Fluctuation is the rule for natural populations.

Many populations fluctuate, varying between high and low numbers more or less
periodically. Other stay stable.
Two kinds of factors cause populations to fluctuate. First, is the birth and death rates
respond to changes on environmental conditions. Such as ToC, moisture, salinity, acidity
and other physical factors. Second, is the result on intrinsic characteristics of the
population itself (develop oscillations). Some populations tend to remain relatively stable
over long periods. They are stable because they are big in size, the importance of their
response time and they are less sensitive to environmental change.
Sharp contrast with population of small of small organisms that may fluctuate over many
orders of magnitude within short periods.
Difference between these 2 populations (the deer and phyto) differ in their sensitivity to
environmental change and in response times of their populations. Because deer are
larger, they have a greater capacity for homeostasis and can better resist the physiological
effects of environmental change.
Also, deer lives for several years, the population at anytime includes individuals born over
a long period, which tends even out the effects of short-term fluctuations in birth rate.
Thus, deer population possesses a high intrinsic stability. However, live of phyto span only
a few days, so their population turn over rapidly. Means, individuals have high mortality
rates and are quickly replaced in the population by young individuals. As a consequence
of this rapid population turn-over, population size depends on continued reproduction,
which is sensitive to food availability, predators and physical conditions.
Temporal variation affects age structure of population. Variation in population size over
time often leaves its mark on the age structure of a population. The temporal variation in
recruitment may be evident in the age structure of a population. Samples from the
commercial white fish catch in Lake Erie between 1945 and 1951 show that the cohort of
fish spawned in 1944 dominated the population for several years afterwards.
Population cycles result from time delays in response of population to their own densities.
Periodic cycles are the intervals between successive highs and lows are often remarkably
regular. Some population subjected to minor, random environmental fluctuations will
begin to oscillate back and forth across their equilibrium value.
Momentum imparted to a population by high birth rates at low densities can cause it to
grow rapidly and overshoot. Then low survival rates at high densities cause the population
to decrease below its carrying capacity (Die-off).
Population cycles observed in many laboratory cultures of single species have provided
clues to mechanisms responsible for creating time delays. The time delay arose in the
following manner. As population density increased, fecundity decreased, falling nearly to
zero when the population exceeds a certain number of individuals. Crowding at the peak
of the cycle prevented births, and the population began to crash as adults died off. By the

the adults were senescent, non-reproducing individuals, and thus the population
continued to decline. The beginning of a new phase of population increase has to await

growth rates to density are tied to both developmental time and life span. Storage of food
reserves by individuals can reduce the sensitivity of mortality to crowding and introduce
time delays into death rates. Daphinia stores energy in the form of lipid droplets. This will
be used with food dwindle at high density and by offspring.
At high population densities, adults laid many eggs, resulting in strong larval completion
for the limited food supply. So, few eggs were laid on any particular day that most of the
larvae survived, and the size of the adult population begin to increase again.
So limiting the food supply available to larvae in a laboratory population of blowflies,
causes delay in density dependent effects on population numbers and resulted in
regular population cycles.
Elimination of time delays results in the elimination of population cycle. Limiting the food
supply available to adults removed the time delay and eliminated fluctuations in a blowfly
population. Under those conditions, recruitment of new individuals into the population
was determined at the egg-laying stage rather than at the later larval stage.
We have seen both development time and storage of nutrients can put off deaths to a
later point in the life cycle or to a later time, causing time delays in response to density.
In contrast, fecundity can respond to changes in population density with little delay when
adults produce eggs quickly from resources accumulated over a short time.
A population equilibrium point will remain there until perturbed by some outside
influence, whether a change in the carrying capacity (K) or a catastrophic change in
population size.
The predator prey is an example of consumer-resource interactions that consumers
benefit individually and their number may increase, while resource population may
decrease.
Consumers can limit resource populations. Many predator and prey populations increase
and decrease in regular cycles. The period of population cycles varies from species to
species. Cycles in resource population of large herbivores (muskrat -10 years.

