...Food Web Diagram Brandy Meilhon SCI 230 Week 9 Create a diagram in which you illustrate the energy flow among organisms of a food chain in a particular ecosystem. Select an ecosystem, such as a temperate forest, desert biome, or the Everglades. For the ecosystem, I chose The Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Determine the interdependency of life in your ecosystem by examining its organisms. Include the following: List the organisms that can be found in your ecosystem. 1. Dolphin 2. Green Sea Turtle 3. Tiger Shark 4. Trevallies 5. Cardinal Fish 6. Manta Ray 7. Remora 8. Giant Triton 9. Crown of Thorns Starfish 10. Hard Coral 11. Zooxanthelleae 12. Sea Slugs 13. Sea Sponges 14. Spanish Dancer 15. Sea Grasses 16. Barracuda 17. Parrot Fish 18. Algae 19. Scorpion Fish 20. Goby 21. Saddled Butterfly Fish 22. Sea Anemones 23. Clownfish 24. Long Nosed Butterfly Fish 25. Barred Rabbit Fish 26. Branching Coral 27. Jellyfish 28. Coneshells 29. Bluestriped Fangblenny 30. Lizzard Fish 31. Phytoplankton 32. Coralline algae 33. Filamentous Turfalgae 34. Many species of seaweed 35. Bacteria (PBS evolution, 2003) * What is the benefit of this biodiversity? The Great Barrier Reef is well known for its vast biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variety of organisms that can be found to fulfill and the vital niches in an ecosystem. Each...
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...Environment, Resources, and Competition University of Phoenix Ecology and Evolution BIO 315 January 14, 2011 Environmental Ecology The ecosystem I choose to analyze is the tropical rain forest. These forests contain large trees and dense vegetation with warm temperatures year round accompanied by frequent rainfall. Tropical rain forests also have very diverse species of plants and animals; there is a very high level of biodiversity present there as well. Most trees have very short roots, particularly taller trees, while others have deeper roots. The soil is very thin because the tree branches and leaves keep the ground shaded and void of sunlight. This also makes it more challenging for smaller plant life to thrive, due to a lack of rich soil needed for them to flourish. Thus, small plants and shrubs that do survive must have qualities that make living without much tillable land possible. Moreover, animal diets must not rely solely on small plants and shrubs, because they are of limited supply. The temperatures of the tropical rain forests are typically warm with an average yearly low of 20C and an average yearly high of 34C. These temperatures are often accompanied with constant rainfall. Tropical rain forests get an average yearly low of 200 cm of rainfall and an average yearly high of 400 cm of rainfall; this combination create humid conditions under the trees and at ground level (Smith & Smith...
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...------------------------------------------------- Lab # 1 ------------------------------------------------- Predator Prey Interactions: Bean simulation Enviornmental Science November 1, 2014 Objective: To keep record of the effects that the predator (coyote) and prey (mice) have on the population of each other over time. Introduction: Interactions between predators and their prey are important in 1) determining the population of both predators and prey and 2) determining and maintaining the structure of a community. Many factors enter into the ultimate outcome of predator-prey interactions. Using a simulation of predator-prey interaction including mice and coyote will be conducted to determine population over time in their habitat. Materials: * Shallow plate (the field) * Beans (the mice) * Spoons (the coyotes) Procedure: 1. Shake the plate to randomly distribute the mice. 2. Swipe the spoon through the field and capture mice. 3. Record data Mice Minimum mice per generation = 10 Maximum mice per generation = 100 Mice double every generation OR hit 100 Capture less than 5 mice and coyote dies Capture 5 or more and coyote survives Coyote 5 or more survive 6-9 mice = 1 baby 10-14 mice = 2 babies 15 or more = 3 babies Minimum coyote = 1 Maximum coyote = 17 Results Quantitative Results ...
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...Various types of organisms within the food web are grouped into categories called trophic levels. In this food web case study, we will use the food web as a directed graph to model the relationship between predators and prey in an ecological community and the use of graph to visually explain the important parameters that consider a competition for ecological surroundings for organisms. As directed in a simple food web of an ecological community, the graph displays an apex for each organism in a trophic level and a direct border from the apex visually explaining individual A to the apex illustrating individual B, and however, the path continues if A preys on B (Roberts, 1976). Within this particular graph, the toad, milk snake, salamander, raccoon, grasshopper, fox, and the robin were chosen for a group of seven species, and the results show competition among one another. Again, if there is a common prey to catch, the species will compete for the catch, two species will compete for the catch. The graph displays the vertex of the raccoon and fox since the robin is a common prey. The vertex of the milk snake and raccoon shows that both species compete for their common prey, the grasshopper. The vertex of salamander and the robin do not compete with one another since they do not share the same prey. The...
