Phenology PDF

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Phenology, Species, and Global Change Chapter 14, section 14.1 and 14.2 Define a species and speciation. Explain the uses for the biological species concept of species and its limitations, and explain other definitions of species. Describe phenology and the consequences of mismatch between species. Explore the Caterpillars Count website to learn how to do a visual survey, identify arthropods, and use data visualization tools.

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What is meant by speciation? The process by which one species splits into two or more species. Each time speciation occurs, what happens to the diversity of life? The diversity of life increases. What makes the eastern and western meadowlark shown in Figure 14.2 two distinct species? They are distinct species because their songs and other behaviors are different enough that each type of meadowlark breeds only with induvial from its own species. According to the biological species concept, a species is a group of populations that can do what? A group of populations whose members have the potential to interbreed in nature and produce fertile offspring. Reproductively compatible. Asexual organisms and extinct organisms cannot be classified with the biological species concept. Thus, there are other ways to define species too. Name and describe three other ways species are defined:  Morphological species concept-shape, size, and other features of morphology.  Ecological species concept- terms of ecological niches, focusing on unique adaptations  Phylogenetic Species Concept- group of individuals that share a common ancestor and form one branvh on the tree of life

Read: https://www.americanscientist.org/article/spring-budburst-in-a-changingclimate 1. What is the research site that the scientists are studying and what is the new field of research they are studying? The main research these scientists were studying was spring, mainly focused on flowering times and the arrival of bird. A more recent interest the scientists have taken is how how world warming world is affecting the timing of spring events. This essentially led to a new research of study focused on the timing of leaf events.

2. The authors state “Fewer people, though, are aware that warming from anthropogenic climate change is affecting when leaves appear on trees in the spring d when they change color and drop in the fall.” What does anthropogenic mean? Anthropogenic means that it is influences by human beings. Therefore, by calling climate change anthropogenic, it means that is climate change is a direct result of human activity

3. What did the scientists find about “leaf out” data in their studies compared to Thoreau’s in the 1850’s? What is the main reason for the change in timing? Thoreau’s observation helped scientists compare leafing out from a while ago to now. From this,

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scientists learned that plants are now leafing out 18 days earlier on average than those recorded by Thoreau. The main reason for this change is due to increased greenhouse gases and urbanization

4. The authors say “eighteen days may not seem like a whole lot”…but go on to describe some of the downstream effects of these changes. Describe them: One of the most negative effects of this issue is the difficulties it causes for animals. Animal schedules may not have shifted the same way, which can prevent them from going through major natural processes. For example, a caterpillar may be accidently eating older leaves rather than newer leaves, which can hurt their health and survival rate. Alongside this can affect interactions between organisms, meaning the arrival times of plants, insects, and birds can all go out of sync

5. True or false: Different species “leaf out” due to different environmental cues such as the length of winter, warmth of spring, increasing day light). TRUE True or false: Invasive species without a need for winter chilling will have a competitive advantage over native species. TRUE 6. What does the figure of spring in the 1850’s compared to Spring in 2010’s demonstrate about bird arrival relative to “leaf out”? As the first leaf date decreases, the first bird arrival rate is also beginning to decrease. 7. The article doesn’t use the word, but use google to define phenology: Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life.

Global Change 

What happens if we lose species due to human-caused changes on earth? Evolution took a long time to give us as many species as we have today. What is the value of biodiversity? The world would not be in a balance, causing other species to die

off as well. Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each organism plays a key role. Watch HHMI Video with Dr. Elizabeth Hadly: http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/humans-biodiversity-and-habitat-loss Start with “Chapter 13” of the video (at time 20:25.) 1. Humans have transformed 51% of the planet for what kind of uses? People have transformed the planet for places to build large buildings, houses, and other construction work. For example, New York City had a lot of biodiversity before all the skyscrapers were built. Essentially, 51% of the planet has been converted for human use including crop production, grazing animals, and essentially for people to live.

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Why are some areas not used (tan color vs. purple color in her graph)? The area in purple is the are that has been transformed for human use whereas the areas that are tan have not been capitalized on yet since they’re tough areas to put crops on and use land. 2. Although we have some large protected areas, what is the problem with these as we think about climate change continuing? These protected areas are under threat because of the population growth rate is causing people to kill animals, causing there to be a decrease in animal diversity. As climate changes and gets warmers, these animals and area are going to want to go closer to the pole, can cause more loss of organisms. 3. Have mammals ever been around on earth with temperatures this warm? Mammals have experienced slightly warmer temperatures during the Holocene but mainly hovered around. However, beginning with the industrial revolution, there has been exponential increase in temperature and no one on this planet is adapted to live in these temperatures. Genes are not adapted for this. 4. Besides habitat transformation and climate change, what else is threatening our planet that will drive animals to extinction? the spread of diseases, invasive species, pollution, acidic oceans, and isolated protected areas 5. What are some of the changes Dr. Hadly has seen in Yellowstone? Changes in Yellowstone include the changes in the number of animals (animals have disappeared or are barely left), there is a larger hunting population by humans, there is also larger mining and development that has caused high pollution, and there is a higher fire frequency Read about the economics of biodiversity: https://www.radiolab.org/story/howimportant-bee__kw/ *This is posted in our “additional readings” folder on Sakai Resources too. 1. What happened to the bees in China in Maoxian County? Bees that showed up there every spring suddenly stopped showing up, which prevented there from being plant pollination 2. What did the humans do in response to the loss of bees? Humans began to pollinate by hand. 3. What did the economists who studied this situation conclude about the economics of humans vs. bees? They learned that apple production was not hurt by the absence of bees, but in fact, the apple harvest was 30 to 40% greater. 4. What does the author discuss as the real lesson of the bee story about the value of bioldiversity, can it be reduced to economics? Why or why not? Essentially, the lack of bees and human pollinators can be an economic benefit because it gives people jobs 3

and allows them to use that money in the market which creates growth. However, this idea is just good in theory and that bees should not be eliminated since at the end of the day, life is not reducible to cash equivalents. 5. As we learned from Dr. Hadly, conservation efforts with large isolated national parks are not immune from human impact. What new idea does this article leave us with for attempting to save more biodiversity? This article talks about how crucial it is to not take away bees completely. Rather people should be respectful of their habitat and job of pollination. While we know the sheer number of humans is growing exponentially and that is a problem for the earth’s carrying capacity, how are you impacting the earth and contributing to the loss of biodiversity? Not in a good way, I could improve my habits. In module 36.11, is defines an ecological footprint. What is this? This is the impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources. Go to http://www.greencred.me and measure your ecological footprint. This is a measure of how your life affects the earth’s limited resources. We’ll talk about and compare these with each other in class. So, how many planet earths would be needed if everyone lived like you? ___2.92____ (You may want to see the difference in your footprint as a college student at UNC vs. your hometown life with your parents). What are some ways you could begin to reduce your footprint? Recycle more Reuse Reduce Waste

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