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BIOLOGY 2.5 ECOLOGY AS 90461 TITLE: Describe concepts and processes relating to ecology. EXPLANATORY NOTES: Concepts and processes relating to Ecology will be selected from: biodiversity, adaptations, succession, zonation, stratification, distribution, competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, density, habitat, antibiosis, adaptations. OBJECTIVES Classification: 1. State the names of the 5 different kingdoms and general characteristics of each with examples. (a) State terms used in the classification system from kingdom to species. (b) Classify organisms using the binomial classification system. 2. Practice using keys. Ecosystems: 3. (a) Define Ecology (b) Define and give an example for: habitat, adaptations (structural, behavioural and physiological) and ecological niche. 4. State Gause's Principle. 5. Define environment, abiotic and biotic factors, intraspecific competition and interspecific competition. 6. State the Law of Tolerance and distinguish between zones of physiological stress, optimum range and limit of tolerance. 7. State Leibig's Law of the Minimum. 8. Define limiting factor. Populations: 9. Define population, density, distribution. 10. State random sampling procedures: quadrats and transects. 11. Define population regulation. Communities: 12. Define and give an example of each of the following: community, commensalism, mutualism, parasitism, antibiosis. 13. Define zonation, stratification, succession, pioneer species, climax community. 14. Interpret predator - prey interactions. 1 SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW ZEALAND FLORA AND FAUNA NB: Endemic: Native to, and found only in, New Zealand Indigenous: Native to New Zealand but can be found elsewhere. Biodiversity: The variety of organisms that exist in an area. NZ FLORA 1. ("seed with a foot") Forest - among most ancient forests in the world. Not changed much since NZ was part of Gondwana, 190 million years ago. Podocarps are an ancient Gymnosperm group. NZ examples are: rimu, kahikatea, totara. 2. About 80% of all native vascular plants (ferns, conifers, flowering plants) are endemic (found only in NZ) 3. Most common flower colour of NZ alpine plants is white or pale yellow. Adaptation to attract flies, beetles and moths, as NZ has few butterflies and long-tongued bees. Many flowers are small and inconspicuous, but have exposed nectaries and are highly scented at night (attract moths). 4. Certain plant genera have spread more extensively in NZ than elsewhere in the world. eg. Hebe and Coprosma (have evolved to fill available niches), each with more than 35 species in NZ. Alpine vegetation is still evolving (Southern Alps are only 5 million years old). 5. Very few NZ plant species produce toxins and they are therefore palatable to introduced mammals. 6. Many plants have juvenile forms - which look quite different from the adults eg. lancewood. 7. Many shrubs and juvenile forms are divaricating (filiramulate) - dense, interlacing network of short, wiry twigs bearing very small leaves. Possibly protection against wind, frost and desiccation, eg. coprosma, prostrate kowhai. 8. Few deciduous or annual plants. 9. High percentage of dioecious plants - separate male and female plants, eg. coprosma. 10. Many plants produce heavy crops of small but colourful, fleshy fruit - bird dispersal, eg. kahikatea, coprosma and rimu. PODOCARP NZ FAUNA In the absence of native, ground-dwelling mammals, because of NZ's isolation from the rest of the world, our fauna has many unusual species. Many are the only representatives of their particular group. 1. Birds - large size and loss of flight - therefore ground-dwellers, eg. kiwi, weka. Kiwi: lay the largest egg in proportion to size of parent, of any bird. Kakapo: only member of its genus - largest parrot in the world. Moa: one of the largest birds ever known in the world. Grazers - 20 species were found in New Zealand. Sea birds: over half NZ native birds. Vocalisation is important - distinguishing song to attract mates, and defend territory (colour not as important). 2 2. Insects - well camouflaged. - many wingless, eg. cockroaches, earwigs, beetles, stick insects, wetas (giant weta - largest insect of its kind in the world, 100 mm in length, 60 g. Endemic.) - very few butterflies - about 16 species. - 1500 species of moth - pollinators - 250 000 species of beetles - pollinators 3. Spiders - of the 10 orders only 4 are found in NZ. Hunting spiders such as the Avondale spider (size of fist) are very large. 4. Snails - large (up to 9 cm across). NZ has largest variety of primitive, carnivorous land snails in the world. 5. Peripatus - (photo page 368 Bio Science) - small caterpillar-like ("velvet worm") - very ancient. Evolutionary link between annelid worms and insects. 6. Earthworms - biggest in NZ is 1.4 m long and found on Little Barrier Island. 7. Frogs - rare NZ native frog Leiopelma has no free-living tadpole stage. Most primitive living frog known. Pounces on food rather than flicking its tongue out - very small. 