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...food web represents feeding relationships within a community (Smith and Smith 2009). Food webs are essentially used as an ecological concept that models the predator-prey relationship. Based on the case study, each food web is a descriptive diagram including a series of lines connecting one species to another, representing the flow of food energy from one feeding group of organisms to another. The feeding It also implies the transfer of food energy from its source in plants through herbivores to carnivores (Krebs 2009). Normally, food webs consist of a number of food chains meshed together. Each food chain is a descriptive diagram including a series of arrows, each pointing from one species to another, representing the flow of food energy from one feeding group of organisms to another. Food web offers an important tool for investigating the ecological interactions that define energy flows and predator-prey relationship (Cain et al. 2008). The fundamental purpose of food webs is to describe feeding relationship among species in a community. Food webs can be constructed to describe the species interactions. All species in the food webs can be distinguished into basal species (autotrophs, such as plants), intermediate species (herbivores and intermediate level carnivores, such as grasshopper and scorpion) or top predators (high level carnivores such as fox) 1 This chapter addresses how knowledge of the body sizes of prey and predators can augment understanding...
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...might think that animals are only agreeable within their own population of species, but this is also not true. Undomesticated animals have a bad reputation of being very competitive, which is a common misconception among many people. Symbiosis, the predator-prey cycle, and mimicry are all three common forms of organism interactions that are not competitive. No organism lives in complete isolation, which means that there will always be some sort of interaction between organisms. This can be described as symbiosis, a Greek rooted word meaning “living together”. Symbiosis entails the many relationships an organism can have with another organism; the one that is most beneficial to this essay would be mutualism. Mutualism is an interaction between two or more organisms where both/all organisms are benefited. Sea anemones and anemone fish have great mutualistic relationships such as how the sea anemones use their tentacles to protect the anemone fish away from predators while the anemone fish protect the sea anemones from butterflyfish. Even though animals may consume each other, they still help one another by doing so. Taking centuries to show change, the organisms adapt to better hunt/capture (predator) or to defend or flee (prey). This is due to evolution, the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the Earth. The benefits of evolution are brought to the young of young of the...
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... PREDATION… Continued (Part B) C. Studying predator effects on prey populations in the field. 1. Manipulative experiments 2. Accidental Experiments 3. Comparative Studies- woodland caribou -Food limited -Predator limited D. Optimal Foraging theory: how do predators choose their diets? (see chapter 3) *What is the optimum strategy? = Energy maximization or time minimization Max En/T Assumptions about the predator (forager): -Eating and searching for the next food (prey) item are mutually exclusive activities. -Items are found sequentially, items are found one at a time. Energetic Value of prey: EACH PREY ITEM HAS AN ENERGENTIC VALUE (ei) Handling time: A HANDLING TIME (hi) Profitability: : e/h= profitability of each prey item (such that prey can be ranked) Rule: optimal foraging rule (prediction) – always eat the most profitable prey and eat the next most profitable prey if the gain is greater than the gain from rejecting it and searching for a more profitable prey. Predictions of Optimal Foraging Theory: The highest ranked prey type should always be eaten when encountered. 1) Predators with small handling times and long search times should be GENERALISTS. 2) Diets should be broad in pre-poor (unproductivr) environments. 3) The abundance of low ranking prey types is unaffected by the a abundance of the low-ranking prey is irrelevant. Herbivory and mutualisms (Chapter...
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...large animals have made it from the shores of Lake Superior to Isle Royale. About 100 years ago, however, a few moose found their way across from mainland Canada to the island, probably walking most of the way across surface ice during an especially cold winter. The moose found a veritable paradise, with lots of grass, bushes, and low-lying trees to eat and no predators. Their population exploded, reaching several thousand individuals at its peak. In 1949, the area around Lake Superior had another cold winter and large parts of the lake's surface froze solid. A small pack of wolves found a tongue of ice that extended all the way to Isle Royale. There they found a population of moose that had grown so large they had eaten almost all the available food, and many of the moose were severely undernourished. These starving moose were easy prey for the wolves. The wolves and moose on Isle Royale became a kind of natural experiment for studying predator-prey dynamics, that is, the ways in which populations of predators and their prey influence each other. Several biologists have spent their careers studying the predator-prey dynamics on Isle Royale, tracking the moose and wolves, making notes on how many are born each year and how many die, what the causes of death are, how...
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...order to have security, there must be distopia. Without an opposing side, the world in entirety will collapse. Such as the case of the food chain: without predators, the prey will never feel true security; likewise without prey, predators will never realize true fulfillment. This contrast is explored heavily in Oates’ short story “The Girl with the Blackened Eye” in a cruel lesson between captor and the captive- analogous to the predator and the prey. Her anecdote recounts a nameless female protagonist who reminisces her cruel abduction when she was 15. From a third person perspective, the readers get sucked...
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...Bioremediation: the use of organisms (micro or plants), to break down chemical pollutants in water or soil to reverse/lessen environmental damage. Decomposition: breaking down of organic wastes and dead organisms. Biodegradation: action of living things such as bacteria to break down dead organic matter. Decomposer: change wastes and dead organisms into usable nutrients. Detrivores: consumers that obtain their energy by eating bodies of small dead animals, plant matter, and animal wastes. Herbivores: primary consumers that eat plants. Carnivores: secondary consumers that eat primary consumers. Omnivores: consumers that eat both plant and animal. Natural selection: the process that makes change possible in living things. Predator/prey cycle: predator-prey interactions in which one organism eat all or part of...
