Introduction

Hypothesis: proposed explanation of facts that we attempt to falsify

Good experiments are
- Controlled
- Replicated
- Random

Natural Selection
Evolution: Species change through time
Vestigial trait: structure with no function: ex appendix, tailbones
Homologies: similarities between organisms
- Genetic homology: homology at level of genetic code
- Developmental Homology: traits of embryos
- Structural Homology: traits of developed organisms
- Organisms fall into groups
- Genetic and morphological evidence agree (whales and hippos, tetrapods)
Natural Selection:
1. Variation
2. Heritability
3. Differential reproductive success
4. Selections
Lamarck Goal-directed Evolution
- Acquired characteristics
- Wrong
- Supporter of evolution
Goal directed evolution: evolution towards a goal
- Vestigial traits and bidirectional evolutions are evidence against it
Acclimation: direct response to environment
Adaptation: genetic change that increases fitness

Evolutionary Processes
Genotype: collection of genes ex BB Bb or bb
Phenotype: physiological and physical traits ex blue
- Determined largely but not entirely by genotype
Hardy Weinberg equilibrium
- Random mating
- No differences in fitness
- No mutation or drift
- More homozygotes at global level because non random mating
Trait Level
- Directional Selection: moves population in a particular direction
- Stabilising Selection: keeps the population where it is (bc already adapted)
- Disruptive Selection: Phenotypes different from average (can lead to speciation)
 - Frequence Dependance: closely related to disruptive selection. Some traits do
better if they are rare
Allele Level
- Positive/Negative selection: advantageous increase due to positive selection,
deleterious decrease due to negative selection
- Balancing Selection: maintains allele diversity. Also caused by heterozygote
advantage
Other Mechanisms
- Genetic Drift: change in allele frequency due to random chance
- Founder effect: occurs when a new population is started by a small number of
individuals
- Bottleneck effect: Occurs when populations become small then large or when
beneficial genetic mutation takes over
- Geneflow: Movement of alleles from one population to another
- Mutations: heritable error copying DNA
Sex: recombination of alleles when
Inbreeding: breeding between relatives, lower fitness
Sexual Selection: a form of natural selection related to success in obtaining mates (pukeko
crests)
Sexual dimorphism: trait differences between males and females

Speciation
Biological Species Concept: Reproductive isolation
- Prezygotic Isolation
- Postzygotic Isolation
- This does not apply to asexual specials
- Not practical for extinct species
- Hard to evaluate
Morphological Species Concept: Look Different
- Useful for fossils or diverse groups
- Subjective and prone to disagreement
- Look similar but can’t produce viable offspring
- Males and females of different ages or phenotypes may look different
Ecological Species Concept: Occupy the same ecological Niche
- Similar resources
- Similar environment
- Similar natural enemies
- Good for small asexual things
Phylogenetic Species concept: Monophyletic group of populations (defined by a single
common ancestor)
- Well-defined and broadly applicable
- Need to estimate phylogenies
- Requires lots of information
- Different answers for different gene sets
- Different answers depend on how you define populations
Allopatry: Living apart from each other
- Diverge because of Genetic drift and natural selection
Sympatry
- Hard to diverge because of gene flow, competition and similar environments
- Diverge because of Disruptive selection, genetic incompatibility
Peripatric: Populations on small islands are more likely to be founded leather by small
groups (more opportunity for genetic drift). Island have different environments (more
opportunity for natural selection)
Vicariance: Split by barrier
Habitat Partitioning: living in different areas of ecosystems then competitors (hawthorn flys)
Genetic incompatibility: Populations will still compete, can work together to make
divergence possible
Hybridization: arisen hybrids between two species (rare sunflowers)
Polyploidy: extra copies of chromosomes
- Usually don’t survive or can’t mate
- Produces instant reproductive isolation
- Can provide material for new genetic innovation (clawed frogs)
Reuniting populations
- Fusion: fuse back together
- Reinforcement: reinforces distinction (meadowlarks)
- Exclusion: Eliminate the other species (warblers, humans)

