ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

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ECOLOGICAL
PRINCIPLES
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Concept 1

• Ecology

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BIOSPHERE

• a thin blanket of life surrounding the earth
  which arises when atmosphere, land and sea meet
• most fragile layer of the earth
• 10 miles thick (5 miles up into atmosphere, 5
  miles down into ocean)
• ecosystems exist within the biosphere

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Arrangement of the Biosphere
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COMPONENTS OF A BIOME

• Biomes are large geographic areas defined by
• -climate (temp, rainfall)
• -soil type
• -type of plants
• (plants determine animals)
• Which division of the biosphere
• contains all other divisions?

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Question?

• From looking at the diagram, formulate your own
  definition of community!
• hintThink about what is included and what is
  not included

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This is not in your notes because it would not
copy well!!!
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Biome terms

• Diversity-number of different kinds of living and
  non-living things
• Temperate-distinct seasons
• Tropical-consistently warm
• Deciduous-plants shed leaves
• Coniferous-leaves are year round

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Question?

• What is the biome description here at Central
  Dauphin?

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• ECOSYSTEM a place where relationships between
  biotic and abiotic factors are affected by
  geology and climate
• energy is processed through the biotic components
• interrelationships create stability
• populations are the basis of ecosystems

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• BIOTIC living organisms (plants and animals)
• ABIOTIC non-living (water, minerals, soil)
• POPULATION the number of organisms of the same
  species
• SPECIES organisms that can interbreed and
  produce fertile offspring

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Microclimates
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HABITATS

• small subdivisions of an ecosystem where biotic
  components live and acquire the basic
  requirements of life
• must include essential abiotic components
• BASIC REQIREMENTS food, shelter, water, space,
  air

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Habitat is the ADDRESS

• varies in size
• habitats overlap between different species
• varieties of habitats increase diversity
• BIODIVERSITY number of different kinds of
  organisms within the ecosystem

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DIVERSITY STABILITY
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• survival of the ecosystem is dependent on its
  diversity
• the greater the diversity, the more likely an
  ecosystem could survive a cataclysmic event (like
  an extinction, volcano)

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EDGES ARE VERY STABLE

• the edge habitat (place where 2 habitats overlap)
  has the greatest diversity of plants and animals
• edge is usually more stable than either of the 2
  habitats it divides
• edge shares species from both habitats as well as
  supporting edge only species

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This is not in your notes!
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This is not in your notes!
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Concept 2

• Population Dynamics

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POPULATION DYNAMICS

• Explains how wild populations control and
  maintain themselves
• Based on the idea that resources are limited
  (CARRYING CAPACITY)
• All species (plants and animals) must have the
  BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF LIFE
• -FOOD, SHELTER, WATER, SPACE, AIR
• AND OF COURSE THE RIGHT CLIMATE

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POPULATIONS

• Members of the same species
• Populations are limited in range by habitat,
  geology, climate and limiting factors within
  their habitat
• Tends to be maintained within the carrying
  capacity and critical number

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LIMITING FACTORS

• something that maintains population size within
  the habitats carrying capacity
• Food 7. Climate
• Competition 8. Disease
• Predation
• Geology/geography/topography
• Human influences
• Lack of any requirement of life

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Carrying Capacity

• CARRYING CAPACITY the number of organisms of a
  species that a habitat can support (provide basic
  requirements)
• Example The pond can support 25 frogs. What
  may limit the number of frogs?

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Consequences

• breaking the carrying capacity will cause
  collapse of the population
• may lead to extinction
• may reduce gene pool
• may just reduce numbers long enough for the
  habitat to recover

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Can Carrying Capacity Change?

• Yes
• Increases with habitat improvement
• Decrease in abusive population
• Better weather promoting good food
• Decreases with habitat destruction
• Increase in populations above carrying capacity
• Cataclysmic event (volcano)
• Changes in climate (global warming?)

