LIFESCI 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Environmental Science, Population Ecology, Biome
Document Summary
Mammary glands for lactation -> ability to provide young with extensive parental care. Have hair & fur & produce milk (but no nipples) Embryo leaves uterus early in development and crawls into the pouch (directed by fur). Attaches to the nipple and feeds off of the mother"s milk during development. Convergent evolution -> resulted in a diversity of marsupial mammals in australia that resemble the eutherian (placental) mammals in other parts of the world. Advantages to retaining the embryo within the body: offspring develop in a controlled environment, offspring are protected, offspring are portable. Diversity in feeding methods results from modifications to the jaw. The study of the relationships of organisms to one another and to their environment. Why they occur where they do -> causation. Interactions between abiotic & biotic factors determine distribution & abundance of organisms. Ecologists are interested in patterns and processes at different ecological levels. Interactions within ecological systems involve many different processes.
