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Adaptations - Coggle Diagram

- - - - it is unidirectional
      - waterbody size is variable but shallow
      - is current is >0.6m/s then eroding and high load of suspended material
      - it is well mixed and isothermal
      - organic material is allochthonous (produced outside the system)
    - - current is variable but slow
      - waterbody size is deeper and wider
      - suspended material is low but changes with seasons
      - in deep lakes there is thermal stratification in summer
      - organic material is autochthonous (produced in the system)
      - Formation
        
        retreating glaciers
        
        cut-off river menders
        
        shifts in Earth's crust
        
        craters of extinct volcanoes
        
        landslides
  - - - this means there is slow warming and colling of surface
      - results in seasonal stratification of temperature
      - this limits moving of water, dissolved gases and nutrients
    - - Spring
        
        the ice melts and surface water drops
        
        this mixes the water's nutrients and all water becomes 4 degrees
      - Summer
        
        the surface becomes heated and less dense
        
        warm water floats over colder water which creates a thermal barrier and little mixing
        
        layers of stratification
        
        epilimnion- low density density warm air
        
        metalimnion- steep temperature decline
        
        hyplimnion- high density cold
      - Autumn
        
        air temperature falls and surface water loses heat
        
        the metalimnion sinks and there is mixing due to wind
        
        it becomes isothermal (one temperature)
      - Winter
        
        surface water cools to below 4 degrees ad becomes lighter and accumulates at the surface
        
        if ice forms- the warmer water below ice sinks and the temperature at the bottom is higher
        
        no ice forms because there is high mixing and the water is isothermal
  - - - oxygen in
        
        mixing at surface with atmosphere
        
        photosynthesis in euphotic zone (the more turbid the water the shallower the euphotic zone)
      - oxygen out
        
        increased temperature-> increased respiration and aerobic microbial decomposition
    - - spring
        
        water circulates and oxygen replenished in deep water
      - summer
        
        lake becomes thermically stratified
        
        microbial decomposition of organic material settling at lake bed and uses up limited oxygen
        
        use of hypolimnion oxygen
        
        water becomes hypoxic or anoxic
        
        starting oxygen store depends on size, rate etc
        
        most organisms are aerobes so cannot tolerate hypoxia
        
        eutrophic lakes
        
        they have a high primary production leading to phytoplankton bloom
        
        death of these blooms creates high oxygen demand for decompostion
        
        leads to oxygen depletion in hypolimnion creating stress of fauna
        
        oligotrophic lakes
        
        low productivity so little oxygen demand
        
        so little oxygen depletion and oxygen lasts all summer
        
        clear lakes
        
        light below thermocline and photosynthesis in hypolimnion
      - autumn
        
        water recirculates and oxygen replenished in deep water
      - Winter
        
        no ice
        
        plentiful oxygen
        
        less bacterial decomposition
        
        cold water holds more oxygen
        
        ice
        
        no gas exchagne with air so oxygen depletion
        
        if shallow there is little oxygen stored so fish die
        
        lower temperature dives meatbolic rate but may still generate hypoxia and kill animals (especially fish) (large so higher oxygen demand)
  - - - Littoral
        
        high water level to euphotic depth of plants
        
        bottom overlaying water
      - Pelagic
        
        open water
      - Euphotic
        
        depth at which plants can still photosynthesise sufficiently to grow
        
        depends on water clarity (clearer water gives depper euphotic zones)
      - Profundal
        
        zone below euphotic
        
        may or not not be below thermocline
        
        its food originates from surface layers and falls
      - Benthic
        
        organism associated with lake bed
        
        can be found at all depths due to curved lake bed shape
    - - autochtononus input of organic material tends to dominate but plant type depends on lake morphology
      - deep open lakes
        
        dominated by pelagic phytoplankton
        
        in water column- microscopic and low density
        
        moved by waves but very slow sinking rate
      - shallow convoluted waves
        
        extensive bays and wetlands
        
        dominated by vascular macrophytes growing from lake bed
      - deep lakes
        
        spring has mixing so access to nutrients and spring bloom of animals
        
        summer has stratification so no mixing, and rapid depletion of nutrients (so drop in phytoplankton populations)
        