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Critical Number

• The lowest number a species can drop to in an
  ecosystem and still recover
• Set by nature to maintain genetic diversity
• Prevents in-breeding and passing on bad genes

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Populations may stabilize

• Stable populations will fluctuate between the
  carrying capacity and the critical number.
• Most species with proper limiting factors will
  function along these lines
• This is called DYNAMIC
• EQUILIBRIUM
• These are called S-Curve populations

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S-curve Populations
Draw your own in your notes!!!
Carrying Capacity
NUMBER
Critical Number
TIME
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causes of stabilization

• Emigration
• Immigration These are
• Death limiting factors!
• birth
• predator-prey
• disease

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J-curve Populations

• Are not stable populations
• Usually crash after they break carrying capacity
• Due to lack of limiting factors or it has a
  special reproductive strategy
• -many young with lack of parental care such as
  fish
• May be an invasive species (gypsy moth)

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J-curve Populations
Draw your own in your notes!!!
Carrying Capacity
NUMBER
Recovery
Critical Number
Extinction
TIME
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Species Interact with each other to maintain
energy and population balances

• Predator-Prey relationships

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Predators and Prey regulate each others
populations
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• Competition

-attempt to use the same limited
resources -limits population size between
competitors
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Categories of Competition

• Interspecific
• competition between 2 or more species for a
  single resource

• Intraspecific
• competition between members of the same species
• -usually for mates or nesting habitat or
  territory

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Interspecific competition shows how competition
can be avoided by sharing resources (RESOURCE
PARTITIONING). This guarantees that all species
survive and increase diversity
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• Parasitism

-lives on or in a host species -often host
specific -generally causes harm or death of host
in extreme situations
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• Mutualism

-both organisms will benefit from the
arrangement -symbiosis arises through coevolution
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• Commensalism
• one member of the relationship benefits
• one member of the relationship gains nothing, but
  is not harmed
• example lichens growing on the tree benefit
  from the tree, but the tree is not harmed or
  helped by the lichen

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Concept 3

• Flow of Energy

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FLOW OF ENERGY

• Energy is processed
• Feedback
• input energy ecosystem output energy
• -this allows the ecosystem to maintain an energy
  balance

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NICHE JOB

• the way an organism makes a living in their
  habitat
• niche describes how the organism gets it energy
• producer (autotrophs and herbivores)
• consumer (carnivores, scavengers)
• decomposers

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NICHE WHAT THEY EAT TYPES OF ORGANISMS
Autotroph Sunshinethese organisms make their own food Plants (the green guys)
Herbivore Plants Bunnies, deer, bees
Carnivore other animals-general term Lions, anteaters, fox, bass
Predator Hunts, kills, eats other animals Lions, anteaters, fox, bass
Parasite Lives on or in living organisms, on their body materials Ticks, tapeworms, fleas
Omnivore Both plants and animals Bears, people, skunks
Scavenger Dead or dying animals Vultures, crows, crayfish
Detritivore Dead plants and leaves Beetles, fungus
Decomposer Small particles and dead portions of other organisms Bacteria, fungus
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THE SUN IS THE SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR ALL LIVING
THINGS (almost)

• photosynthesis in autotrophic organisms converts
  sunlight energy into carbohydrates (BIOMASS)
• they use oxygen to accomplish this
• organisms are called photosynthetic autotrophs
  (plants and algae)

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• BIOMASS the total weight of living matter in an
  ecosystem
• It accumulates in the food chain as processed
  energy
• Energy
• can be
• lost

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exception to the rule

• CHEMOSYNTHESIS
• organisms make carbohydrates out of carbon
  dioxide, water and inorganic compounds (like
  sulfur and nitrates)
• organisms are called chemosynthetic autotrophs
  (deep ocean bacteria)

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Chemosynthetic organisms
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Deep Ocean Ecosystems
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FOOD CHAINS

• a series of organisms which pass energy from one
  feeding level to the next
• This process coverts one form of biomass to
  another
• these levels are called TROPHIC LEVELS

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TROPHIC LEVELS

• Primary Producer
• Primary Consumer
• Secondary Consumer
• After secondary you can call them higher
  consumers by referring to their trophic level
  (3rd consumer, 4th consumer..)