Phylogeny
Phylogeny: the evolutionary history of a groups of organisms
Phylogenetic tree: a model of how a group of organisms descended from a common
ancestor
- Nodes: where groups split
- Branches: where evolution occurs
- Tips: representing observed taxa which are the endpoint of the process being
modelled
Monophyletic Group: A group defined by a single common ancestor
- Can also be called clades or taxa
- Example winged tetrapods are not clade example: birds and bats
- Prominent groups that are not clades include germs, bugs, herps, apes, trees, reptiles
Sister Taxa: two taxa that share a common node at any scale
Lineages: Evolving lines
Constructing Phylogenetic Trees
- Measure Characteristics
- Can be morphological physical or genetic
Phenetic Approach: use the measure of distance between organisms. Ignores the
phylogenetic model of organisms evolving from each other while inferring phylogenies.
- When we don't have enough baseline information
Cladistic Approach: based on modelling how evolution occurs on the tree. Makes use of
the phylogenetic model of organisms evolving from each other to infer phylogenies.
- Cladistic is better
Synapomorphies: has to be derived on a relevant scale
- Cladistic analysis is based on synapomorphies- which are shared derived characters-
as evidence that two taxa are related
Basal/Ancestral Characters
 - A derived character is a character not shared by the common ancestor of the group
we are thinking about
- Phenetic treats derived and basal characters equally
- We can use an outgroup, which is an organism closely related to but outside the
group being studied
- We can assume that the root or beginning of the tree is where the outgroup branches
from the group
Convergent Evolution: two species have the same trait because they evolved twice
independently
Secondary Loss: an organism lacks a character that its ancestors had
Analogies: similarities that are not homogies (homologies is due to common ancestry)
Parsimony: Tree that explains the observed data with the fewest changes necessary
How do we address the problem of convergent evolution and analogy?
- Make use of as many different characteristics when possible
- Use many different taxa
- Look at characteristics in detail
Genetic Vs Morphological
- Why was the genetic analysis more effective than the morphological
- Because it can be hard to tell which traits are derived
- Genetic analysis allows us to analyse more traits
Three Domains:
1. Bacteria
2. Archaea
3. Eukarya
Eukaryotes:
- Sisters with archaea
- Have nuclei and mitochondria
Reuniting can create new species:
- Hybridization
- Allopolyploidy (allo-) polyploids arising from different species
Five Kingdoms:
- Fungi
- Plants
- Animals
- Protists
- Bacteria
Persisted for so long because its the way the world looks
When are trees a good approximation
- When populations are not mixing
Fossil: A physical trace of an organism from the past
- Intact: retain form and substance
- Compression: squashed
- Cast: substance replaced by minerals
- Permineralized: minerals infiltrate cells as they are decomposing
Biases in the fossil record
- Habitat bias: Things that live in swampy areas or underground
- Taxonomic Bias: Hard things or hard parts of things
 - Temporal bias: Things that lived more recently have has less time to be destroyed or
to be buried too deep for recovery
- Abundance bias: more abundant things have more chances of being preserved
Dates can be inferred using radioactive isotopes
Geologic inference can be made about the relative age
Process of Diversification
- diversity arises gradually and sometimes dramatically (Radiation Events)
- Species sometimes disappear gradually or rapidly (mass extinction)
Adaptive Radiation
- Occurs when a single lineage produces many descendant species in a short period of
time
- Triggered by opportunity, either in environment or because of the evolution of the
organisms themselves
- Ecological Opportunity: organism arrives in area with no similar organism or a
group of a competing species is driven extinct
- Morphological innovation: an organism comes up with a good new idea
- Coevolution: the evolution of one group creates new niches for another group
Extinction:
- Opens up ecological niches
- Species may diverge to fill these niches or spread to fill them
Morphological innovation
- Arthropod body plan
- Insects arachnids, crustaceans
- Tetrapod body plan
- reptiles , mammals
- Flowering plants
- Adaptation to exploit them
Gene duplications
- Make an organism less efficient
- Make an organism more efficient because on copy can continue to do the old function
while the other evolves a new function
Mass extinctions: 5 so far
Life is not really a tree
- Genetic information can be transferred
- Sexual mixing occurs at different scales