Consequently, predators that feed on short-cycle herbivore themselves are short cycles
and vice versa. Population models predict that the period of a population cycle should
be about 4 to 5 times the time delay.
To explore predator prey cycles under controlled conditions and identify their potential
causes, laboratory models were done. The environment was made more complex by
introducing barrier to predator dispersal. Predators move by walking, prey by spinning
silk line that they use as parachute to float on wind lines. Therefore, we had 3 cycles of
population. Distribution of predators and prey throughout the trays continually shifted as
the prey, on the way to extermination in one feeding area, recolonized the next a jump
ahead of their predators.
The Lotka Voltera model calculates the rate of change in the prey population and the
rate of change in the predator population as each is influenced by the abundance of other.
Rate of change in the population = (1) intrinsic growth rate of prey population (2)
Removal of prey individuals by predators.
(1) Is the unrestricted exponential growth of the prey population in the absence of
predators, which we find by multiplying the exponential growth rate (r) by the
number of prey individuals (N) which is Rn
(2) Is the removal of prey by predators. It is the product of the prey and predator (NP),
whereas c in the capture efficiency: cNP. dN/dt = rN cNP
Predator population: dP/dt= acNP mP
acNP: birth rate is the number of prey captured (cNP) x by a coefficient (a) for the
efficiency with which food is converted into population growth. Death is constant m X
number of predator individuals mP.
Dt (time): both growth rates of the prey and predator population are referred to as
differential equations because they describe changes in numbers (dN or dP) with respect
to a change in time (dt).
Equilibrium: When the terms for prey population increase and removal by predators are
exactly balanced, the prey population neither increases, neither decreases.
In slide 24, Graph (a): the prey isocline separates regions of prey population increase
(low predators so prey population increase, the yellow part) and decrease (high
). Graph (b): predator
isocline separates regions of predator population increase (high prey number so
predators number increase, yellow part) and decrease (low prey number so predator
population decrease, blue part).
The predator and prey population graphs merge together and form the trajectory. The
center of the trajectory is called the joint equilibrium (=r/c). In the area, below the joint
point, the prey population increases because there are few predators. In the region
above, the prey population decreases because predators remove them faster that they
reproduce. To the right, prey are abundant enough to sustain predator population growth
and to the left, predator decrease because prey are scarce.
Search image helps identify and locate suitable prey.
Predators may switch to different prey in response to fluctuations in prey density.
 age of maturity, number of offspring, life-span
makes up what ecologists call the life History of the Individual.
Life history includes all the behavioral and physiological adaptations of organisms, and all
the individuals reposes of organisms to their environments, because all of these
ultimately contribute to reproductive success. Life histories are complex phenomena
influenced by physical conditions, food supply, predators and other aspects of the
environment and constraint by the general body plan and lifestyle of the individual.
Organisms differ in their degree of parental investment. Ex: Elephants produce one
offspring/year vs Salmon lays thousands of eggs and die immediately.
Their form and function are influenced by physical and biological factors, both through
the evolutionary responses of populations and through the behavioral responses of
individuals to temporal and spatial variations in their environments.

responses, we presume that they are adaptive and that they increase the reproductive
success of individuals.
Life histories, too, are shaped by Natural Selection.
represents a solution to the problem of allocating limited time
and resources so as to achieve maximum reproductive success.
Differences in reproductive strategy has evolved in response to differences between
tropical and temperate environments.
Selection favors individuals with the highest fitness relative to other individuals in the
same population.
Life history traits vary widely among different species and even among different
populations of the same species. It varies along 2 points: for example: regarding the first
one, the seeds size is larger in forest than grassland. The second point is the variation in
one life history trait, for example, the number of independent offspring produced each
year is positively correlated with adult annual mortality rate. This means that the
variations in many life history characteristics are organized together along a simple
continuum of values.
The correlation between mortality and fecundity across species must in part reflect the
fact that if populations are to persist, births and deaths, are on average balance.
Grime scheme: variations in life history traits as lying between 3 extreme expenses, like
points of a triangle, and called plants with life histories at
Phenotypic Trade-offs: Cactus Wren is a bird that lives in the desert of Southern America.
It has adapted to its hot habitat by shifting its foraging behavior according to the
temperature. IT begins to forage on the ground, and in the braches of shrubs in the late
morning. As the temperature rises, it will shift its foraging to shady, cooler areas. They
strop forging during the hot afternoon and rest in a shady area.
Acclimatization: Form of adaptive phenotypic plasticity. For example: growing thicker fur
in winter, producing s

