Term
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Definition
“Study of factors that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms”
also: study of interactions of organisms with their environments |
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Definition
Finnish ecologist, did research on caterpillars and nitrogen-enriched soils.
Lab and field showed 2 different things. Field was affected by predators. |
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| How to deal with ecological complexity? |
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Definition
Seek simplicity and mistrust it.
Multiple working hypotheses.
Attempts at prediction -> useful
postdiction -> “Ecological Forecasting” |
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Definition
| Observation, Experiments, Models |
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Definition
| The only true way of obtaining new information, good natural history, consistent long term monitoring, advance mapping and sensing technology |
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Definition
- Field or laboratory, replicated manipulated treatments with controls
– Whole ecosystem experiments |
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Term
Experimental tools for dealing with
ecological variability: |
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Definition
1. Replicates
2. Controls
3. Statistics |
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Definition
| separate (independent) units of study that are treated identically by ecologists, in order to assess variability that arises from factors we didn’t manipulate |
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Definition
| units that did not experience the focal manipulation. They provide a baseline for comparison, an understanding of how organisms or systems will change over time or space, independent of experimental treatments. |
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Definition
| tools help us distinguish signal from noise, e.g., test whether differences between treatments (e.g., control vs experimental) are greater than differences within treatments |
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Definition
– verbal or mathematical simplifications of reality, intended to capture key processes driving system change over time
– Hypotheses: suggested explanations, subject to test(falsifiable) |
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Term
| Big Ecology Questions (3) |
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Definition
1. What factors determine distribution and abundance of organisms ?
2. What regulates populations ? (next week)
3. How will organisms, ecosystems or the planet respond to changes in environment (climate, land use, extinctions, invasions of new species) ? |
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Term
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Definition
X Axis: Precipitation Y Axis: Tempurature Yellow: Desert Lime: Grassland Teal: Temperate Forest Green: Tropical Forest Blue: Coniferous Forest White: Artic and Alpine Tundra |
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Term
| What causes spatial and temporal variation in temperature and moisture? |
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Definition
| Same photon flux spread over larger land surface near poles than at equator |
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Definition
| Tilt of Earth’s axes sets up seasonality of northern and southern hemispheres |
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Term
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Definition
rising air experiences lower atmospheric pressure, expands in volume, losing temperature. (First Law of
Thermodynamics*—work done to expand air parcels comes at expense of heat energy.) If it cools below dew point, air will lose its moisture (as clouds, or precipitation) |
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Term
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Definition
temperature to which the air would
have to cool (at constant pressure and constant water vapor
content) in order to reach saturation, at which the air is
holding the maximum possible amount of water vapor possible
at the existing temperature and pressure.
If the air cools below dew point, moisture must be removed
from the air. This is accomplished through condensation. This
process results in the formation of fog, frost, clouds, or precipitation. |
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Term
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Definition
Earth is a
sphere, not a cylinder. An
object at equator is moving east
at 24,000 miles per day. If it
moves north, the earth beneath
moves more slowly, so it veers
right. If it moves from north
towards equator, also goes right.
Reverse is true in southern
hemisphere. |
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Term
| Earth rotates in which direction |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| most clearly separated by Temperature and Percipitation |
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Term
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Definition
| stratum of rapid temperature change. Can separate oxygenated from hypoxic habitat. |
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Term
| Eutropic/Mesotropic/Oligotropic |
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Definition
Eutrophic (river, lake estuary): nutrient rich, likely to
produce noxious or harmful algal blooms (cyanobacteria, toxic
dinoflagellates)
Mesotrophic – intermediate nutrient concentrations
Oligotrophic – low nutrient concentrations,very clear water
(“good” water quality for humans and fish) |
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Term
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Definition
the largest niche in which a
species could persist in the absence of adverse interactions with other species |
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Definition
Range of conditions, resource levels, and
densities of other species within which an organism or species can survive and reproduce(persist over time). |
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Definition
the (generally smaller) niche
volume occupied by a species in the presence of interspecific interactions |
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Definition
rely on external sources of heat to regulate
temperature |
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Term
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Definition
use their own metabolic heat
production to regulate their body temperature. |
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Term
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Definition
maintaining an
internal state with a narrower (and physiologically more
favorable) range of conditions than the organism experiences in the external environment |
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Term
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Definition
Residual population
left over from time when environment
could support its survival and
reproduction, which can no longer
replace itself locally |
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Term
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Definition
: Habitat where death
rates exceed birth rates, and organisms
are present only because of immigration
from Source Habitats (where births
exceed deaths) |
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Term
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Definition
: Resources produced
in one habitat that support consumers in
a second habitat. |
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Term
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Definition
: the study
of periodic plant and
animal life cycle
events that are
influenced by
environmental
changes, especially
seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation driven by weather and climate. |
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Term
| Acclimatization (“acclimation” in the lab) |
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Definition
: shifts in
the response of an organism to a condition caused by
the regime it has experienced in the past.