Origins
Different Same

- Opposable thumbs - Genetic code

- Tools - Biological processes
- Technology - We are here because our ancestors
- Culture reproduced
- Language
Physical Changes
- Provide species with new adaptive challenges and opportunities
- Climate change, continental drift, geological changes
Ecosystem Changes
- Taxa affected by changes in other taxa (evolution or colonization)
- Co-evolution is a driver of diversity
Therapsids
- our ancestors that radiated and dominated many terrestrial environments before the
dinosaurs did.
- Dinos replaced them during the dino age but after a mass extinction, some survived
and radiated
Radiation and contraction
- Go through periods: gains then loss of diversity
- It gives a chance for adaptations
Contraction
- Changing conditions
- Competition from other clades
- Competition from a successful member (ppl vs other hominins)
Survivorship Bias
- Arises from the fact that we are much more likely to observe successful taxa
- Unlikely adaptive mutations
- Weird speciation events
- Polyploidy and duplications
- Organisms combine (mitochondria)
Advantages of previous radiation
- They've explored more kinds of environments
- They are found more in different places
- They've had more chances to adapt
Primates: an order characterized by:
- Highly developed stereoscopic vision
- Eyes close together, face forward allows 3-D
- Versatile limbs
- Large brains (compared to related groups of mammals)
Observer bias:
- Scientists are human, which gives us a particular perspective
- Phonetic approach: humans have lots of adaptations, and we are good at recognizing
them
Angiosperm: flowering plants diversified around 100 mya
Adaptive theories:
- Leaping from branch to branch
- Climbing and balancing on trees
- Exploiting new plant resources
- Catching insects
- Adaptive Foraging: the ability to switch between types of food and learn to use new
types of food.
Adaptive looping
- Adaptations reinforce each other
Patterns of Replacement
- Apes radiated into habitats before monkeys did
- They were replaced by old-world monkeys because
- Changing climate
 - Changing plants or insects
- Adaptive innovation
- What if no ape radiation
- Less diversity
- Probably no people
Chimps and Humans
- 1% in homologous sequences
- 4% overall
Hominins: people and our upright ancestors
- Walking upright
- Adaptations to walking on the ground instead of swinging through trees
- Adaptation for keeping cool
- Adaptation for harvesting food
- Adaptation for carrying food
- Changes in chewing design
Modern Humans
- Evolved in Africa around 200kya
- Small face and teeth
- Less robust skeletal structure
Complex foraging
- Cooking and fire
- Weapons and hunting
- Tools and digging
- Selecting plants
- Adaptive looping (big brains, clever hands, stereoscopic vision)
- Lead to selection for more cooperation
- This leads to new adaptive loops (big brains, social, communication, culture, longer
developmental periods)
Human Children
- Develop slowly because they have a lot to learn, social skills, and trade of for bigger
brain
Frugivory: fruits
Folivory: leaves
Insectivory: insects
Teeth: two sets of teeth make our teeth last longer
Eyes: eye orbits are where the skeletal cavities where the eyes are
Sexual dimorphism: more variation in male success means more sexual dimorphism and
more competition between males for females
- Gorillas in male centred groups= tiny dicks, fight
- Chimps in mixed groups= big dicks
- Human have big dick and small balls

Population Ecology
Population: All species that reproduce at a particular place and time. Defined by
- Size: Number of individuals
- Affected by birth rate, immigration and immigration
- Range: area where it spread
 - Density: size over range
- Irregular: The distribution of individual trees or other organisms can appear
random with no clear pattern to where they occur (ex, forest)
- Clustered: If resources are clustered or spatial proximity to other individuals
enhances fitness, individuals may be clumped. (ex meerkats)
- Uniform: When resources are limited or predators target a single species, an
individual may be better off if it is far from others, producing a uniform pattern
of distribution (ex gannets)

Growing vs. stable populations

- Discrete growth: population increases or decreases in one step at the beginning of
the new generation
-

Interspecific: between Species

Intraspecific: Within Species
Carrying Capacity: max number of species habitat can support (Logistic Growth)
Density Dependant: competition, predation
Density Independent: events which cause widespread mortality
Survivorship Curves:

Metapopulation: a group of population linked by immigrants

- Corridors cross between population patches
- Island: any habitat patch surrounded by an inhabitable environment

Special Interactions and Communities

Niche: Populations only persist in places where it can tolerate the physical environment
Fundamental Niche: a set of attributes that define the use of that habitat
Realized niche: Vague idea telling you that other species limit the ability of a species to use
the habitat
Resource partitioning: the division of resources by different species living in the same
habitat, can minimise competition, allowing two or more species to coexist.
Competitive exclusion is what keeps species that depend on the same resource from living
at the same place at the same time, and resource partitioning is what allows similar species
to coexist. (red and gray squirrels)
Predator–prey systems can be stable if there are sufficient areas available where prey can
escape predators, at least temporarily.
Mutualism:
- When the benefits for each participant outweigh their costs,
Benefits Costs

- access to nutrients - the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates that are