perform better under new conditions. It is reversible, it allows ups and downs of their
environments. However, increased tolerance of one extreme often brings reduced
tolerance of the other.
Explanation of the graph in Slide 28: Reaction norms may be modified by evolution.
Reaction norms may diverge when two populations of the same species exist for long
periods under different conditions. Very often, an increase in performance under the
prevalent conditions (indicated by the white background in each part) is accompanied by
a decrease in performance when individuals are exposed to conditions outside the

A spe for acclimatization may reflect the range of conditions it its

environment.
Irreversible developmental responses can match organisms to environmental conditions.
The epidermal coloration of the grasshoppers develops differently under differing
seasonal conditions. The coloration of the grasshoppers responded to changes in
environment.
Foraging
temporally, and with respect to the quality of food items. Evolutionary theories of optimal

Central place forage: parents are free to search for food at some distance from the nest.
ally available to them. However,
greater travel distances also increase the time, energy and risk costs of foraging. How
much time, parents spend gathering food before it returns to its nest?
Slide 33: Optimal foraging: to what extend do organisms forage optimally? Rate of food
acquisition is number of prey caught divided by search and travel time. Any other search
time gives a low rate of food provisioning. Optimal foraging models can be used to predict
behavior. For a given prey accumulation curve, the slope of the line passing through the
origin of the graph and tangent to the prey accumulation (number of prey caught per unit
time).
Slide 34: Food loads increase with travel times, the number of mealworms brought by
starlings to their broods increased with the total length of the foraging trip. As expected,
starlings increased their load size as travel time increased.
Slides 35 36: Scientists constructed cages with 2 compartments and placed them in an
experimental stream. The subjects in the experimental system were small minnows and
predators. Minnows were provided with tubifox worms buried in mud. A refuge area that
permitted passage of the minnows, but not the adults chubs, connected the
compartments.
a) Minnows where presented with low density of food (0.17) and a predator in a
compartment; and same density of food but with 2 predators.
b) Higher density of food (0.33) and 2 to 3 predators in the more dangerous
compartment to determine at what pint the minnows would expose themselves
to greater risk in order to obtain more food. The minnows were very sensitive to
predation risk.
c) When the more dangerous compartment contained 2 predators, minnows
switched to foraging these only after prey density was higher than 0.33 (0.5)
d) When food increased x4 in dangerous compartment, the minnows switched
completely to that area.
Photoperiod: length of daylight
Galapayos archipelago: are several islands facing Ecuador
Observation of Darwin: Several of the organisms living in the Galapayos archipelago had
different forms on different islands. Darwin assumed that differences had arisen by
independent modification of the descendants of the original colonists (from South
America).
Other biologists found out that the reproductive success and survival of individuals
differed between El Nino and La Nina. During El Nino, there is drought, that leads to food
scarcity and the population. Who survived better in finches were the
birds with big/large beaks that could generate the force to crash seeds (natural selection).
It is an evolution action: finches having big beak size.
However, during La Nina, many seeds resulted. So, the finches with small beaks survived
and gave off spring more than large beak. Therefore, the population of average size of
beak returned to life. It is an illustration of the capacity of a population to respond to
changes in the environment.
Evolution nment. So, the Ecology
establishes a context of evolution.
Genetic Variation: Each individual has a unique genetic constitution or genotype.
Phenotype
Genotype sets limits to phenotypic expressions (animal with the genotype of a mouse
cannot develop to a rat but can transform into a small or large mouse), while phenotypic
traits have a genetic basis, they are also influenced by variations in Environment.
Phenotypic plasticity: is an evolved trait as it is the capacity of an individual to exhibit
different responses to its environment. Means, the individual response to environmental
variation is subject to evolution by natural selection.
Pleiotropy: effect of a single gene on multiple traits
Body size is subject to an allele that tends to increase or decrease it.
Traits: are referred to as adaptations or evolutionary adaptations
Process of evolution by natural selection has three main ingredients:
- Variation among individuals
- Inheritance of that variation
- Difference in survival and reproduction success, or fitness related to that variation
Genetic Drift: is the change in the frequency of an existing gene variant in a population
due to random chance
Bottleneck effects: is a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental

