APES

1. APES Chapter 5: Species Interactions & Community Ecology

2. Group Work: • In individual groups, look at each slide and determine what it represents • Write your answers down • As a class we will go over each slide and discuss answers

4. Resource Partitioning: Each Bird Uses the Tree for Food, However…They Each Divide up Different Portions of the Trunk

6. Predator/Prey Paired Cycles: One Increases, Causing the Other to Decrease, and Vice Versa

8. Trophic Levels: The Way in Which Energy Moves Thru Systems

10. Lower Level Org. Generally Contain More Energy, and Are in Greater Numbers-

12. Food Web

14. KeyStone Species Keep Ecosystems in Check- Sea Otters are the Keystone Species in This Environment

15. Activity: • Read the “Inferring Zebra Mussels’ Impacts on Fish Communities” • Answer Question #5 page 113, Seeking Solutions.

16. Case Study: black and white and spread all over • In 1988, Zebra mussels were accidentally introduced to Lake St. Clair • In discharged ballast water • By 2010, they had invaded 30 states • No natural predators, competitors, or parasites • They cause millions of dollars of damage to property each year

17. Lets Begin ;) • List some Non-natives to Florida • Brazilian Pepper • Melalucca • Cuban Tree Frogs • Lion Fish • Now List Some Threats They Pose to Florida • No predators so they take over environments • Eat all the native species (Cuban tree frog, Lion Fish)

18. Rap Time: Zebra Mussels • From your reading, where are they located? • Great Lakes • Do you think they are located anywhere else in the US? • They are here in Florida! • University of Florida News – Discovery Of Invasive Zebra Mussel Prompts Warning From State Officials • Green Mussels in Florida • Green Mussels

19. Problems here in Florida • Same as in other places • Clog pipes • No predators • No competition • Damage boat engines • FILTRATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON!!! • Takes food from native organisms • Starves them out • Specifically ZOOPLANKTON

20. Lion Fish http://www.reef.org/reef_files/Lionfish%20quickfacts.pdf After reading the fact sheet, what do you know about this critter? Use knowledge learned from the last chapter (generalist or specialist, K or r species, what is the outlook for the native populations, how did it get here, why is it still here, discuss the evolution of the fish, etc.)

21. Activity: • H/W: Go home tonight and find at least 2 more non-native invasive species (plant or animal). Include: • Generalist or specialist • K or r species • What is their main source of food • Any predators • Short synapses of how they are affecting Florida • Must be typed!! 12 point font, double spacced, times new roman or arial please ;)

22. Video Clip • Welcome to Discovery Education Player

23. Species Interactions • 5 Major Types of Interactions Among Species • Competition • When organisms are seeking same limited resource(s) • Predation • When one organism (predator) eats another (prey) • Parasitism • One organism benefits, the other is harmed • Herbivory • An organism feeds on plant material • Mutualism • Both organisms benefit from the relationship

24. Competition • Interspecific: • Among members of 2 or more DIFFERENT species (cardinals and blue jays) • If one is more effective • Wipe-out competitor altogether • Through evolutionary time, co-existance is also possible • Timing events, slightly different food sources, etc. • RESOURCE PARTITIONING • Intraspecific: • Among member of the SAME species • Cardinals • All competition events have a negative impact

25. Results of interspecific competition • Competitive exclusion = one species completely excludes another species from using the resource • Zebra mussels displaced native mussels in the Great Lakes • Species coexistence = neither species fully excludes the other from resources, so both live side by side • This produces a stable point of equilibrium, with stable population sizes • Species minimize competition by using only a part of the available resource (niche)

26. Niche: an individual’s ecological role Fundamental niche = the full niche of a species Realized niche = the portion of the fundamental niche that is actually filled Due to competition or other species’ interactions

27. Resource partitioning Resource partitioning = species use different resources Or they use shared resources in different ways Ex: one species is active at night, another in the day Ex: one species eats small seeds, another eats large seeds

28. Character displacement Character displacement = competing species diverge in their physical characteristics Due to the evolution of traits best suited to the resources they use Results from resource partitioning Birds that eat larger seeds evolve larger bills Birds that eat smaller seeds evolve smaller bills Competition is reduced when two species become more different