- shelter from invested in building structures such as flowers that
predators or attract pollinators or specialised tissues that house
weather bacteria or algae.
- direct help in - energy-consuming activities such as the transport of
reproduction. pollen or seeds
- the loss of food resources consumed by a partner.
- An example of this is leaf cutting ants that farm fungus
Obligate: one or both sides can't survive without the other (aphids and bacteria).
Facultative: Can survive without the other (midges that pollinate cacao)
Community: Set of the population of 2+ species in a given place and time
Keystone Species: the integrity of the community depends on a single species (sea otters
eat sea urchins, which kill kelp)
Succession: Species replacing each other in a predictable sequence
r-Strategists: Lots of offspring that don’t make it (unpredictable environments)(cheap)
K-strategists: Fewer offspring that do make it (expensive)
Climax Community: one where there is little further change in species composition
Islands
- Larger islands have more colonists and lower extinction moving E higher
- Far islands have low colonization moving E to lower values

Ecosystem Ecology
The carbon cycle is the intricately linked network of biological and physical processes that
shuttles carbon among rocks, soil, oceans, air, and organisms. (exchange involves ocean)
Keeling Curve: Shows the ongoing change in Carbon dioxide concentration in the
atmosphere.
How do we know that humans add CO2?
- the isotopic composition of atmospheric carbon stock
- Plants, and we release a signature: C13
- Extending the time scale further says more about the global ecosystem than the CO2
values of recent decades
Nitrogen: The biggest store is in the air
- Chemoautortopic bacteria gain energy to fix carbon sequestering nitrogen
- Plants can then use the fixated nitrogen
- Returns to soil as ammonia by decomposers
Phosphorus:

Is biodiversity Necessary?
- Perhaps not Hot Springs, New Zealand:
 - Ecosystems running on prokaryotes
How could carbon be recycled two billion years ago? Would that
be necessary
- Bacteria?
- Maybe creatures move it?
- Carbon reverted back to CO2 by stealing oxygen from other
compounds.

Climate And Biomes

Biomes are broad geographic areas with similar sets of communities.
Solar Radiation: The temperature of the earth is determined by the angle at which solar
radiation strikes the surface
- Hot near the equator since the radiation strikes directly
- At higher latitudes, the earth's surface is angled to oncoming traditions resulting in
lower temperatures and more temperature variation
Topography: temperature drops with increased elevation
Why do seasons occur? Because the earth rotates at a slight angle on its axis
Coriolis Effect: the earth is rotating slower at high and low latitudes and faster at the
equator. Result: wind from the north (moving south) deflects right, and wind from the south
(moving north) deflects left.
Prevailing winds drive ocean currents that transport heat from the equator toward the poles.
Rainfall Patterns
- Warm air can carry more water than cold air
- As the air rises and cools, the amount of water vapour it can carry decreases.
- As a result, the water vapour condenses, and it rains.
Topography and Rainfall
- Mountains can impose a regional impact on rainfall patterns called the rain shadow
effect.
Evapotranspiration: the sum of evaporation directly from soils and water bodies plus the
amount transpired by plants. The ratio of evapotranspiration and precipitation determines
biomes
- Deserts, with low annual precipitation, have a high potential for evapotranspiration.
- Tropical rainforests with high annual precipitation also have a high potential for
evapotranspiration.
- Intermediate levels of water availability and evapotranspiration characterize the
temperate zones
Terrestrial Biomes
Tundra - Above 650N
- Coldest biome
- Low temperatures and precipitation
- Low evaporation and drainage means waterlogged
ground and permanent ice below the soil
- Short days in winter
- Caribou are conspicuous grazers, but other
primary consumers, including musk oxen, rabbits,
birds, and insects, live in tundra as well
- Wolves and foxes are key predators.

Alpine - Occurs throughout the world

- Similar to tundra but lacks permanent ice
- Temperatures vary more widely
- Lower latitudes
- windy, cold places; the thin atmosphere provides
only limited protection from UV radiation
- Low growing plants
- Alpine grazers include mountain goats, llamas,
yaks, and marmots, as well as seasonally active
insects.
- Alpine predators include wolves and cats, such as
the Himalayan snow leopard.