        Autumn has small peak in productivity and mixing of nutrients
  - - - Zooplankton
        
        herbivores like water flea, some are carnivorous
        
        perform vertical migration to escape predation
        
        they are small in size which limits their movement independent of water flux
      - Nekton
        
        large and capable of independent movement
        
        Fish: charr, perch roach etc depending on temperature
    - - mostly invertebrate, plants and bacteria
      - Litoral Benthos
        
        heterogenous habitat since warm with plentiful oxygen
        
        intrinsic food and many microhabitats
        
        high complexity and species richness
      - Profundal benthos
        
        homogenous habitat since cold with little oxygen at times
        
        no intrinsic foods and few microhabitats
        
        low complexity and species richness, but can have high oxyfen affinity like Chironomus larvae which survive hypoxic conditions for several months
  - - - they are the area of ladn which water drains from, before flowing into the streams, rivers, lakes and tarns
      - smallesr, lower-order channel draining from more elevated land and joining to form high order channels
      - some areas may be braided and sometimes a braided delta may form the river outlet due to sediment deposition
      - upper catchment
        
        small erosive streams
        
        steepest area (so removes all but boulders)
        
        becomes less steep- shallow riffles gravel and cobble- deeper pools sand and gravel
      - Middle
        
        large channels with intermediate gradient
        
        riffles with smaller particles gravel bars
      - lower
        
        slower current- nearly all fine sediment deposited
        
        at high discharge there is resuspension
        
        winding channels, floodplains and reconnections to cut off parts
    - - dictated primarily by gradient and roughness of bottom
      - fast water
        
        no plankton
        
        adaptation with attachment since may otherwise be swept downstream (example- sponge)
        
        body flattening
        
        example- flattened mayfly nymph which has a flattened body and use flow boundary layer, have climbing limbs or may retreat under rocks, have long tails so it can turn in the current
        
        head water streams tend to be cool adn oxygen rich so most of its resident animals tend to require high oxygen
    - - at high velocity
        
        moves to the bottom
        
        suspends fine sediment and scours stream bed
        
        littel plant biomass because force rips the plants and not enough sediment to take root in
      - at low velocity
        
        water does not carry as much adn fine sediment will be deposited
- - - - Important in connecting forest trees so that they can communicate using the fungal network
      - the hartig net is the network of cells that grow in between the epidermal cells
      - change in pH and increase SA of the roots
      - mass of hyphae may be similar to whole root mass
    - - important to many flowering herbs and crops and for the production of glomalin in soil
      - it is a carbohydrate protein important in soil structure
      - hyphal mass on more than 10% of root mass
      - produce arbuscuals these are the site of carbohydrate exchange
      - looser arrangement of fungi , but can penetrate around similar to hartig net, and between cell walls
    - - Root nodules have bacteria to fix nitrogen adn in return they are supplied with carbohydrates from the plant
      - the bacteria are pink in colour because of leghaemoglobin (high oxygen affinity) to remove free oxygen since nitrogen fixation requires anaerabic conditions
      - perform 2N+3H2->2NH3
    - - Ants
        
        Vicia sativa have external nectaries which secrete small amounts of nectar to attract ants
        
        the ants are used as defense against herbivorous insects
        
        some plants have evolved ant plant chambers
      - Figwasps
        
        female wasps chew through the fig for fertilisation and spend nearly their whole life in figs
        
        figs produce a complex mix of volatile organic chemicals to attract the right wasp adn the wasp brings pollen to the fig
        
        the male wasp goes and looks for a female in the fig, they reproduce and the mael dies and the femael looks for another fig (with pollen)
        
        ants can stay around the hole since they know it has wasps and the wasp cannot have pollen or wrong wasp attracted
      - Rhubarb
        
        grow in harsh conditions
        
        Himalayan rhubarb produce flowers inside (screen UV and up to 10 degrees warmer) which is attractive to pollinators
        
        pollinators eats some of the seeds
  - - - orchids and ferns use trees to get higher up
      - the higher they get the more light they get
      - the tree remains undamaged
    - - Ivy climbs up trees, have avintisious roots to attach
      - can make the tree top heavy but usually doesn't affect
  - - - Strangler figs damage the tree with the roots that expand and take up so much water that squash the tree
      - they germinate half way up the tree and so have more light so grow much faster
    - - Black walnut tree
        
        they produce Juglone (a respiration inhibitor)
        
        they are present in all parts of the tree but concentrated in buds, nut hulls and roots
        
