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Biology 2483A Lecture Notes - Allochthon, Trophic Cascade, Food Quality

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brownseal791
5 Dec 2013
School
Western University
Department
Biology
Course
Biology 2483A
Professor
Mark Moscicki

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Document Summary

Various biomes show a wide array of diversity when it comes to the animals that live there. In terms of ecological functioning, these animals are linked by their feeding interactions, rather than their physical appearances or taxonomic relationships. The ecological roles of organisms are determined by their trophic interactions what they eat and what eats them. This determines the influence of an organism on the movement of energy and nutrients through an ecosystem. Trophic levels describe the feeding positions of groups of organisms in ecosystems. Each feeding category, or trophic level is based on the number of feeding steps by which it is separated from autotrophs. The first trophic level consists of autotrophs who generate chemical energy from sunlight or dead inorganic matter in an ecosystem. The second level consists of herbivores who feed on autotroph biomass. This category also includes detrivores that consume dead organic matter.

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Related Questions

11. As energy flows through the food web in an ecosystem, the amount of energy that is transferred from one trophic level to the next trophic level increases. stays the same. decreases. may increase or decrease, depending upon the system.

12. Autotrophs are organisms that obtain energy by breaking down tissues of organisms that have died. harness external energy sources to produce complex chemical compounds. depend directly on primary producers for their energy and nutrients. eat other autotrophs to obtain energy.

13. Which of the following gives the correct order for energy flow through an ecosystem? primary producers → secondary producers → tertiary producers primary consumers → primary producers → secondary producers secondary consumers → primary consumers → primary producers primary producers → primary consumers → secondary consumers

14. Which one of the following aspects of plant biology is not directly involved in maintaining an adequate supply of water for the entire plant? phloem roots xylem transpiration pull

15. Which structure(s) do most plants use to acquire the energy that they need for cellular processes? the roots the leaves the stem

Food web studies have come a long way since the early 1900s when ecologists began developing these tools to understand species interactions and ecosystem level processes (2-5). From that point forward, food web ecology grew rapidly developing into its own sophisticated, technical sub-discipline of ecology (2-5). Tools involved in tracking species interactions, as well as the quantitative tools to analyze food webs, improved and diversified (6-11). These technological innovations were accompanied by the construction of several high quality food webs from diverse biomes (7). The wide diversity of food webs provided the opportunity to explore some of the fundamental properties pertaining to the structure and function of ecosystems (7). However, there is still much about food webs that remains unexplored, particularly investigations of understudied taxonomic groups like the parasites that are typically not included or aggregated in food webs (12-17). Here you have the opportunity to investigate a food web of your choice and explore some of the implications related to food web construction and analysis.

Conduct a literature search and find a peer-reviewed scientific article describing an original, empirical food web and answer the following questions.

Questions

What biome and scale does the food web represent? For example, was it a lake, a pond, a desert? How was the extent of the food web determined? Was it based on the physical characteristics, biological community or arbitrarily by the researchers based on their specific question?

What taxonomic groups were included in the food web? What level of taxonomic identification (species, family, order, etc.) was used for those groups? Was it the same for all or did it vary?

What groups were excluded or aggregated in the food web? What are some of the characteristics of these groups? How might the characteristics of these organisms contribute to this issue?

How did the researchers determine the types of interactions taking place in their food web? What general approaches were used and how did this differ among taxonomic groups?

Overall, how might excluding or aggregating different groups have influenced the results of the study? How might the researchers address these issues?

Food web studies have come a long way since the early 1900s when ecologists began developing these tools to understand species interactions and ecosystem level processes (2-5). From that point forward, food web ecology grew rapidly developing into its own sophisticated, technical sub-discipline of ecology (2-5). Tools involved in tracking species interactions, as well as the quantitative tools to analyze food webs, improved and diversified (6-11). These technological innovations were accompanied by the construction of several high quality food webs from diverse biomes (7). The wide diversity of food webs provided the opportunity to explore some of the fundamental properties pertaining to the structure and function of ecosystems (7). However, there is still much about food webs that remains unexplored, particularly investigations of understudied taxonomic groups like the parasites that are typically not included or aggregated in food webs (12-17). Here you have the opportunity to investigate a food web of your choice and explore some of the implications related to food web construction and analysis.

Conduct a literature search and find a peer-reviewed scientific article describing an original, empirical food web and answer the following questions.

Questions

1.What biome and scale does the food web represent? For example, was it a lake, a pond, a desert? How was the extent of the food web determined? Was it based on the physical characteristics, biological community or arbitrarily by the researchers based on their specific question?

2.What taxonomic groups were included in the food web? What level of taxonomic identification (species, family, order, etc.) was used for those groups? Was it the same for all or did it vary?

3.What groups were excluded or aggregated in the food web? What are some of the characteristics of these groups? How might the characteristics of these organisms contribute to this issue?

4.How did the researchers determine the types of interactions taking place in their food web? What general approaches were used and how did this differ among taxonomic groups?

5.Overall, how might excluding or aggregating different groups have influenced the results of the study? How might the researchers address these issues?