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...Biology – Module 1 – A Local Ecosystem The distribution, diversity and numbers of plants and animals found in ecosystems are determined by biotic and abiotic factors. Compare the abiotic characteristics of aquatic and terrestrial environments. An aquatic environment is one that consists in water. The abiotic characteristics of an aquatic environment include: Buoyancy – This refers to the upward pressure (or thrust) that is applied on the organism by its medium. Buoyancy is determined by the density of the medium and determines the floating ability of an organism. Water provides sufficient buoyancy for many organisms, e.g., the jellyfish. If a jellyfish is taken out of water and placed on land it will disintegrate by spreading apart. Thus, the water provides enough buoyancy (pressure) in order to keep the shape of the jellyfish. Pressure – This is the downward force that is applied on an organism by its medium. In water, the pressure is dependent on the depth. Organisms that live at the bottom of the ocean experience the effects of extreme pressure and they must have specific adaptations that enable them to survive in such harsh environments. Temperature Variations – Usually in an aquatic environment there are minimal temperature variations to that compared with terrestrial environments. The temperature variations also depend on the size of the body of water; a large body of water will experience much less temperature variations than a smaller body...
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...PARASITIC INTERACTION: When one organism (parasite) lives off another (the host), causing harm. The pearl fish utilises the sea cucumber as shelter by propelling itself into the anus of the sea cucumber. This relationship is parasitic due to the fact that the pearl fish feeds on the sea cucumber’s gonads. MUTUALISTIC INTERACTION: When both organisms benefit from the relationship. The clown fish and sea anemone have a mutualistic interaction, the anemone homes and protects the clownfish from predators while the clownfish help the anemones catch their prey. COMMENSAL INTERACTION: When one organism benefits and the other is unaffected. The gobies reside among the toxic spines of the sea urchin, gaining protection without harming the host. DECOMPOSER:...
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...harass and ridicule others. The report says that this type of harassment has been responsible for teen suicides. Time and Risks When teens spend many hours per day using the Internet, they reduce the time they have to spend with family and on school work and physical activities. In addition, according to an article written by Kate Fogarty, assistant professor with the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences at the University of Florida, a teen who goes online for two or more hours, three or more times a week, faces a higher risk of falling prey to online sexual exploitation. Online Predators Teens are often exposed to pornography and may find themselves prey for sexual predators after uploading sexy photos of themselves or discussing sex online with someone that they do not know. Professor Fogarty from the University of Florida reported that adult predators often use Internet chat rooms to initiate improper relationships...
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...James Shin Per 7b/8 Ecology Take Home Test 1) In the given info, there were two groups, an experimental and control group of flowers and sagebrush in a desert landscape that were identical except that the experimental group had a fence enclosed around it. Also, there was a predation relationship between the wildflowers and the kangaroo rats because the kangaroo rats eat wildflowers. Assuming that the fence was limiting the space of the experimental plot, competitive exclusion caused the extinction of the 4 other wild flowers. To begin, there was some interspecific competition, which happens when individuals of different species compete for a resource that limits their survival, between the 5 flower species in the experimental plot because they had their space limited to the fence that they were enclosed in. this competition was a density dependent factor in that the death rate rose when population density in the plot rose. Also, some of the specie’s ecological niches (like what nutrients they needed and how many branches would form) would have had to been the same or else they could coexist together. Then, one of the species of wildflower might have had a reproductive advantage like thorns to repel the kangaroo rats which would have allowed them to prosper and the other species to die out. This is the principle of competitive exclusion. On a tangent, the kangaroo rats would have learned to stay away from the wildflower with thorns by classical conditioning because they...
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...Bioluminescence Relating to the Everyday Processes of Deep-Sea Marine Life: A Review of the Literature Kingshuk Mazumdar Brookfield Central High School Abstract This review of the literature will analyze three publications that discuss the effects of bioluminescence on everyday deep-sea marine life. Bioluminescence is a unique adaptation made by many creatures living in the abyssal depths of the oceans. Originating in primitive bacteria and dinoflagellates, it has, since the origins of life, evolved and spread to other deep-sea organisms. It is incontrovertible as to whether or not this acclimatization has altered life. However, there exists a dispute as to how it has done so. Some scientists believe that bioluminescence exists solely as an offensive trait, used to attract. Others believe that it is employed only in defensive situations. Regardless of recurrent controversy, it is lucidly demonstrated that rather than one or the other bioluminescence refines all aspects of deep-sea marine life. Final Outline I. Introduction A. As one ventures into the depths of the ocean, the expansive spectrum of the transformations of marine life rapidly emerges. At 100 meters…(Schrope, 2007). B. This is where the most startling and extraordinary transformations of evolution occur. C. In an abyssal world of darkness more than 1,000 meters under the sea, bioluminescent creatures have transmogrified to chemically generate lights within their bodies refining all processes...
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