        Juglone is not very soluble in water so does not move rapidly in soil
        
        toxicity is concentrated clostest to the tree, under the drip line due to greater root density and accumulation of decaying leaves and hulls
        
        the walnut tree then gets more access to resources
      - Chemical inhibition of one plant by another by release into the environment o substances as germination or growth inhibitors
      - Halogeton glomeratus
        
        accumulates toxic sodium and potassium oxalates to deter herbivores (can even kill sheep)
        
        also salts the soil when the plant dies so inhibits germination and establishment of non-halophyte seedlings, so its seeds get a head start
  - - - Use other organisms for light and water
      - mistletoe- seeds carried by birds, it enters the bark of the tree and growa
    - - Non photosynthetic and steels carbon
      - Reach into vascular tissue and steal food
      - has no roots and loosely connected to the plant lifecycle
      - once they start to germinate they are attracted to volatile chemicals produced by the host
    - - Dont have a massive effect, but can divert up to 30% of food (example- striger)
      - Yellow rattle can be used as conservation since it stops grass dominance
      - hemiparasites 5 times faster rate of transpiration and higher water retention, and lower water potential to take water from host
      - germination of Orobanche seeds is stimulated by plant produced strigolactones which cause the seeds of parasites to germinate and produces and haustorium which attaches and grows on the root
    - - it is the combination of traits repeated in many different groups of holoparasitic plants
      - symptoms include: loss of leaves, small plants (since no need to support large leaves), loss of roots (reduced stumpy projections with haustoria), loss of chlorophyll, loss of genes needed for photosynthesis, and fast gene evolution in genes not lost
    - - Mychoheterotrophy are partly or entirely non-photosynthetic plants that obtain energy and nutrients from fungi
      - Indian pipes damages a mycorrhizae fungi
- - - - breathe air
      - they are homoeothermic endotherms (challenge to keep warm)
      - birthing young and nursing
      - finding food (likely why they moved since fish abundance)
      - depth (because of pressure and cold)
      - communication is harder in darkness
      - difficulty in moving in water
    - - marine mammals are a diverse group with multiple origins (all well adapted)
      - Cetaceans
        
        major types are mysticete cetaceans and odontocete cetaceans
        
        evolved from ungulates
      - Pinnipeds
        
        major types are Phocids (ture seals), Otariids (sea lions and fur seals) and Odobenids (walrus)
        
        they have differences in fur length, pelvic girdle (otariids can move back flippers and phocids cannot) and diving capabilities
        
        there adaptations are driven by marine environment and built on mammalian body plan
  - - - streamlined to aid in swimming
      - blubber aids in swimming because of smoothness
    - - fore limbs are reduced to form flippers
      - hind limbs and pelvic girdle lost or rudimentary (like cetacean which changed hind limbs to more fin like structures)
      - shark tails have bones but dolphins do not (dolphins have horizontal fin but sharks vertical but neither give adaptation so no evolution)
    - - nostrils have moved towards the top of the head
      - elongation of bones on snout to catch fish
    - - change from heterodont to homodont
      - the change was to help catch fish since they swallow whole (as chewing engulfs lots of water) they have no need for molars and premolars
  - - - hair or fur
        
        it is a diagnostic mammalian characteristic
        
        they are dead epidermal cells strengthened by keratin
        
        provide insulation/sense/signalling
        
        pelage is the wool coat (like dense, oily fur of sea otter and can blow air in for added insulation)
      - Blubber
        
        he trapped air in hair can be forced out when under enough pressure (like low depths) so also have thick layer of blubber
        
        it is subcutaneous fat
        
        acts as an energy store (oxygen storage in blood and spleen)
        
        increases SA:vol
    - - Pinnipeds
        
        come to land to give birth
        
        but there marine adaptations mean they can be vulnerable so find predator free breeding grounds (behavioural adaptations)
      - Cetaceans
        
        they give birth underwater
        
        there can be problems with long births since
    - - Lactation
        
        all mammals possess mammary glands (modified apocrine gland)
        
        it is a diagnostic mammalian characteristic
        
        provide nourishment for young
      - Capital v income breeders
        
        Phocids (capital)- fatten up before and fast during lactation; the fat rich milk increases the pup's mass. the mother then leaves
        
