Terrestrial Ecology

• Terrestrial Ecology involves the study of the relationships of organisms and their biological and physical environments.
• Ecology can be investigated at several levels: individual, population, communities, ecosystems.
• Ecosystems can be divided into biotic and abiotic components.
• Importance values are calculated by determining the relative density, relative frequency, and relative dominance for each species.
• Density, frequency, and dominance values are calculated for multiple species in order to quantify which ones are most "important" in the ecosystem.
• The basal area of a tree is determined from DBH measurements.
• Primary Producers, Primary consumers, Secondary Consumers, Tertiary consumers are different levels of consumers in the food chain.
• Lab objectives include calculating community attributes such as density, frequency, dominance, and species diversity.
• Riparian forests are characterized by being near a body of water, usually a stream or river, and are important as wildlife corridors that host a variety of plant and animal species.
• Field study involves surveying trees in a nearby riparian corridor, with two 10m x 10m plots established under the riparian forest canopy, one closer to a stream and one deeper into the woodland.
• Data from the field study is used to calculate density, frequency, and dominance, and to generate a relative importance value for each tree species.
• Density is the number of individuals of a species in a given area.
• Frequency is the number of plots that a species is found in.
• Dominance is how much area the individuals of a species take up.
• Relative density for species A is 0.06, relative density for species B is 0.03, relative density for species C is 0.01.
• Relative dominance is the dominance for a species total dominance for all species x 100.
• Total density for all species is 0.06.
• Total frequency for all species is 1.67.
• Relative frequency is the frequency for a species total frequency for all species x 100.
• Density for species A is 0.06/m2, density for species B is 0.03/m2, density for species C is 0.01/m2.
• Total area is 100 m2.
• Relative dominance for species A is 0.0015, relative dominance for species B is 0.00095, relative dominance for species C is 0.0001.
• Relative density is the density for a species total density for all species x 100.
• Importance value for species A is 158.9, importance value for species B is 107.8, importance value for species C is 33.7.
• Tree species A is most important to the ecosystem because it has the largest importance value.
• Macroinvertebrate species present in the two plots are Thrips 0.5 – 5 mm, Mites <1 mm, and Telsontails 1 – 1.5 mm.
• Total dominance for all species is 0.06.
• Dominance for species A is 0.0015, dominance for species B is 0.00095, dominance for species C is 0.0001.
• Frequency for species A is 0.67, frequency for species B is 0.67, frequency for species C is 0.33.