8. Tuatara - relatives lived over 200 million years ago, all dying out 60 - 70 million years ago. 9. Mammals - only 2 species of bats - small, rare and nocturnal. REASONS FOR EVOLUTION OF SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Isolation Wide latitudinal span of the 3 main islands. Lack of mammals (except 2 bats) and therefore absence of predators and competition. Distinct fauna and flora - many being endemic (found nowhere else in the world) Flightless forms filling ecological equivalent niches to mammals in other parts of the world. eg. moa equivalent to kangaroo or zebra. Immigration by way of sea and wind - many organisms from Australia. Isolation in glaciations has led to evolution of new species. Maori and European came with mammalian predators and competitors, grasses and weeds were introduced, fire, and habitat destruction has led to many organisms becoming extinct, eg. huia, moa, Haast eagle, and endangered, eg. kokako, kakapo, takahe. Videos # 231 Land of the Kiwi #156 - David Attenborough's New Zealand Birds 3 BIOLOGY - The Study of Living organisms 5-KINGDOM CLASSIFICATION All Living Things on Earth Kingdom Prokaryota single cell no nuclear membrane no cell organelles eg. bacteria and blue-green algae Kingdom Protista single celled nuclear membrane eg. algae, amoeba, paramecium Kingdom Fungi single celled and multicellular no chlorophyll produce spores eg. yeast, mushroom, tinea Kingdom Plantae multicellular contain chlorophyll photosynthesise eg. mosses, ferns, conifers, flowering plants Kingdom Animalia multicellular consumers Contains 9 phyla eg. chordata Note: (Page 5 Life Science) Plants are autotrophic, meaning: _______________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Animals are heterotrophic, meaning: ____________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Q? Are Fungi autotrophic or heterotrophic? _________________________________________ Explain your answer: ________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Activities See Videos: #62 Five Kingdom Classification (20 minutes) or #132 Classification and worksheet (Bringing Order to Diversity) Powerpoint programme on Animal Classification Round Robin of Specimens, suitcase of specimens. Cut and paste organisms into phyla and classes. Make a lolly key. 4 THE THEORY OF CLASSIFICATION (Read Pages 11 - 13 in your Text) Taxonomy is the science of the classification of living things. The Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (1707 - 1778) introduced a system of naming organisms which helped humans to organise into groups all the knowledge that had been gathered. Linnaeus introduced the binomial system for naming organisms. Each organism has two parts to its name, which is hence known as a binomial name. The first part indicates the genus to which the organism belongs and the second part is its species name. The name for humans is Homo sapiens. The generic name is written with a capital letter; the species name with a lower case letter. The binomial name is often written italics or it may be underlined. Linnaeus also introduced other higher categories which we still use today - order, class and kingdom. Two more taxonomic categories have been added since Linnaeus' time - family and phylum. The taxonomic categories are as follows: Species (plural: same) - a group of organisms which can successfully interbreed in nature and produce fertile offspring. Genus (plural: genera) - consists of similar species grouped together Family - consists of similar genera grouped together Order - consists of similar families grouped together Class - consists of similar orders grouped together Phylum (plural: phyla) - consists of similar classes grouped together Kingdom - consists of related phyla grouped together There may be further subdivisions within the taxon, indicated by the prefix sub, for example subclass. Taxon Kingdom Phylum Subphylum Class Order Family Genus Species Taxon Kingdom Phylum Class Subclass Family Genus Species Animalia (all animals) Chordata (animals with a dorsal nerve cord) Vertebrata (animals with a vertebral column) Mammalia Carnivora Canidae Canis Canis lupus (wolf) Canis familiaris (domestic dog) Plantae (all plants) Tracheophyta (plants with a vascular system) Spermatopsida (seed plants) Angiospermae (flowering plants) Papilionaceae Sophora Sophora tetraptera (kowhai) Sophora microphylla (kowhai) 5 GETTING KEYED-UP What do you get if you cross a shark with a snowman? Professor Percival has collected some animals previously unknown to biologists (or anyone else for that matter). He has described them and constructed a key for their identification. Use the key to discover what name he gave to each specimen. The initial letters of their names spell out the answer to the riddle .You may use the same answer more than once. KEY 1a. Feet 1b. No feet 2a 6a 2a. Four feet 2b. Less than four feet 3a 8a 3a. Definite head end 3b. No definite head end 4a Fetidiensis 4a. Head has at least one extension for food gathering 4b. Head has no extension for food gathering 5a. Slimiensis 5a. Two eyes 5b. Numerous eyes on stalks Basiliskus Odorifensis 6a. Spines 6b. No spines 7a. Excrescia 7a. Spines more than 5mm long 7b. Spines less than 5mm long Toxicus Decomposus 8a. Frill-like outgrowths 8b. No frill-like outgrowths 9a. Regurgitus 9a. Base wider than apex 9b. Apex wider than base Putrefactus Ickius 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 6 ECOLOGY DEFINITIONS Ecology is the study of relationships of organisms with the world around them. (both living and non-living) Habitat - p.22. The habitat of an organism is the place where it lives. Adaptations - p.18 These are the special features an organism possesses that