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Food Chains

• always contain sun, primary producer,
  decomposer
• primary producer are autotrophs
• the arrow points in the direction the energy is
  being transferred to
• always flows in one direction
• reads as is eaten by

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examples

• sun carrot rabbit
  bacteria
• sun acorns squirrel hawk
  bacteria
• sun grass deer bear human
  bacteria

Primary consumer
energy
Decomposer
Primary producer
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some general rules

• Large carnivores do not eat large carnivores
• herbivores do not eat carnivores
• organisms within an ecosystem may compete for
  food sources
• interacting food chains are called FOOD WEBS

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WHATS MISSING?
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ENERGY PYRAMID or PYRAMID OF BIOMASS
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Energy lost
10 to next level
90 used/lost at each level
-biomass decreases at each step in a food
chain -energy is lost at each step bones not
used, fur, energy expended in eating and
metabolism, feces.
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• larger organisms require more energy so there
  will be fewer at the upper levels
• the shorter the food chain, the more organisms
  you can feed at the upper levels

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1 human 300 trout 90, 000 frogs 27, 000,000
grasshoppers 1000 tons of grass
eat lower on the food chain
900 human 27, 000,000 grasshoppers 1000 tons of
grass
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IV. MATERIALS CYCLE

• MATERIALS CYCLE IN ECOSYSTEMS
• water cycle
• carbon cycle
• nitrogen cycle
• All elements will cycle because the earth will
  run out of material if it does not!

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WATER CYCLE
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Water Goes Up

• Evaporation- heat causes the conversion of liquid
  water into gaseous water (water vapor)
• Transpiration- the evaporation of water from the
  surfaces of leaves
• -water is produced during photosynthesis

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Water changes form

• Condensation- due to cooling, gaseous water forms
  liquid water on the surface of a condensation
  nuclei
• Condensation nuclei- a small solid particle of
  matter in the atmosphere on which water will
  condense

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Water comes down

• Precipitation-the falling of a condensed form of
  water from the atmosphere
• -could be solid or liquid
• -occurs because the amount of water on the
  condensation nuclei becomes heavy and gravity
  causes the drop to fall

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3 places water goes

• Runs off into rivers, lakes, streams, wetlands
• Percolates into the soil and is absorbed into
  plants
• Percolates into the aquifer
• Percolate to move into an area occupied by air
  and fill the molecular space

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The Aquifer
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• Aquifers are underground layers of porous rock or
  sand that allows the movement of water between
  layers of non-porous rock (sandstone, gravel, or
  fractured limestone or granite).
• Water infiltrates into the soil through pores,
  cracks, and other spaces until it reaches the
  zone of saturation where all of the spaces are
  filled with water (rather than air).

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• The zone of saturation occurs because water
  infiltrating the soil reaches an impermeable
  layer of rocks which it can not penetrate any
  further into the earth
• Water held in aquifers is know as
• 
  GROUNDWATER
• The top of the zone of saturation is known as the
  WATER TABLE.
• .

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• -The water table typically follows the form of
  the above ground topography.
• The water table levels can change
• Drier deeper wet areas at or near surface

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• Two main forces drive the movement of groundwater
• First water moves from higher elevations to lower
  elevation due to the effect of gravity
• Second, water moves from areas of higher pressure
  to areas of lower pressure
• Third, water moves at a rate and amount related
  to the size and amount of spaces in the rock
  layer

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Movement of ground water takes timehow much is
variable, depending on the material it moves
through and how deep you go.
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CARBON CYCLE
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Carbon Cycles through

• Food chains and Food Webs as biomass
• Decomposers release carbon as both a gas and an
  element
• C. Respiration of plants and animals

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• Natural Sources of Carbon include plants and
  animals, soil, fossil fuel deposits, atmosphere,
  humus..
• -any form of biomass will be a place of carbon
  storage
• Man-made Sources of Carbon include burning of
  fossil fuels and other organic materials

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Carbon Sinks

• Carbon Sink -long term storage of carbon
• 3 long term carbon sinks
• -deep ocean waters
• -deep ocean sediments
• -fossil fuel deposits
• Short term carbon sinks
• -plants and animals
• -atmosphere

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NITROGEN CYCLE
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Nitrogen cycles through

• Food chains and food webs
• Decomposition of biomass
• Water
• Natural Sources of nitrogen biomass,
  decomposition, lightning, volcanoes
• Man-made Sources of nitrogen fertilizers,
  industry, combustion of fossil fuels

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Nitrogen must be fixed

• Nitrogen is made in nature in an elemental form
  N2
• -most living things can not use this form
• Nitrogen fixation -the process in which nitrogen
  fixing organisms convert N2 into useable forms
• -Nitrogen fixing Bacteria and Legumes are
• symbiotic organisms which fix N2
• -fixed forms include Nitrates NO3-, Nitrites
  (NO2-) and Ammonia (NH4)