29. Predation: • Predator/Prey relationships • Predation can drive population dynamics • Increase in predators will….. • Increase in prey will ……… • These events can cycle throughout time • Predation can also drive evolution • Stronger adaptations become selected for • Defense mechanisms become selected for

30. Zebra mussel predation on phytoplankton Zebra mussels eat phytoplankton and zooplankton Both populations decrease in lakes with zebra mussels Zebra mussels don’t eat cyanobacteria Population increases in lakes with zebra mussels Zebra mussels are becoming prey for some North American predators: Diving ducks, muskrats, crayfish, flounder, sturgeon, eels, carp, and freshwater drum

31. Defenses against being eaten

32. Parasites • Relationships in which 1 organism depends on another, while doing harm • USUALLY does not result in death. Why not? • Most live inside their host • Disease pathogens (ex; protist that causes malaria) • Animals (tapeworms) • Some live externally • Lamprey • Parasitoids • Eggs are laid on the backs of others, when they hatch, use host as food source

33. Co-evolution • Parasites will adapt and evolve with changes in host • Evolutionary Arms Race • Host changes in order to adapt to parasite pressures • Parasites will change in order to adapt to host pressures

34. Herbivore • When animals feed on the tissues of plants • Insects are most wide-spread • Doesn’t usually kill plant, but can affect growth and reproduction • Plants have also evolved to defend themselves • Chemically • Arm themselves w/thorns, spines, or hairs • Critter usually evolves as well, tho • Evolutionary Arms Race

35. Mutualist • Interacting species benefit from one another • Each provides a service or resource the other needs • Symbiosis: two organisms live in close physical contact • Not always the case however; • Pollination; physical contact may only happen once

36. Commensalism • One species benefits from relationship while the other is neither harmed nor benefits • Cattle Egret: benefits from cattle stirring up insects, cow is neither harmed nor really benefits • Amensalistic: hard to prove- One organism harms or inhibits another while remaining unaffected itself; • Fungus Penicillium notatum which produces penicillin- the penicillin inhibits growth of bacteria, but it appears that the Penicillium is unaffected

37. Activity • Questions 1 &2; Testing Your Comprehension • Seeking Solutions #1

38. Ecological Communities • Community Ecologist: • studies the way in which species co-exist • how they relate to one another • how communities change thru time • why patterns exist • Most important of these relationships is • Who eats whom!! • Organisms feed on one another, energy moves from one level to the next • Trophic Level

39. Energy passes through trophic levels One of the most important species interactions Who eats whom? Matter and energy move through the community Trophic levels = rank in the feeding hierarchy Producers (autotrophs) Consumers Detritivores and decomposers

41. 3 Major Trophic Levels • Producer • Autotrophs; self feeders- green plants, algaes, cyanobacteria capture solar energy or chemical energy and use photosynthesis or chemosynthesis to produce sugars • Consumer • Primary Consumers; eat producers • Secondary Consumers; prey on primary consumers • Tertiary Consumers; usually top of food chain

42. Continued • Detritivores/Decomposers; consumes non-living organic matter • Detritivores- scavenge waste products or dead bodies (consume non-living organic matter) • Millipedes, soil insects, vultures, hyenas • Decomposers- break down leaf litter and other non-living matter into simple constituents to be taken up by plants (absorb nutrients from non-living organic matter) • Bacteria, fungi

43. 10% RuleEnergy Decreases @ Higher Levels • Most energy organisms use is lost thru respiration as heat • Only small amounts of E is transferred from 1 level to the next • 10% rule; ~10% of initial energy moves to next level • This means that there is many more grasshoppers reqd to sustain bird pop. Etc. • VEGETARIANS HAVE SMALLER ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS!!

47. Food Web vs Food Chain • Food Chain: simple representation of energy mvmt:

49. Food Web vs Food Chain • Food Web: much more realistic representation of how energy moves thru systems-

50. Roles are NOT the same • Keystone Species: species with strong or wide-reaching impact far out of proportion to its abundance • Removal of this species will have substantial ripple effects • Can alter large portions of food webs • Usually large-bodied 2nd ary or tertiary consumers near the top of food chain • Controls herbivores, who if left unchecked can devastate ecosystems