Taiga (boreal forests) - 500N-650N

- Short rainy summers
- Cool and moist
- Coniferous plants and understory dominated by
shrubs in the blueberry and rose families.
- Deep acidic nutrient-poor soil
- Invertebrates, grazers, and predatory animals are
more abundant and diverse in taiga than in tundra.
- Taiga grazers include elk, moose, caribou,
porcupines, hares, and rodents.
- Taiga bears, lynx, wolverines, weasels, mink,
wolves, and foxes are well-known predators

Temperate Coniferous - Below 50° N

- Along the Pacific coast, the climate consists of
warm summers, mild winters, and abundant
precipitation.
- abundant precipitation, permit growth of enormous
conifers, such as Douglas fir, red cedar, Sitka
spruce, and redwoods.
- In the interior, there is less precipitation and colder
winters.
- Insect and vertebrate diversity is higher in
temperate coniferous forests than in taiga forests.
Deciduous - Trees that lose leaves at the end of each growing
season
- During springtime in deciduous forests, sun
passes through seasonally leafless trees to reach
a diverse understory flora.
- Usually 15–25 species of trees in deciduous
forest, including maples, oaks, poplars, and
birches
- Moderate temperatures and precipitation
year-round
- Rich soils
- Insects, birds, and mammals in deciduous forests
are relatively diverse, joined by snakes, lizards,
and amphibians.

Temperate Grassland - Cold winters, warm summers and some rain

- Productive agriculture lands in nutrient-rich areas
- Before colonization by humans, temperate
grasslands of North America supported abundant
and diverse grazers, including bison, pronghorns,
horses, and mammoths. dominated by blue-stem
and buffalo grasses.
- Burrowing grazers such as prairie dogs remain
relatively common in temperate grassland,
although population sizes have fallen; these
species support predators such as ferrets,
badgers, foxes, and birds of prey.

Desert - Desert occurs in continental interiors around the

world north and south of the equator from 25° to
35° latitude.
- Wind patterns prevent the desert biome from
receiving more than a few centimetres of
precipitation annually.
- Primary production is low, and soils are poor in
nutrients but may have high surface salt due to
evaporation.
- Primary consumers tend to be small, and include
diverse lizards as well as rodents.
- Desert predators include snakes, cat species,
coyotes, and birds, such as owls, hawks, and
eagles.

Chaparral - Chaparral occurs on the western edge of

continents from 32° to 40° north and south of the
equator.
 - Precipitation in the chaparral biome ranges from
30 to 75 cm per year, usually falling in 2–4 months.
- In chaparral, olives, eucalyptus, acacia, and oaks
are typical woody species, always
drought-resistant and often adapted to withstand
fire.
- plants are annual herbs, evergreen shrubs, and
small trees.
- Limited precipitation in chaparral means soils are
not rich in organic materials.

Savanna - Tall, perennial grasses dominate the savanna

biome, which occurs in eastern Africa, southern
South America, and Australia.
- In savanna, rain is seasonal and ranges from 75 to
150 cm per year.
- In the savanna, large mammalian grazers are
abundant and diverse; these include the migrating
antelopes, zebras, and giraffes well known in
Africa, kangaroos and other marsupials in
Australia, and large rodents in South America.
- Predator diversity in savannas can also be high,
as exemplified by lions and other cat species,
hyenas, and wild dogs.

Tropical Rainforest - Tropical rainforest is the most diverse of all

terrestrial biomes.
- The tropical rainforest biome extends north and
south of the equator from 10° N to 10° S.
- In tropical rainforests, temperatures are warm, and
annual precipitation commonly exceeds 250 cm.
- Tropical rainforests harbour a great diversity of
species; tree diversity alone often exceeds 300
species per hectare.
- Few large grazers, but smaller mammals such as
primates, bats, and rodents are highly diverse, as
are birds, snakes, and lizards.
- Insects are especially abundant and diverse. Ants
alone comprise as much as 30% of animal
biomass in rainforests, and they are the principal
grazers on rainforest trees.
Aquatic Biomes: freshwater, estuary and saltwater
Freshwater Biomes:
Lakes - Lakes range geographically from the equator to
above 80° N
- Aquatic plants and macroscopic green algae live
along the shallow margins of lakes, and both algae
and cyanobacteria are primary producers
throughout the photic zone of lakes.
- Turtles and birds also play an important role as
grazers and predators in many lakes.
 Rivers - Rivers and streams are freshwater biomes
characterized by moving water. Rivers and
streams, like lakes, vary tremendously in size and
chemistry.
- well oxygenated, although oxygen levels may be
lower in slowly moving rivers on floodplains.
- plants and large algae grow along river margins,
while phytoplankton photosynthesize throughout
the water column.
- insects are important consumers, but other
invertebrates, fish, turtles, and birds can all be
abundant and diverse.
- Salmon and some other fish spend much of their
lives in the oceans but swim up rivers to
reproduce.