        Otariids (income)- provide young with fat, rich milk, the mother will leave the young at the breeding site and go hunt again for a few days to provide for the young
      - the hooded seals can gain up to 20kg in 4 days from lactation because of habitat instability
    - - dive response
        
        this permits prolonged deep dives that maximises O2 use with minimal N2 toxicity
        
        bradycardia- slowing of heart
        
        peripheral vasoconstriction- ensures blood supply to vital organs and conserves heat
        
        additional releases of rbc from spleen
      - oxygen
        
        at 30m the lungs collapse and all oxygen is in blood, as it returns to surface lungs reinflate because thick mucus layer lining lungs prevents adhesions
        
        the oxygen is stored in spleen and musculature (twice as much musculature than humans)
        
        no waste gas in lungs which could cause pressure issues at deeper dives
        
        high myoglobin concentration, greater oxygen affinity (40mmHg Haemoglobin is 100% saturated)
        
        mammals have higher blood volume than expected for body mass (correlation between blood volume and maximum dive duration)
    - - Visual
        
        rounded lens to match refractive properties of water and to compensate no refraction at water-cornea index (exception river dolphins) and other wise focal plane lies behind retina
        
        greater proportion of rods
        
        greater pupil dilation/contraction
        
        tapetum lucidem- tissue layer that reflects light received by retina
        
        mucus prevents drying out on land
      - Olfactory
        
        well developed in pinnipeds (since spend long time on land) and less developed in whales (since spend majority of time underwater)(they lack olfactory lobes and olfactory nerves)
        
        important to develop social bonds like offspring recognition
      - tactile
        
        whiskers are mechanoreceptors that are used when there is no light, they move them over floor and judge based on displacement
      - acoustic
        
        greatest range underwater
- - - - camera eyes
      - wings
        
        birds have aerofoil made of feathers
        
        bats and pterosaurs' are a skin membrane
        
        insects' wings are a completely separate organ
      - nectavores
        
        Hummingbirds and sunbirds have long beaks and tongues
        
        Hummingbirds are neotropical adn sunbirds are paleotropical
        
        there is coevolution with them and their plants
        
        often tubular flowers with nectar rewards and are often scentless
      - Pitcher plant
        
        carnivorous jug shaped structures of leaves that act as pitfall traps with waxy surface and slippery peristomes
        
        Downward pointing hairs in tube and water filled cavities with digestive enzymes
        
        Lid (operculum) prevents enzyme dilution from rainfall
        
        Nepenthes and Sarracenia evolved independently and occur in nutrient limited environments
      - Wolf
        
        Placental and marsupial wolf are externally different but morphologically similar
    - - abiotic environments underpin biomes and convergent evolution incolves adaptation of distantly related lineages in response to common slection pressure
      - the resulting features may be similar but have a different gentic basis
      - it is parallel evolution when genetically related
  - - - reduces wind velocity
      - acts as a heat trap (temperature is higher than non-cushion vegetation and prevents freezing)
      - coiling effect of cushion reduces drought stress from transpiration
    - - on bare ground, temperature higher than cushion plants at midday
      - but temperatures in cushions may be higher at night with a reduced risk of frost damage
  - - - said to have 4 seasons in 1 day
      - High solar radiation and high rates of evapotranspiration (drought from heat)
      - at night the ground is frozen, the top layer can get pushed up and turned over, there is frost damage to soft unprotected tissues
      - in the mourning there is drought through cold when ground is still frozen but leaves transpire and the thin soil means water and nutrient retention is low
    - - Silersword
        
        occurs above 2.1km
      - Andrean Rosettes
        
        radiation of species in South America
        
        occur in paramo vegetation
        
        between 3.5km-4.8km
    - - Height
        
        Giant rosettes are often tail because temperature increase strongly at ground level all day: leaves start transpiring when they are still which results in drought stress
        
        Hard frosts are more likely to damage buds at ground level
        
        temperature differences reduced with increasing height above ground- buds protected from frost and drought stress prevented
        
        mortality risks decreases with height
      - Retention of dead leaves
        
        at higher altitudes there is a risk of tissue freezing so having pongy piths which stores water and is prevented from freezing by having the marcescence leaves(dead leaves on stem)
        
        the stems tissues are insulated, the piths acts a s a water reservoir so mourning transpiration effects are minimised
        
        if they are removed then at dawn and at night the stem surface experiences sub-zero temperatures
        
        they also dampen the temperature fluctuations throughout the day
      - Pubescence have hairs on leaves
        
        these act as insulation and reduce water loss through transpiration
        
        allows leaf growth and photosynthate transport
        
        absorb UC-B radiation
      - white leaves
        
        reflects light and heat
      - Antifreeze
        
        Leaves maintain high concentrations of sucrose protecting the membrane from freezing
        
