What is the trophic pyramid? (And what are the tiers in it)
A pyramid that describes how much energy is transfered to each level in the food chain. The first level is comprised of plants, then herbivores, 1st degree predators, 2nd degree predators and finally 3rd degree predators.
Reciprocal genetic adjustment between species on adjacent trophic levels.
-Plant/Animal co-evolution
-Animal/Animal co-evolution
-Can be adversarial or mutually beneficial
What fish is considered a good biocontrol agent and what does it eat?
Gambusia the mosquitofish
Out of 8,700 species of birds, what percentage are insectivores?
65-70%
How much (compared to their body weight) in insects can a bird eat per day?
25%
Some plants that live in nitrogen poor environments produce... what?
digestive enzymes. Ex: venus fly traps or pitcher plants
Where and when did farming begin?
About 10k to 12k years ago in the Fertile Crescent Region
When did insects first begin 'farming' and what did they cultivate?
40-60 million years ago and they cultivated fungi.
What type of ant is in the movie A Bug's Life and what are they famous for?
The Neotropical attine ants (leaf cutters) and they are famous for their cultivation of a fungus.
Ants that harvest fungus often cultivate many different types at the same time (true or false)
False. Each colony only cultivates a single type of fungus.
What type of fungus is a parasite to the ants' fungal garden?
Escovopsis.
What do attine ants use to combat the parasitic fungus?
Streptomyces, a type of bacterium that produces an antibiotic that inhibits the growth of Escovopsis.
Out of over 2,600 termite species how many are obligately dependent on the cultivation of fungus?
330
What are mycangia?
Special pouches on certain female beatles used for cultivating an asexually reproducing fungi.
What is the Marsh Periwinkel (Littoria irrorate) and how does it feed?
It first 'wounds' grass by eating a portion of it. It then defecates on this wound which inoculates the grass with a fungus. The snail then eats this fungus.