Estuary: An ecotone between freshwater and saltwater environments

Saltwater Biomes

photic zone is the top layer, nearest to

the surface of the ocean. It lies between
the surface and about 200 m deep.
Because sunlight rarely penetrates
much deeper than about 200 m, most of
the ocean’s volume is off-limits for
photosynthetic organisms.

The neritic zone encompasses

environments that are near the shore,
with a shallow seafloor, relatively high
availability of nutrients, and persistent
sunlight. Distinct biomes within the neritic zone include intertidal and coral reef
biomes.
The oceanic zone is an area of deeper waters beyond the continental shelf. Within
the oceanic zone, biologists commonly distinguish between the pelagic biome in
open ocean water and the deep-sea biome on the deep seafloor.
- Runoff from continents supplies most nutrients required by sea
- Deep sea life sustained largely by detritus
Intertidal Zones
- The part of the neritic (shallow-water) zone closest to shore is the intertidal biome,
the part of coastlines between the high- and low-tide marks.
- Organisms in this biome are exposed to the atmosphere on a daily basis.
- In sandy intertidal zones, or tidal flats, many animals burrow into the wet sand to
escape exposure at low tide.
- In rocky intertidal zones, bivalve organisms—for example, mussels and
barnacles—may close their shells tightly.
 - Waves can cause mortality as well. For this reason, especially along rocky coastlines,
both algae and animals are securely attached to the substrate.
- Nutrient levels in intertidal zones can be high, favouring strong algal growth.
- Consumers in intertidal zones include a variety of sea stars, sea urchins, mollusks,
barnacles, and corals.
Coral Reefs
- Coral reefs (a neritic biome) are the most diverse biome in the oceans.
- The best-known reefs occur in shallow, tropical to subtropical environments,
where there is little water movement or accumulation of sand or mud, and
where the accumulating skeletons of corals build a structure above the
seafloor.
- Nutrient levels are commonly low in reefs, but primary production is high and
mostly tied to dinoflagellate algae that live within the tissues of corals.
- Free-living algae occur in reefs, but are kept at low abundance by grazing fish.
- Many species of invertebrates live within the reefs, often in nooks and
crannies among coral heads that provide shelter from predators.
- Fish diversity can be especially high in reefs.
- Coral reefs also occur in the deep sea but build gradually, as coral growth is
slow without symbiotic algae.
The Pelagic Zone
- The pelagic zone—the part of the ocean that is neither close to shore nor close to
the seafloor—forms the bulk of the oceanic system.
- Organisms live within the water column of the pelagic zone, either as plankton or as
nekton.
- In the upper 200 m of the pelagic zone, sunlight permits photosynthesis, with diverse
algae and cyanobacteria as primary producers.
- In deeper waters, sunlight is absent, and life is sustained by the rain of organic
particles from surface waters.
- Minute arthropods dominate the zooplankton, while fish and cephalopods are key
components of the nekton.
- Fish and squid are conspicuous consumers, but recent research shows that in the
upper water column, heterotrophic protists may be more abundant and diverse.
The Deep Sea
- Kilometers below the surface, deep sea waters are cold and dark but not
sterile.
- Sinking detritus supports sparse populations of animal consumers, as well as
bacteria and archaea that feed on organic particles.
- Despite their limited biomass, deep-sea biomes exhibit high species
diversity—as high as those of shallow marine communities.
- The composition of communities in deep-sea biomes differs relatively little
from place to place; thus, the total diversity of these environments is lower
than that found within the photic zone.
- Dense animal populations occur locally on the deep seafloor where
hydrothermal vents expel fluids containing high abundances of hydrogen,
hydrogen sulphide, and methane.
 - These compounds support locally high levels of primary production by
chemosynthetic bacteria.
- Many of these bacteria are present as symbionts within the tissues of
vent animals.
Does Iron Limit Primary Productivity?
1. Samples of seawater to which iron was added showed increased chlorophyll
concentration and decreased levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, with higher additions
of iron generally showing more pronounced effects.
2. Controls with no added iron showed little change over the course of the experiment.
3. In samples from the northeastern Pacific Ocean, the addition of iron increased rates
of photosynthesis, with more uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus.
4. This evidence supports the hypothesis that in these waters, iron—and not nitrogen or
phosphorus—limits primary production.

