Plant Species & Distribution

Animal Species & Distribution Orangutans live in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutans build crude nests, and they are the only animals who build a roof when it rains. Orangutans live in the canopy of the rain forest. Orangutans are much like humans, and they are very intelligent. They are tree dwelling animals. When they travel through trees, they don't move to the next branch until they have a firm grip on it. Orangutans often drop seeds while they are traveling though trees. That makes more food for them. Older orangutans usually go off by themselves; younger orangutans play and stay together. There are a little more than five thousand orangutans left in the world. Orangutans share a preference with humans for fertile alluvial plains and lowland valleys a habitat once rich in tropical forests but now being replaced with logging and agricultural concessions. Previous population & distribution Pleistocene fossil records in southern China, northern Vietnam, Lao PDR, and Java indicate that the genus once had a wide distribution in Southeast Asia. Orangutans are now only found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, with populations on each island belonging to separate species. A century ago there were probably more than 230,000 orangutans worldwide. Current population & distribution Both orangutan species have experienced sharp population declines over the past few decades. Their dense forest homes make it difficult to precisely determine population sizes, however the Bornean orangutan is estimated to number about 41,000 individuals, while the Sumatran orangutan is estimated to number about 7,500 individuals

Random Sampling
Show image How many plants live here? What animals live here? Its impossible for us to guess just by looking. It would be like trying to count different sizes and colours of grains of sand on the beach. If you were an ecologist what would you do to fin an accurate estimate? Sampling: This problem is usually solved by taking a number of samples from around the habitat. Problem? If we make one sample, does this represent everything as a whole? In order to be reasonably sure that the results from the samples do represent the habitat as closely as possible, careful planning beforehand is essential. The usual sampling unit is a quadrat. Quadrats normally consist of a square frame, the most frequently used size being 1m 2 (see picture below). The purpose of using a quadrat is to enable comparable samples to be obtained from areas of consistent size and shape. Does it matter what shape the quadrat actually is? No, as long as the exact measurements are stated in write ups and it is consistent. Variation of sampling: If you are sampling aquatic microorganisms or studying water chemistry, then you will most likely collect water samples in standard sized bottles or containers. If you are looking at parasites on fish, then an individual fish will most likely be your sampling unit.

Random sampling is usually carried out when the area under study is fairly uniform, very large, and or there is limited time available. When using random sampling techniques, large numbers of samples/records are taken from different positions within the habitat. A quadrat frame is most often used for this type of sampling. The frame is placed on the ground (or on whatever is being investigated) and the animals, and/ or plants inside it counted, measured, or collected, depending on what the survey is for. This is done many times at different points within the habitat to give a large number of different samples. In the simplest form of random sampling, the quadrat is thrown to fall at random within the site. However, this is usually unsatisfactory because a personal element inevitably enters into the throwing and it is not truly random. True randomness is an important element in ecology, because statistics are widely used to process the results of sampling. Many of the common statistical techniques used are only valid on data that is truly randomly collected. This technique is also only possible if quadrats of small size are being used. It would be impossible to throw anything larger than a 1m 2 quadrat and even this might pose problems. Within habitats such as woodlands or scrub areas, it is also often not possible to physically lay quadrat frames down, because tree trunks and shrubs get in the way. In this case, an area the same size as the quadrat has to be measured out instead and the corners marked to indicate the quadrat area to be sampled.

NICHE

A niche is all the characteristics, biotoic and abiotic, specific to a species. It includes the habitat, nutrition, and relationships. For example, the place that the species sleeps, lives, breeds, its food source and relationship with other species.

Explain the principle of competitive exclusion.

First proposed by Lokta and Volterra, competitive exclusion takes place when two species need the same resources, and will therefore compete until one species is removed. In any situation where two species are very similar and are vying for the same food source or breeding ground, one would be somewhat more capable of controlling the resources or reproducing rapidly. The other is run out of existence. Experiments with bacteria populations in the lab of Russian ecologist G.F. Gause demonstrated that this concept was accurate in practice.

This principle was termed competitive exclusion. No two species can live in the same niche, because there is competition for the resources of the land and only one species will survive.