Conservation Biology Exam #2

• Changes or mutations (alternations)in the genetic code (DNA/RNA)
• In both coding and non-coding regions
• Accumulation of mutations of non-coding regions also tells us the evolutionary relationship of organisms

• 1.) At an individual level (some individuals in a population maybe fixed for two dominate alleles that have no variation at the gene locus)
• 2.) Within population variations (One individual might have a genotype of AA, but there might be several individuals within the population with a little "a" allele
• 3.) Between population variations (Different populations become adapted locally and have genetic divergence)

Populations that tend to be more genetically diverse, on average, are considered to be a healthier population

exons

introns

Heterozygous offspring have a higher survival and fitness compared to homozygous parents

relative reproductive output of an individual in a population compared to everyone else

that we try to maintain or maximize genetic diversity within a population and with individuals

• DNA codes for the same amino acids
• DNA is a more sensitive tool because a lot of silent mutations don't affect proteins that are produced from the genetic code or sequence
• Change in genetic sequence which increases the genetic variation at the DNA level, but wouldn't result in an increase variation at the protein level

It increases

• Tends to increase with bigger population size, but at different rate for different organisms
• Some taxa evolve at different rates than other taxa

tells the strength of a linear relationship

• r= 0 to +1 (positive correlation)
• 0 means no correlation and +1 means perfect correclation

• r= -1 to +1
• +1 means all the points fall in a perfect straight line on a positive slope
• -1 means all the points fall in a perfect straight line on a negative slope

• Example: r= .94
• (.94)²(100) = 88%
• **12% is something else than population size

• Cheetahs are highly inbreed
• Very little genetic diversity between individuals (inbreeding and inbreeding depression can occur)
• Have a high infant mortality rate (doesn't matter if inbred or outbred)
• Genetically weak species
• Probably went through a genetic bottleneck at some point in their history

mating between close relatives

loss in vigor and fitness due to an increase in homozygousity

• Heterosis = less genetic variation (reduces survival and fitness)
• Genetic mutations (higher in our family line than in the general public)
• Recessive alleles as pairs

• 1.) Natural selection (some genotypes/phenotypes are favored in some environments over other enviroments; different selective pressures)
• Example of frog: webbing on feet
• 2.) Neutral evolution mechanisms
• (genetic drift, founder's effect, and bottlenecks)
• Only effects neutral alleles, which does not directly affect the survival or fitness of an organism
• Genetic drift is usually for in small populations

are alleles that do not directly affect the survival or fitness of an organism

Natural selection and neutral evolution mechanisms

random loss/fixation of alleles in populations (has nothing to do with selective advantages)

• Gene flow (1st answer you should think of)
• Same environment (where the same genotypes/phenotypes are favored)
• Separated recently (suggests that the two populations were recently separated and have not had the time to accumulate genetic differences)

• Simplest measure is species richness (S)
• ** it is not a very useful metric because it does not utilize/report the relative abundance of individuals in each species

# of species trait that occur in a given community, habitat, or ecosystem

• 1.) Count individuals and convert our counts into proportions
• Example: 90 out of 100= .9
• 2.) Use fractional amount of area that each species covers or occupies
• Proportion of area covered by the species (like plants)
• Example: Plant "A" occupied 50% of the area covered = .5

Diversity indices take into account the relative abundance of each species besides just counting to see if one species is available/present or not

• 1.) Dominance indices
• Example: Simpson's dominant index
• 2.) Indices for sensitive to rare species
• Example: Shannon index

• They give much more influence to the index to common (= dominant) species
• Good when you have a lot of dominant individuals in a community

• delta with subscript S = the sum of 1/pi squared
• where pi is the proportion of individual species i

• Good for conservation programs because we are dealing with rare species
• Gives some influence to rare species when you calculate the index

H'=-sum of (pi(lnpi))

usually animals or plants; organisms that are used as a surrogate to assess the conditions (health) of an ecosystem

• Depends on the environment
• Examples:
• 1.) Amphibians (frogs and salamanders) = fresh water habitat
• They are tied to water for cutaneous respiration and reproduction
• 2.) Lichens (obligate mutualism between fungus and algae) = air quality
• 3.) Spotted owl = old growth forests
• (they are monitored because they are endangered and because they are used as indicator species)

• 1.) Use endemic species and monitor for changes in their distribution and abundance (also health)
• Looking for population declines
• 2.) Use invasive species as an indicator of environmental change
• Do not naturally occur in they community, but have showed up in the community due to enviromental changes

species found in a community naturally and nowhere else

species that are not naturally occuring in a community

organisms that like to live in salty conditions

• 1.) Don't know the effect of the indicator species on the other organisms in ecosystem
• 2.) Extrapolation to other species may be invalid because each has its own requirements
• 3.) Invalid monitoring schedule (don't follow the species long enough)
• 4.) Biased choice of indicator species; often verts and relatively large (Higher in trophic levels and are not sensitive to early changes in the environment)

• European Honeybees
• Gopher tortoises
• African elephants
• Sea otters

• n= 50 (prevent inbreeding depression)
• n= 500 (prevent genetic drift)

• Less than 50= populations are endanger of both inbreeding depression and genetic drift
• Less than 500= population protected from inbreeding depression, but loose alleles due to genetic drift

• 1.) Species list (gives a list, but not the abundance)
• 2.) Do not know the species diversity
• 3.) Many organisms live in ecosystems with poorly defined boundaries (How do we know where to set-up boundaries)

• Large-scale community that can be indentified based on the dominant vegetational types
• Plants are important and define a biome and what kind of biome in a given area

• 1.) annual average temp
• 2.) annual average ppt

• Temp in. and ppt de. = desert
• Temp de. and ppt de. = tundra (cold des.)
• Temp. in. and ppt in. = t.r.f
• Temp intermed. and ppt in. = temp. rainforest

• 1.5 to 2.0 million extant species been described by science
• 300,000 extinct species
• Estimated 10 to 50 extant species

• Depends on species concept used
• Biased; based on species that affect humans
• Tend to describe larger species

• bacteria
• viruses
• fungi

• Fungal species went from 80,000 to 1.5 million species
• Stated that there are 6 unique fungal species per plant species (6X 250,000)

1st 100 million years too hot to support life

• Prokaryotes
• No membrane bound organelles
• Non-membrane bound nucleus
• DNA floats around freely in the nucleod
• Few organelles (mitochondria)

• Mitochondria
• Cholorplasts
• Centrials

• Double membrane
• Own DNA
• The divide independently of nucleus

some of our complex eur. cells which have organelles became part of cell because larger cells swallowed up and did not digest.... reached an agreement

a long banks of fresh flowing water