Primary Productivity on Land (depend on water, sunlight and nutrients)

- Warm and wet climates near the equator support highly productive forests, whereas
dry habitats and cold environments with limited growing seasons have lower levels of
primary productivity.
Primary Productivity in Oceans (depend on nutrients)
- In the oceans, the relationship between nutrient availability and global climatic zones
is not so clear. This is unsurprising because, in aquatic ecosystems, water is not a
limiting factor for photosynthesis.
- Rates of primary production are high near continents because runoff of nitrogen and
phosphorus from the continents supplies abundant nutrients to the sea.
- Upwelling zones, where nutrient-rich deep waters return to the surface, are also
(mostly coastal) regions of high primary production.
Liebig Law of the Minimum: The idea that primary production is limited by the
nutrient that is least available relative to the needs of primary producers is called
Latitudinal Diversity Gradient
- Species diversity generally peaks near the equator and declines towards the poles, a
pattern known as latitudinal diversity gradient.
- Hypotheses on why this pattern exists include:
- Tropical habitats have existed much longer than temperate habitats. More
time for species to evolve and diversify at low latitudes.
- it is more difficult to adapt to the cold, dry winters and extreme temperature
ranges at higher latitudes than to the warm, wet, and less extreme
temperature ranges at lower latitudes.
High Plant Diversity, Low Population Density
How far apart can individual trees be and still maintain a viable population? Mutualisms may
hold the answer:
- Pollen from one tree can reach another tree of the same species if both trees are
within the pollinator’s foraging range.
- Higher-latitude species are more likely to be pollinated by the wind.
Biodiversity Hotspots
- Biodiversity hotspots are places with unusually large concentrations of species found
nowhere else that are threatened by human activities.
How far from the equator do you expect regular rainfall in terms of latitudinal distance
measured by Hadley air circulation Cells? ANSWER: 2

Humans as a Planetary Force

The Anthropocene:
- Scientists refer to the modern era as the Anthropocene Epoch.
Humans are a major force on the planet
- More humans alive today than ever before, and our number are rapidly climbing
- Energy used by individuals varies greatly from one part of the world to another
- Americans, canadians, europeans, and australians live energy-intensive lives
- Population in rural Africa and parts of Asia consume less energy per person

