QUIZ #8

1. Draw the IDH curve. When and why is species diversity

highest according to IDH?
2. Explain how anthropogenic disturbance can be either
beneficial or detrimental.
3. How can wetlands function as a transitional community
(zone) between open lakes and upland terrestrial forest
habitats?
4. What is the difference between (or define, up to you)
allogenic and autogenic succession.
5. Give an example of both primary and secondary
succession.
PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY
 RANGE OF PRODUCTIVITY:
CLIMATE AND LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
SECONDARY PRODUCTIVITY
PLANT AND ANIMAL ADAPTATION
 Forces leading to adaptation

1. Anoxia: lack of oxygen

2. Salinity: fluctuating or high salinity
3. Soil toxins: sulfide, methane, etc.
4. Nutrient stress: low nitrogen or phosphorus
availability
5. Submergence: anchorage, locomotion, change in C
source, wave energy, light
6. Herbivory/Predation
 Responses to anoxia at different levels of complexity
Bacteria
• alternative respiratory pathways
• utilize energy in reduced compounds (e.g. NH4+, CH4, S-)

Plants
• arenchymous tissue (ethylene production), lenticels,
adventitious roots, stem elongation, shallow rooting,
hypertrophy, carbohydrate storage structures
• pressurized gas flow, radial oxygen loss
• Alcohol dehydrogenase(ADH) accumulation

Animals
• specialized respiratory structures (gills, parapodia, etc.)
• pigments
• various other physiological and behavioral modifications
 Responses salt stress at
different levels of complexity

Bacteria
• accumulation of “non-lethal” ions (e.g. K+ relative to Na+)
• compatible (organic) solutes

Plants
• salt exclusion
• salt excretion
• storage in vacuoles or senescent tissues
• C4 instead of C3 photosynthetic pathway

Animals
• osmoregulate
• osmoconform
 OXYGEN STRESS:
ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION
OXYGEN PUMPING
Illustration of gas flow
in the water lily
Pressurized gas flow is a function of water depth
 FLOODING
TOLERANCE
 Loblolly pine root

Flooded vs. Non-

flooded and
ethylene production

Loblolly pine seedling stem

 Mangrove Adaptations

waxy leaves and lenticels

viviparous seedlings specialized root
structures
salt exclusion vs. salt excretion
Mangroves are better
competitors
in salty environments
 SOIL PHYTOTOXINS:
IMPACT NUTRIENT UPTAKE

Vmax

NH4+ uptake Km NH4+ concentration

 EFFECTS OF
POREWATER
SALINITY

Vmax
NH4+ uptake

Km NH4+ concentration
 Spatial Gradients

High tide

low tide

increasing soil salinity, and sulfide concentrations

decreasing soil redox

Reciprocal effects of vegetation on soil
SALT MARSH COMMUNITY STRUCTURE
PHOTOSYNTHETIC
PATHWAYS

C3 PATHWAY

C4 PATHWAY
Stomata imprints on underside of red mangrove leaf
Measuring photosynthesis and transpiration in a mangrove forest
 Definitions

tolerator (conformer): an organism that has functional

modifications allowing it to survive and often function in the
presence of stress.

regulator: organisms that actively avoid stress or modify it to

minimize its effects (e.g. thermoregulator, osmoregulator, etc.)
SALT STRESS IN ANIMALS
Reptilian tolerance to anoxia
NEKTON ADAPTATIONS
 Estuarine-dependent life cycles

Brown shrimp

Gulf menhaden
Seasonal occurrence of
estuarine-dependent
species
 Quiz # 8

1. Why is nitrogen fixation inhibited by aerobic conditions?

2. Describe one way in which bacteria deal with anoxia.

3. Describe a mechanism that allows hydrophytes to deal with

salinity stress.

4. What is the source of inorganic carbon for plants

photosynthesizing under water (i.e., SAV)?

5. What microbial process gives rise to reduced inorganic

nitrogen?