– e.g. trees can tolerate lower temperatures in
October than they can if surprised in mid-summer,
because they’ve induced new types of proteins and restructured cell membrane phospholipids. |
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Term
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Definition
: whether the
young of the year can
grow large enough to
survive their first winter. |
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Term
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Definition
1. Adaptation
2. Exaptation
3. Phylogenetic constraint |
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Term
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Definition
: trait that
confers a performance
advantage relative to its
absence in an ancestor |
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Term
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Definition
: confers an
advantage, but originated
BEFORE the need for it
arose |
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Term
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Definition
(historical baggage) : trait
evolved in the past that may
not be suited to current
environment |
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Term
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Definition
organism’s lifetime pattern of
growth, differentiation, storage, reproduction |
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Term
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Definition
: sequence of stages through which
organism passes to develop from zygote to a
reproductive adult producing more zygotes |
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Term
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Definition
: individual reproducing once per
lifetime (salmon, bamboo, Century plant) |
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Term
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Definition
: individual that reproduces more
than once in its lifetime (humans, oak trees,
lobsters) |
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Term
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Definition
develop from zygote to
adult with determinant
form |
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Term
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Definition
grow
by repeated interations
of its parts (modules)
into an adult of
indeterminate form
(coral, poison oak) |
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Term
20
Currencies: energy, nutrients, time
Allocation? |
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Definition
growth
activity
maintenance
Reproduction: offspring quality, offspring quantity |
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Term
Life history trade offs of plants or
animals |
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Definition
• Starting growth early in the
season entails risk of freezing
• If reproductive resources
allocated to larger seeds, plant
makes fewer, so incurs more
predation risk, and risk of bad
luck (unfavorable microsites)
• Dispersal: reduces competition
with parent, but increases risk of
unsuitable habitat. |
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Term
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Definition
: study of how the vital rate of individuals
(birth, death, growth) affect structure and dynamics of
populations |
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Term
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Definition
: group of potentially interbreeding individuals
(same species, co-occur in time and space)
based on – density: number of individuals per area or volume
– size structure
– age distribution
– sex ratio… |
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Term
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Definition
: pattern of distribution
of individuals in space (clumped,
even, or random = every site has an
equal probability of being occupied
by an individual, independent of
locations of other individuals) |
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Term
| Intraspecific vs. Interspecific |
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Definition
Intraspecific interactions (between individuals of
the same species) vs
Interspecific interactions (between individuals of
different species) |
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Term
| Life (and reproductive) table |
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Definition
—summary of age (or
size) specific rates of survival and fecundity
(progeny per individual) |
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Term
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Definition
: a group of individuals of the same age,
from birth until they all die (or by other methods
that approximate this ideal approach) . |
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Term
| Population growth/decline equation |
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Definition
dN/dt = b Nt – d Nt = (b – d) Nt = r Nt (closed population)
r = b – d = per capita rate of population growth (time -1 ) |
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Term
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Definition
dN/dt = rN [(K-N)/K]
Carrying Capacity K limits. |
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Term
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Definition
K depends on
both the
environment
and the
organism in
question |
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Term
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Definition
r-selected traits
– Short life span
– Small size
– High predator
vulnerability
– Weak competitor
– Good disperser
– Many small
offspring
– Early reproduction |
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Term
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Definition
K-selected traits
– Long life span
– Large size
– Low vulnerability to
predators
– Strong competitor
– Slower disperser
– Fewer but better
provisioned offspring
– Late reproduction |
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Term
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Definition
: Estimate
of land and water area needed
to produce all resources a
nation consumes, and to absorb
all the waste it generates |
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Term
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Definition
• Competition (interspecific) (-, -)
• Predation, herbivory, parasitism (+, -)
• Mutualism (+, +)
• Amensalism (0, -)
• Commensalism (0, +) |
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Term
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Definition
Exploitative
Apparent
Interference |
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Term
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Definition
: two species compete
for a resource that is limiting: in
short supply relative to their
needs indirect
Image V |
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Term
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Definition
: two species
directly harm each other by toxic
allelochemicals, injury or wasting
time, increasing risk, etc. direct
Image --- |
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Term
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Definition
: two species decrease in
each other’s presence because
they support the increased
abundance or vigor of a common
predator indirect
Image A |
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Term
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Definition
is a type of interaction that is
beneficial to both species involved.
