment and by which
improves their ability to survive and pass on its genes in relationship to
the environment. The changes in physiological, behavioral or
morphological traits there is a tendency that the adaptation can give way
for emergence of new species. For instance, a vestigial structure is a
feature that was an adaptation for the organism’s ancestor, but that
evolved to be a non-functional because organism’s environment changed.
Moreover, organisms that manifest adaptation can be an entirely different
species or a sub-species.

25. Explain the concept of ecological fitness

  Ecological fitness focuses in organism’s traits and on how they correspond
to various aspects of the environment the organism is living in. Their
ability to compete, cooperate, and the ability to construct. In the broadest
sense, these are the properties of organisms that are explanatory of
survival.
The concept of ecological fitness refers to the properties of an entity and
how they correspond to the constraints of its context. This means that,
organisms must possess certain traits better than other organisms to
adapt by the set of challenges given by the environment. This concept I
think can be synonymous to the concept of “survival of the fittest”.

26. Agree or Disagree: Disease is an ecological relationship (explain)

 Agree
 Mainly because, most ecosystems include various species of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and
parasites that can cause disease. And disease can pass through organisms to organisms. Best
example for this is the African swine fever virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality
rates in domestic pigs. These parasitic organisms are not only a common or integral part of the
ecosystem, but they also influence the abundance of wild populations, can cause extinctions of
their hosts, and serve as drivers of evolution (Hudson et al. 2002). Diseases caused by or carried
by invasive species are particularly threatening, as native wildlife may have no natural immunity
to them.

27. Explain the concept of disturbance

 Disturbance is a discrete, punctuated, killing, displacement, or damaging of one or more
individuals that directly creates an opportunity for new individuals to be established. For
instance, a windstorm blowing over trees which allows new trees to grow there or could be a
flood that’s going to actually wipe out the were growing along riverbank and allow new
seedlings to get established. Further, disturbance is any relatively discrete event in time that
disrupts ecosystem, community, or population structure and changes resources, substrate
availability, or the physical environment.

28. Agree or disagree: ecological disturbances only impart negative impacts to ecosystems
 Disagree
 Even though ecological disturbance bring mortality to organisms and brings changes in the
spatial patterning of ecosystem that they inhibit. Disturbance plays a significant role in shaping
the structure of individual populations and the character of whole ecosystem. It is a prevalent
feature that significantly influences community diversity. To further justify why disturbance not
only impart negative impact in the ecosystem is because sufficient time between disturbances
allow wide variety of species to colonize, but not long enough to allow competitive exclusion.
Moreover, although disturbances tend to negatively affect populations of resident plants,
 animals, and other organisms in a given ecosystem, they provide some fugitive species with
opportunities to move into and gain footholds in ecosystems whose biological communities
once excluded them. This process results in an increase in the biodiversity of the ecosystem.

29. Differentiate Zonation from Succession

 A zonation is the arrangement or patterning of plant communities or ecosystems into brands in
response to change, over a distance, in some environmental factor. Whereas, A succession is the
progressive replacement of one dominant type of species or community in an ecosystem until a
stable climax community is established. It explains how ecosystems develop from bare substrate
over a period of time whilst zonation is the arrangement or patterning of plant communities or
ecosystems into brands in response to change, over a distance, in some environmental factor.
The difference is that, succession refers to change over time, and zonation to spatial patterns.

30. Technically, the forests of the Philippines fall under what kind of ecosystem type? Discuss the characteristics.
 Forests int the Philippines is classified as Tropical rain forests. It is because our country is
characterized by high temperature and rainfall practically throughout the year. Due to its
position near the equator and the fact that it is surrounded by large bodies of water, the climate
of the rainforests remains the same year-round, this being hot, wet and humid.
Depending on the area, all rainforests of the Philippines have species of fauna that are native to
only that particular rainforest. For example, the largest island Luzon has thirty-one different
species that are native to that island whilst one of the smallest islands Camiguin Island has two
different species. This makes each of the rainforests in the Philippines unique and overall, all of
the rainforests together are very diverse and different compared to rainforests anywhere else in
the world. As well as this, sixteen new species of mammals have been discovered in the
Philippines in only the past ten years, giving the Philippines a high rate of endemism.
Like the fauna found in the rainforest, the flora is also very diverse and can only be found in
certain places in the Philippines. The many native plant species that make up the Philippines
rainforest include gingers, begonias, orchids, palms, dipterocarps, gesneriads and pandans. In
particular, orchards and palms make up a lot of the area of rainforests.
Not only does the Philippines rainforest provide a home for many diverse and native flora and
fauna species but it is also a source of many of the Philippines main foods, these mostly being
fruit. Some of these different types of food include coconuts, bananas, pineapples, and
mangoes. The tropical rainforest is a good place to grow these fruits as they require a warmer
climate and constant rainfall. Unlike many other countries, the land of the Philippines is
dominated by one biome, the tropical rainforest.