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V. ECOSYSTEMS CHANGE

• SUCCESSION CAUSES CHANGES IN ECOSYSTEMS
• ecosystems are never static
• ecosystems tend to move from less diverse to more
  diverse systems

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• low species high species
• diversity diversity
• more energy less energy
• available available
• less biomass more biomass

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Primary Succession

• occurs where no ecosystem has occurred before
• uses pioneer species (lichens, moss) to form
  soils
• begins on rock
• often accompanies a cataclysmic event

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Pioneer Species

• small plant organisms like lichens and mosses
• their roots will gradually break off small
  chips of rocks
• as they grow and die, the organic material mixes
  with the chips of rocks
• soils begin to form (200 years 1 inch of top
  soil)

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Secondary Succession

• occurs in areas of disturbance of existing
  ecosystems
• species who are opportunistic will begin process
• opportunistic species are generally fast growing
  and have a high reproductive rate

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There are natural patterns of succession. -fields
become forests -ponds become fields -forests will
change types of vegetation until maturity
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Maturity

• ecosystems will become more complex
• complexity slows rates of change
• the higher the maturity, the longer the ecosystem
  will stay in that state
• in general--fields become shrub lands
• -- shrub lands become forests
• -- ponds will become grasslands
• as the ecosystem changes, the species composition
  changes

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Fire Maintained Ecosystems

• tends to halt/slow succession
• maintains a particular successional state
• some species require fire for reproduction
• fire is used as a management tool to maintain
  ecosystems

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Climax Communities

• all ecosystems tend to move toward an idealistic
  end state called a climax community
• arguments occur about its existence
• climax allows for very little change

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Concept 6

• Invasive
• Keystone
• Native

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Invasive, Endangered, and Keystone Species

• Invasive a species that did not evolve in the
  habitat, it was released on purpose or by
  accident
• Endangered a species which are so close to the
  critical number that it may become extinct in the
  near future
• Keystone a species which is critical to the
  survival of an ecosystem-they are tied to many
  other species

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Invasive Species
Gypsy Moths introduced into this country in 1869
have devastated much of the eastern oak forests.
Non-native species do not have limiting factors
to control their populations. This causes
elimination of native species.
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Rabbits introduced into Australia have devastated
the native grasslands and endangered kangaroos
and other native wildlife.
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Endangered California Condor
The largest bird of North America was brought to
the brink of extinction due to -over
hunting -habitat destruction -egg collecting -DDT
(pesticide)
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• In 1987, the last wild condors were removed and
  placed with the remaining population in
  captivity-there were 26
• A captive breeding program is in effect and as of
  2012 there were 405 birds (226 in wild, rest in
  zoos)
• Scientists question if they had reached the
  critical number as all 27 of the first breeding
  population had originated from 14 birds

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KEYSTONE SPECIES- organisms which are important
in shaping the total ecology of an ecosystem
Cray fish and Beaver are both keystone species in
Pennsylvania. It is because they form habitats
(like beaver) or are a major food source for many
organisms. Either way they have major influence
over their ecosystems. Loss of these species
would result in ecosystem collapse.
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The Endangered Species Act

• The law requires federal agencies, to ensure that
  actions they authorize, fund, or carry out are
  not likely to jeopardize the continued existence
  of any listed species or result in the
  destruction or adverse modification of designated
  critical habitat of such species.
• The law also prohibits any action that causes a
  "taking" of any listed species of endangered fish
  or wildlife. Likewise, import, export,
  interstate, and foreign commerce of listed
  species are all generally prohibited.

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Trophic Cascadehttps//connect.usu.edu/p24408776/

• Occur when an organism has a key role in the
  balance of the ecosystem
• -removal causes changes throughout the entire
  ecosystem
• -can be top down or bottom up
• -often found after the removal of a top level
  predator

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• In Minnesota wolves suppress coyote populations,
  which in turn releases foxes from top-down
  control by coyote
• The fox then control the intermediate prey
  species (bunnies and squirrels)
• This allows the competition between the
  herbivores to produce dynamic equilibrium in
  populations of herbivores

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Remove the top predator

• Removal of Wolves releases the coyote
• Coyote control more fox
• Less fox, more bunnies and squirrels
• More bunnies and squirrels, greater competition
  between herbivores
• Damage to autotrophic levels
• Decline of herbivores and then their predators
• Complete ecosystem collapse

http//forestry.usu.edu/htm/video/conferences/rtw-
2010/billripple/