The ecological footprint concept

- Represents an attempt to quantify our individual claims on global resources by adding
up all the energy, food, materials, and services we use and estimating how much land
is required to provide those resources
- Highly developed countries have large ecological footprints: it takes more than 8
hectares of land to support an average American
- In many parts of Asia and Africa, the average citizen is supported by only a single
hectare
Human Influence on the Carbon Cycle
- The Keeling curve shows that atmospheric CO2 levels have increased annually over
the past 60 years, and analyses of air bubbles trapped in glacial ice indicate that this
patten of increase began even earlier
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- In many countries, living standards have risen over the past 50 years, nearly always
increasing the mean ecological footprint of their citizens
- Overall, earth’s mean surface temperature has increased almost 1 degree celsius
- Higher latitudes have warmed more than environments nearer the equator
- Solar radiation passes down through the atmosphere, from top to bottom
- Some incoming radiation is reflected from Earth’s surface, and the rest is
absorbed by the land and sea
- Some of the energy absorbed by Earth’s surface is radiated back again as
infrared radiation, or heat
- Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb the infrared radiation
reflected up from Earth’s surface and emit it in all directions, half of it is
directed downward toward Earth
- Water vapour and methane are more greenhouse gases
- Without these gases absorbing and trapping heat, average surface temperatures
would fall below freezing and life would not be possible
- Thawing of permafrost at higher latitudes releases more methane that was trapped in
frozen soils when the ice formed long ago
- Natural processes alone cannot explain the temperature increases observed in recent
decades
- Since weather is so variable, evidence for climate change comes not from individual
weather events but rather from records kept over decades
- The salinity of surface seawater reflects both the addition of fresh water by rain, which
decreases salinity, and evaporation which increases salinity
 - So changing salinity can indicate whether the balance of rainfall and
evaporation is shifting over broad regions of Earth
Changing environments affect species distribution and community composition
- Populations that can adapt to environmental shifts will persist, while those that can’t
will be challenged
- Temperature increase in New England and Scandinavia will mean longer growing
seasons
- Many climate models predict that some of the strongest declines in rainfall will occur
in regions that currently produce much of the corn and wheat that feed the world
- Many species now flower a week earlier than they did in the nineteenth century in
woodlands west of Boston, Massachusetts, since records show that mean annual
temperature in this area has increased by about 2.5degC
- Earlier onset of leaves, flowers, and fruit documented throughout the temperate
zones of North America, europe, and asia
- A fast climate change - many populations may not have time to adapt through natural
selection
- Populations will either migrate, change distribution or go extinct
- Many population wont have enough time to evolve and adapt given the pace
of climate change so theyll either migrate or become extinct
- assisted migration is the deliberate transplantation of plant populations from
existing habitats to new ones more favorable to growth
● Hummingbirds have responded to changes in flowering time. As temperatures have
increased in certain regions, plants have responded by flowering earlier. In order to
feed on nectar produced by the flowers, hummingbirds have shifted their arrival times
to match flowering times and food availability
● Plants in higher altitudes are particularly sensitive to warming
● Tropical rainforests are vulnerable to decreases in cloud cover
● The deadly trio: the effects of increasing CO2 on the oceans
○ Increase in ocean temperature
○ Decrease in pH of seawater (acidification)
○ Decrease in capacity of warm seawater to store oxygen (deoxygenation)
● Transient episodes of extreme heating drive bleaching in reef corals, causing
symbiotic algae to quit their hosts, with potentially lethal consequences
● pH scale: 0.1 unit drop represents increase in hydrogen ions about 30%
● Ocean acidification changes chemistry of water to more difficult for some animals and
algae to form CaCO3 skeletons
● Biofuels- fuels generated from plant biomass-may help conserve petroleum, but the
energy produced will be expensive and climate change will continue
● Coal, natural gas, and oil sand reserves can quench the world’s thirst for fossil fuels
for another century
● Nuclear power-key problem is long-term storage of radioactive waste
● Reforestation
● Much of the nitrate fertilizer runoffs to rivers, lakes, or the ocean
● Phosphate comes from rocks which is used to fertilize rocks, the runoff can contribute
to eutrophication in lakes
● To meet the needs of increased meat consumption and use of corn to generate
biofuel
○ We can devote more land to crops
 ○ We can increase the yield of fields already in place
■ Increasing crop yields will require increasing the use of fertilizer and
the use of fossil fuels to power farm machinery, contributing to climate
change and eutrophication
■
- Breeding and genetic modifications may improve crop yields but may result in an
evolutionary arms race through artificial selection
- Pest reduction or management may improve crop yields where feasible
- Reduction of food spoilage after crop harvest will help to increase the effective yield
of food
- More efficient storage, transportation and packaging could sharply increase the
effective yield of fields and pastures
Human Impact on Habitats
- The conversion of natural ecosystems to cropland decreases the area of natural
habitats, as does the expansion of cities and towns.
Deforestation and Tropical Habitat Loss
- Habitat loss in tropical rainforests poses one of the most important threats to
biological diversity.
Effects of Pollution
- Bee and bird populations decrease with an increasing neonicotinoid compound in the
environment.
- Plastics in the ocean can ensnare organisms, impede organism movement, and affect
organism’s health when ingested.
- Air pollution kills an estimated 4 million people every year.
Invasive Species
- Invasive species can expand and affect new areas.
- Invasive species can affect native species because invasive species have no natural
predators, and tend to be r-strategists.
- Kudzu is a plant imported from Japan to retard soil erosion. It now covers
more than 3 million hectares in the southeastern United States, displacing
native plants through competition for space and resources.
- The zebra mussel is a European bivalve that hitchhiked to the Great Lakes in
the ballast water of cargo ships. It has multiplied dramatically in its new
habitat, displacing native species and clogging intake pipes to power plants.
- Brown tree snakes were introduced into Guam from Australia and Asia since
World War II. They have reduced native bird and reptile diversity by 75%.
Amphibians
- One-third of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction.
- Exchanging gases through their skin makes amphibians especially sensitive to
environmental disruption.
- Habitat destruction, pesticides, and fungal infections have all contributed to
amphibian declines.
Conservation biology addresses the challenge of sustaining biodiversity in a changing
world crowded with people. It concentrates on preserving species diversity in communities to
maintain ecosystem services provided by the species in that community.
- Biodiversity hotspots are areas of high priority for conservation efforts.
- Biodiversity provides cleaner air and water, greater primary productivity and
improved resilience to environmental disruption and untapped food sources
and molecular compounds for use in medicine and agriculture.