Warm Up #8The Giant Panda, which lives in China and eats

only bamboo, is on the verge of extinction due to a variety of factors.

• How are humans contributing to the Panda’s extinction?

• How are other animals contributing to the Panda’s extinction?

• How is the Panda contributing to its own extinction?

Animal Populations

Laying the Land•Niche – conditions a

species needs in order to survive and reproduce in an ecosystem▫Conditions = physical

(temperature) and chemical (salinity, acidity)

• IMPORTANT to study:

▫Human impact effects▫Species interaction▫Extinction rates

The Lockett NicheIn our class, 34 desks

• Fundamental Niche – full range of resources and conditions a species can use▫ You can sit at ANY desk

• Realized Niche – the part of the fundamental niche a species TENDS to occupy▫ The desk you normally sit at

▫ Why? Competition for resources

Why the Panda is killing itself

• Generalist species – can survive in a large variety of niches (flies, cockroaches, mice, etc)

• Specialist species – can only survive in a very particular niche/environment (Panda)

• Less tolerant = less likely you are to survive

The Grossness of the Cockroach

• Literally eats anything (including electrical cords and glue)

• Can breed anywhere (except polar regions)

• 1 cockroach 10 million babies in one year.

• One species can survive frozen for 48 hours

• Can survive nuclear bomb

Other threats to the Cuteness• Non-Native Species –

species introduced to a niche by humans

• Competition for resources (food, light, shelter, etc)

• Non-Native species usually more Generalist (can tolerate more)

• WHAT’S A PANDA TO DO??

Quick Quiz #4

In a hypothetical world where all things are possible, you are now a cute Panda and want to survive:

•You are an extreme specialist species, how would you change that?

•If a non-native species came into your niche, how would you adapt?

Adaptation to a Competitor

Adaptation Strategy Plan AScenario: Non-native

species thrive in cold and moderate temperatures

1. Directional Selection – reproductive rates better on one side of curve than other

Solution: You learn to love the heat

Adaptation Strategy Plan B

Scenario: Non-native species loves either really hot or really cold climates

2.Stabilizing Selection – highest reproduction = center of curve

Solution: You, as a cute panda, adapt to living in moderate climates

Adaptation Plan C

Scenario: Non-native species thrives in moderate temperatures

3. Disruptive Selection – high reproduction at BOTH extremes

Solution: You either get a jacket or embrace sweating

Warm Up #5Scenario: You are officially a honey-badger…and you just

don’t care. Use your prior knowledge of how bad-ass the honey-badger is to answer the following questions:

• Would you classify the honey-badger as a specialist species or a generalist species? Why would you say this?

• If the honey-badger was a non-native species, would any other species stand a chance? Why?

• Say you try to stand against the honey-badger’s awesomeness. You discover the honey-badger only eats small and medium sized larva. Show, on a bell curve, how you would adapt, showing the type of selection as well.

Avoiding Competition

Review…with some new• Directional – shifting

toward ONE extreme

• Stabilizing – shifting toward the MIDDLE

• Disruptive – shifting toward BOTH extremes

This is character displacement – physical/behavioral changes for more stuff

Competition is DramaTo avoid drama…

• Resource Partitioning – dividing resources amongst competing species

• Use at different times, different ways, different places

Example: Diurnal vs. Nocturnal animals (hawks vs. owls)

“I WANT TO WATCH FOOTBALL”

“I WANT TO WATCH DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!!”

More Cowardly Avoidance (but also kind of BA)

• Camouflage – resembling the abiotic factors around it

• Chemical warfare – using poisonous/odorous chemicals

• Coloration – certain colors = danger

• Mimicking – Looking like something more dangerous

Predator-Prey Relationship

Negative Feedback Loop

1.Predators kill prey (obviously)

2.More prey die = less food for predators

3.Predators die (less food)

4.Prey start to repopulate, cycle repeats

A Predator-Prey Fad Diet• Parasitism – one

species (parasite) gets nourishment by living on another species (host)

• Smaller than host, weakens host, rarely kills it

• Ex. Virus

• Tapeworm Diet – ingest tapeworm, eats contents of stomach (along with actual stomach)

Symbiotic Relationships [less gross]Symbiotic Relationship –

interaction between two species

Mutualism – both species benefit (+, +)

• Normally 1 species is protected, the other gets food

Commensalism – one species benefits, the other is unaffected (+, 0)

• Shark (0) and Pilot Fish (+)

Quick Quiz # 3

•Describe what resource partitioning is, and give a real life example.

•How is mimicking an effective way to avoid being eaten?

•Why do you think a parasite rarely kills its host?