Ecology

• Innate behavior


  Automatic, like a reflex, and does not require conscious thought. It is hereditary, it is triggered by some specific stimulus, and it is performed the same way every time.
• Learned behavior


  Comes from experience, and it comes from learning how to respond to a situation or from being taught.
• Ethnology


  How evolution shapes innate behaviors/how animals respond to stimuli
• Nature


  Genetic, inherited
• Nurture


  Learned from environment
• Proximate cause


  How the behavior occurs (what is the stimulus that causes this behavior?)
• Ultimate cause


  Why the behavior occurs (how does the behavior allow for survival/reproduction of the organism)
• Innate behaviors


  • Fixed action patterns
  • Unchangeable
  • Carried to completion
  • Triggered by a sign
• Innate behaviors


  • Migration
  • Signals
• Migration


  Long distance change in location, triggered by environmental cues (sun position)
• Signals


  Animal communication, pheromones, stimulus response chain, body movement
• Directed movements


  • Kinesis (change in rate or frequency of movement)
  • Phototaxis (movement in response to light)
  • Chemotaxis (movement in response to chemical signals)
  • Geotaxis (movement in response to gravity)
• Learned behaviors


  • Imprinting (long lasting response to an individual during early period of life)
  • Spatial (establish memories based on spatial surroundings)
  • Associative (associate one environmental feature with another)
  • Social (learn through observations/mimicry)
• Mating behaviors


  • Monogamous (one mate)
  • Polygamous (two or more mates)
• Innate behavior is automatic, like a reflex, and does not require conscious thought. It is hereditary, is triggered by some specific stimulus, and it is performed the same way every time. Learned behavior comes from experience, and it comes from learning how to respond to a situation or from being taught.
• Sexual dimorphism


  • Male looks different from female, could be result of sexual selection
• Cooperative behaviors can increase fitness (e.g. predator warnings)
• Altruism


  Selfless behavior (e.g. meerkat on guard)
• Plant responses


  • Phototropism (plant grows towards light)
  • Photoperiodism (plant grows in response to day length)
• Plant defenses


  • Physical (thorns/trichomes)
  • Chemical (send toxic/distasteful compounds)
• Biotic factors are living, abiotic factors are non-living
• First law of thermodynamics: energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transferred or transformed
• Second law of thermodynamics: the transfer of energy increases entropy
• Law of conservation of mass: chemical elements are continuously recycled
• Net gain in energy

  Growth of organism
• Net loss of energy

  Loss of mass and organism death
• Metabolic rate


  Amount of energy an organism uses in a certain amount of time, can be measured in calories, heat loss, amount of O₂ consumed, and is based on the animal's mass (smaller animals have higher rates)
• Endotherms


  Use thermal energy to maintain temperature (have circulatory systems)
• Ectotherms


  Rely on the environment to maintain temperature (e.g. sun, shade)
• Energy cannot be recycled but matter can
• The sun constantly supplies energy to ecosystems
• Primary producers


  • Photoautotrophs
  • Chemoautotrophs
  • Chemosynthetic organisms
• Primary production


  Conversion of light energy to chemical energy
• Secondary production


  Production of chemical biomass
• Gross primary production (GPP)


  How much energy is produced by every organism
• Net primary production (NPP)

  Amount of energy available to all trophic levels
• GPP - energy used by primary producers = NPP
• Matter is found in limited amounts</b>
• Cycles


  • Nitrogen cycle (nucleic acids, amino acids, proteins)
  • Phosphorus cycle (nucleic acids, ATP, phospholipids)
• Population ecology


  Analyzes factors that affect population size and how/why it changes over time