Random evolution: is mechanism of evolution characterized by random fluctuations in

the frequency of a particular version of a gene (allele) in a population.
Greater Prairie chicken suffered bottlenecks because of the loss of prairie habitat in
Illinois. This led to reduce genetic variation, measured by number of alleles/locus (place)
Founder effect: reduced genetic diversity which results when a population is descended
from a small number of colonized ancestors. The new population is genetically different
from the parent populations.
Fitness refers to the production
Traits of individuals that leave the most offspring and said selected. To differ of natural
form, the result of conscious decisions made by humans concerning desirable qualities of
domesticated or laboratory animals and crops is artificial selection.
Industrial Melanism: in the peppered moth demonstrates genetic change in response to
selective factors in the environment. In absence of factory (not polluted area), the pale
typical one prevailed. A change in the environment can result is a change in the frequency
of a phenotype.
Speciation: Species give rise to a new one by evolutionary processes. It occurs when a
group within a species separates from other members of its species and develop its own
unique characteristics.
Allopatric speciation: is a geographic speciation. It occurs when a species separates into
two separate groups which are isolated from one another.
Sympatric speciation: evolution of a new species from a surviving ancestral species while
both continue to inhabit the same geographic area. Means, when same individuals
become dependent on certain aspects of an environment such as shelter or food, while

Cichlids: are fresh water fishes that can be found in warm climates. Different species of
cichlids, come in an amazing range of size, color and patterns.
Cichlids species form an adaptive radiation, which is a group of many species that have
rapidly evolved from a single species, called the common ancestor.
Convert Evolution: refers to the evolution in different lineages of structure that are similar
or analogous, but that cannot be attributed to the existence of a common ancestor.
Lineage is a group of individual tracing descent form a common ancestor.
It is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods in time.
They have similar form or function but were not present in the last common ancestor of
the group.
Allochthones: outside organic source.
Autochthonous: inside, homogenous.
Shredders: are responsible of processing coarse particulate organic matter.
Collectors: Filter and collect smaller particles of organic matter found in the water
Grazers-scarpers: animals that specialize on feed on the biofilm layers.
Biofilm layer: bacteria lives in a social group called biofilms (ex: plaques on teeth)
Ponds are Lentic Zone
Temperate lake: undergo a regular annual alternation of summer and inverse winter
Seasonal water circulation: During summer, spring and autumn, the upper layer
(epilimnion) is warmed by the sun, the wind keeps it well mixed and enrich in O 2. The
lower layer (hypolimnion) is cooler and has less O2. In winter, epilimnion cools, there is a
complete mixing of all the water in the lake.
Marsh is near river
Swamp near forest
Bog has dead material such as mosses (sphagnum moss)
Water fowl:
Estuary: partially enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers
Mangrove: tropical
Intertidal: area whereas the ocean meets the land between high and low tides
Shallow water: no depth for water
Soil drainage: rate and degree of removal of water by surface run-off, flow through the
soil to undergo space.
Sluggish species: move very slowly, slowing grow species (succulent and cacti)
Nomatic: no fixed territories
Shallow soil: extend less than 10 inches
Lotic system: perennial flowing waters like rivers, creeks and streams.
Streams: fast flowing water bodies that originate in mountains
River: where many streams meet
Creek: smallest flowing body, happens in a channel
Inlet to sea: small arm of the sea
Riparian Zone: lands that occur along the edges of rivers, streams, lakes and other water
bodies
Riffle: border of the river
Thawing: ice becoming liquid
Temperate: relating to a region or climate characterized by mild ToC
Desiccation: Removal of moisture
Rain shadow: patch of land that has been forced to become a desert because mountains
blocks humidity and precipitation.
Soils are weathered: they are changed by physical and chemical processes into other soils
components.
Lush vegetation: healthy with plants, grass epiphytes grow on surface
Thorn: sharp printed woody project on the stern
Sclerophilous: adapted to long period of dryness and heat.