enable it to survive. NOTE: An adaptation is always followed by the word "to" or "for". eg. A cat has fur to keep it warm. There are 3 types: 1. Structural adaptations These are ___________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ An Example is: _____________________________________________________________ (describe how the example helps survival) _______________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 2. Physiological adaptations (Also called functional) These are: _________________ __________________________________________________________________________ An Example is: _____________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 3. Behavioural adaptations This is ____________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ An Example is: _____________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Activities: Suggested video #28: The Baking Deserts - list the adaptations the organisms have to survive in this environment. # 87 Plant and Animal adaptations Computer Room Habitats CD Rom. 7 Ecological Niche An ecological niche refers to an organisms way of life (role) and the adaptations it possesses to survive in the environment. The ecological niche of an organism is determined by 2 main factors: a) The opportunities provided by the habitat. b) The adaptations that enable an organism to take advantage of the habitat. Ecological Niche Examples Organism Earthworm Habitat moist, well aerated soil Role herbivore, feeding on dead plant materials Adaptations (2) 1. Streamlined to move through soil. 2. Secretes mucus to prevent dehydration Shark Mangrove (p 26 & 227) Activity: - or - Video #23 Wild South Mangroves # 109 Select an organism and describe its ecological niche in detail. Organism: (common name) _________________________ (scientific name) _________________________ Ecological Niche: ____________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ CO-EXISTENCE - P.20 If two different species lived in the same habitat and occupied the same ecological niche, they would compete for the same resources such as food, space and shelter. Sooner or later there would not be enough resources to meet the needs of all of the members of both species. One or other of the species would die out, move away or alter its requirements ie. change its niche. Gauses Principle states that - No two species with identical ecological niches can co-exist for very long. Do the experiment on page 21 of your text using cabbage tree leaves or Experiment 1 8 EXPERIMENT 1: CO-EXISTENCE AND ECOLOGICAL NICHE INTRODUCTION Two herbivorous moth larvae live on flax bushes or cabbage trees in New Zealand. These are the "notching" caterpillar - notch noctuid, and the "window" caterpillar - window geometer. The notching caterpillar grows up to 35 mm and is often pinkish with fine black lines. The geometer caterpillar grows to about 25 mm, is transparent yellow in colour with a central longitudinal dark red strip. It moves by looping. Gause's Principle states that "no two species with identical ecological niches can co-exist for long in the same place". Aim To determine whether two similar species exploiting the same plant actually have the same ecological niche. Method 1. If possible use living cabbage trees available where measurements can be carried out in situ. 2. Measure the distance (to the nearest 2 mm) from the mid-rib (centre) of a cabbage tree leaf to the nearest point of the window-shaped hole that the geometer caterpillar makes while feeding (dw). Repeat for at least 50 windows. 3. Repeat this procedure for the notches (dn). 4. Avoid taking measurements from the tip and the bottom of the leaf. WRITTEN REQUIREMENT: 1. Results a) Record the two sets of results in the form of tally charts on your own paper. b) Plot these results on a graph-histogram. Draw the two graphs in different colours and include a key. Caterpillar Distribution on Cabbage Tree Leaves Frequency of each caterpillar Distance from mid-rib (mm) 2. Discussion a) Do the graphs overlap? If so, explain what this overlap mean in the lives of the caterpillars? b) Considering Gause's Principle, discuss why these two species of caterpillars still survive on the same plant. c) Given the information you already have about the ecological niche of these caterpillars, explain how you would discover more information about their ecological niches (2 ideas needed). 9 ASSIGNMENT ONE THE ROCK POOL HABITAT Refer to the information supplied on P27 of Life Science and answer the following questions. 1. Explain why temperature of rock pools vary much more than sea temperature. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 2. Pools A and B were near each other and the temperatures were recorded on the same day. Explain why the temperature in Pool A is increased more than in Pool B. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 3. Discuss why the temperature of each pool suddenly returned to the same temperature as the sea. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 4. Explain why Pool B returned to sea temperature before Pool A. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 5. Describe how the salinity of a rock pool could cause it to (a) increase (become more salty) ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ (b) decrease (become less salty) ____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 10 6. Describe the type of pool which would be more susceptible to changes in salinity. