1 1 Population Distribution and Abundance. 2 2 Introduction Ecologists usually define a population...
-
Upload
phebe-phelps -
Category
Documents
-
view
213 -
download
0
Transcript of 1 1 Population Distribution and Abundance. 2 2 Introduction Ecologists usually define a population...
11
Population Distribution
and Abundance
22
Introduction
• Ecologists usually define a population as a group of individuals of a single species inhabiting a specific area.– Characterized by the number of individuals
and their density.• Additional characteristics of a population include
age distributions, growth rates, distribution, and abundance.
33
Distribution Limits
• Physical environment limits geographic distribution of a species.– Organisms can only compensate so much for
environmental variation.
44
Kangaroo Distributions and Climate
• Scientist found a close relationship between climate and distribution of the three largest kangaroos in Australia.– Macropus giganteus - Eastern Grey
• Eastern 1/3 of continent.
– Macropus fuliginosus - Western Grey• Southern and western regions.
– Macropus rufus - Red• Arid / semiarid interior.
55
Kangaroo Distributions and Climate
66
Kangaroo Distributions and Climate
• Limited distributions may not be directly determined by climate.– Climate often influences species distributions
via: • Food production • Water supply • Habitat• Incidence of parasites, pathogens and competitors.
77
Tiger Beetle of Cold Climates
• Tiger Beetle (Cicindela longilabris) lives at higher latitudes and elevations than most other species in NA.– Schultz et. al. found metabolic rates of C.
longilabris are higher and preferred temperatures lower than most other species.
• Supports generalization that the physical environment limits species distributions.
88
Tiger Beetle of Cold Climates
99
Distributions of Plants along a Moisture-Temperature Gradient• Encelia species distributions correspond to
variations in temperature and precipitation.
1010
Distributions of Barnacles along an Intertidal Exposure Gradient
• Organisms living in an intertidal zone have evolved to different degrees of resistance to drying.– Barnacles show distinctive
patterns of zonation within intertidal zone.
• scientist found Chthamalus stellatus restricted to upper levels while Balanus balanoides is limited to middle and lower levels.
1111
Distributions of Barnacles along an Intertidal Gradient
• Balanus appears to be more vulnerable to desiccation, excluding it from the upper intertidal zone.– Chthamalus adults appear to be excluded
from lower areas by competition with Balanus.
1212
Distributions of Barnacles along an Intertidal Gradient
1313
Distribution of Individuals on Small Scales
• Random: Equal chance of being anywhere.– Uniform distribution of resources.
• Regular: Uniformly spaced.– Exclusive use of areas.– Individuals avoid one another.
• Clumped: Unequal chance of being anywhere.– Mutual attraction between individuals.– Patchy resource distribution.
1414
Distribution of Individuals on Small Scales
1515
Distribution of Tropical Bee Colonies
• Hubbell and Johnson predicted aggressive bee colonies would show regular distributions while non-aggressive species would show random or clumped distributions.– As predicted, four species with regular
distributions were highly aggressive.• Fifth was non-aggressive and randomly distributed.• Prospective nest sites marked with pheromones.
1616
Fig. 9.11
1717
Distributions of Desert Shrubs
• Traditional theory suggests desert shrubs are regularly spaced due to competition.– Phillips and MacMahon found distribution of
desert shrubs changes from clumped to regular patterns as they grow.
– Young shrubs clumped for (3) reasons:• Seeds germinate at safe sites• Seeds not dispersed from parent areas• Asexual reproduction
1818
Distributions of Desert Shrubs
• Phillips and MacMahon proposed as plants grow, some individuals in clumps die, reducing clumping.– Competition among remaining
plants produces higher mortality.• Eventually creates regular
distributions.• Brisson and Reynolds found
competitive interactions with neighboring shrubs appear to influence distribution of creosote roots, Larrea tridentata.
1919
Distributions of Individuals on Large Scales
• Bird Populations Across North America– Scientist T. Root found at continental scale,
bird populations showed clumped distributions in Christmas Bird Counts.
– Clumped patterns occur in species with widespread distributions.
– Brown found a relatively small proportion of study sites yielded most of records for each bird species in Breeding Bird Survey.
2020
2121
Plant Abundance along Moisture Gradients
• Whittaker examined distributions of woody plants along moisture gradients in several North American mountain ranges.– Documented moisture gradient from moist
canyon bottoms up to the dry southwest-facing slopes.
• Tree species showed a highly clumped distribution along moisture gradients, with densities decreasing substantially toward the edges of their distribution.
2222
Plant Abundance Along Moisture Gradients
2323
Plant Abundance Along Moisture Gradients
2424
Organism Size and Population Density
• In general, population density declines with increasing organism size.– Damuth found the population density of
herbivorous mammals decreased with increased body size.
– Peters and Wassenberg found aquatic invertebrates tend to have higher population densities than terrestrial invertebrates of similar size.
• Mammals tend to have higher population densities than birds of similar size.
2525
Organism Size and Population Density
2626
Plant Size and Population Density
• Plant population density decreases with increasing plant size.– Underlying details are very different.
• Tree seedlings can live at very high densities, but as the trees grow, density declines progressively until mature trees are at low densities.
2727
Commonness and Rarity• Rabinowitz devised commonness
classification based on (3) factors:• Geographic Range of Species• Habitat Tolerance• Local Population Size
• Populations that are least threatened by extinction, have extensive geographic ranges, broad habitat tolerances, and some large local populations. – All seven other combinations create some kind
of rarity.
2828
Rarity
• Rarity I– Extensive Range,Broad Habitat
Tolerance, Small Local Populations• Peregrine Falcon
• Rarity II– Extensive Rage, Large Populations, Narrow
Habitat Tolerance• Passenger Pigeon
2929
Rarity
• Rarity III– Restricted Range, Narrow Habitat Tolerance,
Small Populations• California Condor
3030