• It may be obligate or facultative.
• It may be symbiotic or non-symbiotic. |
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Term
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Definition
: a group of
species that co-occur in
time and space |
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Term
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Definition
depict feeding (or other
significant (e.g. population
limiting or regulating))
relationships among
members of a community |
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Term
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Definition
: group of entities united by interaction or
interdependence to form
or act as an entire unit |
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Term
| Odd number of tropic levels |
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Definition
: green (plants
resource limited =
“bottom up”
limitation) |
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Term
| Even number of tropic levels |
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Definition
: barren
(plants consumer
limited = “top down”
limitation) |
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Term
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Definition
: a
species that
consumes and limits
the population of
another species
that would
otherwise dominate
the system |
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Term
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Definition
: A discrete event that frees resources
and opens up habitat by killing or removing organisms |
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Term
| Characteristics of early vs late successional species: |
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Definition
Early: good dispersers, fast growing, allocation to growth
and progeny (r-selected), not defense or competitive
ability. Tolerance of harsh conditions or abrasion.
Late: poorer dispersers, slower growing but better
competitors and/or better defended. (K selected) |
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Term
Effect of early species on later
species? |
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Definition
• Positive (Facilitation)?
• Negative (Inhibition)?
• Neutral (Tolerance)? |
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Term
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Definition
: sequential changes, following disturbance,
in the dominant biota occupying and affecting a site |
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Term
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Definition
: on truly bare (sterilized) space--volcanic lava field;
rock exfoliation, receding glaciers |
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Term
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Definition
: space has been opened and de-populated, but
some residual biota has survived (more common than primary
succession) |
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Term
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Definition
(e.g. in rotten log or infested acorn) = habitat
modified by inhabitants, disappears over time |
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Term
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Definition
: late successional stage in which dominant species can replace
themselves; young of climax species can successfully recruit under
established adults |
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Term
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Definition
—a small fraction of solar radiation is fixed by
photosynthetic organisms, but once energy is dissipated as heat, it is never
recovered by ecosystem (except as passive energy savings for
transport—e.g. ocean or air currents driven by heat and used by |
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Term
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Definition
—atoms (H, O, C, N, Ca, P ) created in stars, used again and
again, end up in different pools, fluxes transfer atoms between pools. |
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Term
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Definition
: if system is in equilibrium so input (vol time-1) = output
(vol time-1) = q, residence time or turnover time, T = Volume/q |
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Term
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Definition
: downstream
transport with periodic cycling by
local biology.
Retentive ecosystems with short
spiral lengths are more efficient-
- more biotic production per
nutrient flux downstream. |
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Term
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Definition
:
organic production/nutrient flux
(mass time-t / mass time-t )
Forests more efficient at producing wood from nutrients if
these are retained.
Oligotrophic lakes produce more fish per nutrient flux than
eutrophic lakes |
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Term
| Equilibrium Theory of Island Biogeography” |
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Definition
S reached when Immigration + Evolution = Extinction + Emigration,
or, if Evolution and Emigration small, when Immigration = Extinction
Effects of island size and distance only factors considered. |
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Term
[image] What is at 60 degrees? 30 Degrees? Poles? Equator? |
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Definition
30 Degrees Deserts 60 Degrees Tropics Poles cold Equator Hot |
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