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 7. Describe other abiotic factors that could change in a rock pool when the tide is out. (Consider effects of photosynthesis and respiration) _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 8. Describe the general conclusions that you can make about the limits of tolerance of rock pool organisms. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 11 ENVIRONMENT p.22 An organism's environment consists of abiotic and biotic factors. Abiotic Factors are physical factors and operate independently of the number of organisms present. They are caused by non-living things. Biotic Factors are those caused by living things. Complete the table (page 23) Biotic Factors Abiotic Factors In the example below, circle the biotic factors. COMPETITION p.17 When a number of organisms use a common resource and it is in limited supply, competition will occur. This can cause a decrease in population numbers or migration. eg. plants may compete for ________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ animals may compete for ________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 12 Intraspecific competition is _________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ and is usually a _________________________ intense form of competition. Interspecific competition is _________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Competition can be beneficial in controlling population numbers and in ensuring that only the organisms best adapted to the environment survive and reproduce. TOLERANCE p.24-26 Tolerance is an organism's ability to survive changes in environmental conditions. An organism usually has a range of conditions in which it functions best. This is called its optimum range. When conditions are not ideal, the organism is likely to suffer physiological stress. Body functions usually show warning signs. When the limit of tolerance is reached, the organism will no longer be able to survive. Tolerance can affect the distribution of a species. eg. Mangroves (pg 26 & 227) can grow _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ and cannot tolerate ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ What limits the lower level of a Beech forest? ___________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ Example: The effect of temperature on houseflies - sketch the graph on page 24. Include labels. 13 LIEBIG'S LAW OF THE MINIMUM - p.25 The functioning of an organism is limited by the essential environmental factor that is present in the least favourable amount. eg. For hundreds of years, a disease called scurvy disabled sailors on long voyages. This disorder, which could not be alleviated by an increased portion of salt pork or weevily ships biscuits, was eventually cured by the use of citrus fruit. The absence of Vitamin C, it is now known, was the limiting factor in these men's diet. Give another example to illustrate this law: ______________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ GORSE WEEVIL (Apion ulicis) Collect gorse weevils from gorse bushes using a container with a lid and a ruler. The Life Cycle:2 weeks later, pods ripe and adult larvae flung out ADULT feed on gorse EGG laid in young pods female bores hole in pod with snout and lays eggs PUPA LARVA hatch in 4 weeks and attach to grown seeds and feed on seeds. 6 - 8 weeks fully grown and then pupate On your Own Paper:1. Describe the ecological niche of the gorse weevil. Include its a) role (job) b) adaptations c) habitat 2. Draw a food chain which includes the gorse weevil. 3. Draw a food web which includes the gorse weevil. 4. Look at a gorse weevil under a stereo microscope. Draw it:Good biological drawings have the following features: Large, done with a sharp pencil in 2D clear, single lines ie. no sketching or shading. in proportion and correct perspective ie. accurate correct detail ie. correct number of legs, from right place, segmentation 14 POPULATIONS - Pages 28-39 A population is defined as: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Individuals are described by their age, sex etc. Populations are described in terms of density, distribution, natality and mortality rates, survivorship, age structure and growth patterns. Density of population (page 30) The density of a population is _________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Distribution of population (page 30) The way that individuals are spread through an area can vary. They can be evenly spread eg. _____________________________ or _____________________________ or they can be in clumps or groups of high density with very few between eg. ________________________________________ Organisms' distribution is related to abiotic and biotic factors. This variation in distribution can make the assessing of total population difficult. Generally you cannot find each individual to add them up and it would also be extremely time consuming in most cases. Sampling techniques are therefore used to assess total population or population density. Two important factors are involved in sampling. (page 36) a) Number of samples: This is decided by ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ b) Position of samples: The positions must be chosen at random otherwise ___________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Sampling Techniques Quadrats: This involves using a sample area, the size chosen is the most critical part. Choose a suitable quadrat size for assessing the following populations:a) Ants in a field ________________________________________ b) Pine trees in a forest ________________________________________ c) Grass plants on a farm ________________________________________ d) Periwinkles on a rocky shore ________________________________________ Transects: These are lines marked at regular points. They are laid down and the organisms at each point noted. These are especially useful for distributions that change over a distance eg. up a mountain or from high tide to low tide on a beach. Quadrats and transects can be combined. 