        Leaves contain and secrete mucilage, containing hydrophilic carbohydrate molecules which inhibits ice-crystal growth
        
        the mucilage leaves tend to close in at night which pushes the mucilage up and covers the leaf
      - Nyctinastic
        
        it is the closing of leaves at night to protect them from freezing temperatures
        
        cooling of buds is delated compared to outside
        
        leaves open again at dawn
        
        important for great rosettes because they only have apicomeristems (growing point at the centre) so if that dies the whole plant dies
- - - - it is argued that we are in a mass extinction change
      - species extinction rates are far in excess of background levels
      - natural biomes are being replaced with human dominated anthromes
      - these changes coincide with population with population boom of humans
    - - 50-60% of Earth's land surface has been changed by humans
      - turned biomes to anthromes and ecosystems to agro-ecosystems (topical forests)
      - physical habitat destruction reduces or removes species' population
      - Overexploitation
        
        large carnivore declines have knock on effects in food webs
        
        so declining top predators cause trophic cascades
      - Climate change
        
        rapidly changing climate
        
        many species have adapted to a climatic niche and cannot migrate to a new area with their climate niche fast enough
        
        Forest absorb heat by reflecting less sunlight (albedo effect) and decrease convection heat loss by acting as a windscreen, so cutting down these increases climate; and reduces cooling effects from evapotranspiration
        
        2014 study of 60 US cities showed they are 1.5 degrees warmer than rural areas, some having 5 degrees difference (urban heat island effect, where buildings absorb and radiate heat)
      - Pollution
        
        plastics, light, nutrients, CO2, sound
        
        sound can affect aquatic that usually use sound to communicate and hunt
        
        traditionally burning dirty coal but now issues like microplastics
      - INvasive species
        
        they are introduced and establish self-sustaining populations which increase in abundance
        
        they impact the resident ecosystem by causing changes in fire cycle (desert shrublands), hydrology (water hyacinth), and sedimentation (Asian date mussels)
  - - - there must be enough resources fo rh tepopulation size to increase, but sometimes smallest viable size is required
      - reintroduction of previously extinct species in their native range
      - Minimum population size
        
        most populations do not continue to grow so use logarithmic growth models
        
        The carrying capacity is the number of individuals that any particular environment can sustain indefinitely
        
        peak growth of a species may not be possible due to limited area to conserve
        
        the minimum viable population size would be that which allows populations to persists (births=deaths and dP/dt=0)
    - - total land under protection is 12.9%, with many protected areas in tropics
      - Design
        
        the design encompasses size, shape, proximity and effective preservation
        
        more effective to have one large reserve because more area compared to the edge, since the edge precarious positon largely because of edge effects
        
        a single large area can also hold a larger population in one population and a single area removes issue of migration between
    - - some species can respond to climate change by tracking its expansion and shift their ranges, but some cannot
      - climate change niche modelling that considers dispersal ability and habitat availability can help protect responsive ness
      - Polygonia c-album
        
        its had its spread obserced since 1970
        
        using climatic niche modelling can reveal area that are climatically suitable but not yet occupied
      - Marbled white
        
        the habitat and climate were good for the species but its dispersal was too weak to find it naturally so introduced articifically
        
        population intriduced to Wingate Nature Reserve are now thriving, this suggests niche modelling can be used as a tool to assist tracking climate change
        
        can occur in suitable climate areas further north of distribution but unable to disperse fast enough to track climate change
    - - It involves human intervention in an existing habitat to benefit wildlife/ maintain desired species
      - Restoration involves human intervention to aid recovery of a degraded or destroyed ecosystem back to some desired former state
      - rewilding
        
        it is a form of resotoration of natural processes and ecological functions within an ecosystem (example- Knepp farm)
        
        involves restoration of environmental conditions interaction between species with limited human intervention
    - - used to resent succession- reedbeds are often flooded, cut adn scraped to prevent succession to willow and alder woodland
      - reduce dominant species- meadows and grasslands are mown to reduce grass dominance allowing competition for flowering plants so they can persist