15 Population Growth: Populations generally grow in a typical way as they colonise a new area. Copy diagram 4.7 on page 32. Explain the following parts of the graph: Beginning phase: __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ Exponential (fast) phase: _____________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ Slowing phase: _____________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ Equilibrium phase: __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ This shape of graph is called a sigmoid or "S" shaped curve. If you calculate the rate of growth and plot this on a graph against time you get a bell shaped curve. Copy diagram 4.8 on page 32. 16 Regulation of Populations Populations in natural habitats do not always grow in the same way as in the theoretical situation. There are often things (factors) that affect the rate of growth. (Copy diagram 4.10 on page 34) Regulating Factors regulate populations and may limit the areas that a population can survive in. a) Environmental Factors: eg. soil type, salinity. Many aspects of the environment affect living things and they can only live within a certain tolerance range. b) Competition: Interspecific competition is between members of different species for a limited resource. This reduces the growth rate of populations involved. They might be competing for food, nest sites, water, sunlight etc. Intraspecific competition is between members of the same species. Competition of this type may be reduced by individual members of a species establishing and defending a territory within its home range. This spaces out nesting sites, food sources and potential mates (see page 35) c) Exploitation. Where one species exploits another as food. This controls the level of population. d) Disease. Spread of disease can reduce populations markedly. The advantage of variation within a species is that often not all members are adversely affected. e) Overcrowding. If population density gets too high, then the level of fighting and stress increases. The level of reproduction can become reduced and emigration may increase. f) Humans. Control population by: i) over-hunting ii) destroying habitats iii) overuse of pesticides eg. DDT iv) toxic wastes from manufacturing 17 EXPERIMENT 4: FACTORS LIMITING POPULATIONS INTRODUCTION The growth of natural populations is normally limited by food supply and other factors. Gathering data on natural populations is always difficult. It is assumed that the actual density of New Zealand aphids was always proportional to the number caught. Aim: To study the growth of a natural population of aphids on roses. WRITTEN REQUIREMENT Results Table of Aphid Density on Roses Month Average No. of Aphids caught per night Month Average No. of Aphids caught per night April May June July August September 2 5 7 5 1 8 October November December January February March 52 97 94 50 9 6 Graph these results beginning with the month of April on the X-axis. 18 19 DISCUSSION (Answer below) 1. During which months are there the greatest increases in population numbers? Suggest why this might have occurred. 2. List 5 factors that might have caused the sudden decrease in the population during January and February. 3. This population could be described as an open population. What is meant by this? What effect would this have on population numbers? 4. This type of growth also illustrates what happens when a population reaches its upper limit and crashes. This is the seasonal boom-bust curve (or J-shaped curve) that occurs in many insects and algal blooms. population size Time 20 COMMUNITIES - Pages 40 - 53 A Community is defined as _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Special Inter-Relationships within a Community. 1. Commensalism - A relationship where one benefits and the other is unharmed. Two examples are: 2. Mutualism [sometimes called symbiosis] - This is a relationship where two different organisms live together for their mutual benefit. 3. Exploitation - One organism benefits and the other is harmed. A successful parasite does not kill its host (food source) 4. Antibiosis - One organism is inhibited while the other is unaffected. eg. penicillin and bacteria, where bacterial growth is inhibited. NB. Penicillium is a fungus which produces the antibiotic penicillin. 21 Summary Copy the chart on page 49. Add Competition and Antibiosis to the chart. Patterns within a Community Each species has a different tolerance to any environmental factor. A gradually changing factor called a gradient causes patterns in the distribution of species. The main advantage of these is to reduce competition. 1. ZONATION (page 43) Zonation is _________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ a) Rocky Shore - the main factor causing zonation here is _________________________. Species in different zones have different adaptive features which enable them to live successfully in a particular zone. The main zones are... i) __________________________________________________ ii) __________________________________________________ b) High Mountains - the zones there are caused by ______________________________. Draw the diagram of a South Island Mountain (page 43) 22 c) Each side of a Stream - Different species of plants appear as moisture reduces away from the stream. 23 2. STRATIFICATION - easily seen in a forest community. This is defined as _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ The six main layers in a forest are: ______________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Each layer offers a range of habitats and niches and has a characteristic set of animals. As light intensity decreases, temperature is reduced and humidity increases. Maximum sunlight in the canopy results in high exposure and so water loss is high. Each layer is adapted to different light intensities, temperature and humidity. 3. SUCCESSION (pages 44 & 45) Succession is defined as ________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Pioneer species: early coloniser during the establishment phase of a community on bare rock. eg. lichen, grasses. A climax community is the stable, mature results of succession. Species composition remains stable. Copy the example to show typical NZ order of succession. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Activities: Trials of Life. Video #85 Living together Deer & Wolf Experiment on Predator/Prey Relationships. (Experiment 5) EXPERIMENT 5: POPULATION MANAGEMENT INTRODUCTION A count of deer population on an island forest reserve (of about 500 sq km) showed a population of 2000 animals in 1960. The island had vegetation suitable for deer, but the food supply was limited. It was feared that over-grazing might result in mass starvation. Since the area was too remote to employ hunters, it was decided to bring in natural predators to control the deer population, and in 1961 ten wolves were flown in to the island. Aim: To understand some relationships between predators and their prey, and to relate this to population control. 24 WRITTEN REQUIREMENT 1. Results Table of Predator-Prey Populations Year Wolf Deer Deer Population Population Offspring 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 10 12 16 22 28 24 21 18 19 19 2000 2300 2500 2360 2244 2094 1968 1916 1952 1972 800 920 1000 944 996 836 788 766 780 790 Predation Starvation 400 480 640 880 1120 960 840 720 760 760 100 240 500 180 26 2 0 0 0 0 Using the data presented, plot a graph to show the fluctuations in deer and wolf populations during the 9-year study. Deer Wolf Time 2. a) Discussion Explain why you think the wolf population declined after 1965. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ b) In which year was deer starvation the greatest? Explain why you think so many deer died? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ c) Explain what you think might have happened to the deer population if hunters had been employed to kill half the wolf population in 1964? (2 ideas needed) ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ d) Is wolf predation a regulating factor on the reserve? Describe 2 other factors that might be involved in controlling the deer population? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 25 26 ASSIGNMENT 4 - Relationships 1. [15 Marks] Describe the type of relationship of each of the following:a) birds picking ticks off cattle. ____________________________________ b) remora attaching themselves to sharks. ______________________________ c) small crabs living inside live mussel shells. ______________________________ 2. d) tape worms living inside a dog. ______________________________ e) mice living off human food wastes. ______________________________ [5] Explain what environmental factor changes gradually in the following communities? a) from the centre of a walking track into the bush. ___________________________ b) from the surface of the sea to deep ocean. _______________________________ [2] 3. Copy and complete the following table:Species A species B + + ─ 0 0 ─ ─ ─ Relationship [4] 4. Each of the following is an example of a biological pattern, what are they? a) Barnacles found in a band between high and low tides on a rocky shore. ______________ b) The growth of Lupins between some Marram grass, over time resulting in the Marram grass dying off. _______________________________ c) Tall grass shading small moss plants between them. ______________________________ d) Mountain Beech being found at the top of the bush line on mountains. 27 _____________________________ [4] Use the following information to answer questions 5 & 6 Nitrogen Cycle Nitrogen built into plant protein (11) N2 pool in air (10) (3) Animal Protein (1) Dead plant and animal material (1) (9) (4) (5) NO3- (7) (6) NH4+ (9) NO2- 5. Where do the following processes occur? (Give number) a) Denitrification d) Nitrification g) Ammonification 6. b) digestion e) Excretion h) Nitrogen fixation c) Protein synthesis f) Death The following organisms will be active at... (give correct number) a) Saprophytes d) Nitrification b) Rhizobia e) Dentrificans 28 c) Nitrobacter