Lecture 1.
- How to describe environmental heterogeneity:
o Three types of environmental factors: resources, conditions, signals
- Recognize the 3 main environmental forest gradients:
o Horizontal gradient: understory gap
o Vertical gradient: forest floor canopy
o Centre forest fragment edge matrix
Lecture 2.
- Define succession:
o Progressive alteration in the structure and species composition of the vegetation
- Understand difference between contrasting theories:
o Clements: organic & deterministic
o Gleason: individualistic & chance
- Recognize 3 types of succession:
o Primary succession fresh substrate
o Secondary succession legacies
o Cyclic succession mosaic of patches
- Is there a climax?
o No, many potential types of mature forest, depending on environment and history
and there is potential decay at long time scales.
- Pickett:
o Hierarchical approach with causes, mechanisms, factors
- Define disturbance:
o Any relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystem, community, or
population structure and changes resources, substrate availability or the physical
environment
- Be able to describe disturbance:
o Size, frequency and intensity
- Disturbance impact, a matter of scale:
o Spatial and temporal variation
- Know common types of disturbance:
o Lavaflow, meandering rivers, drift sand primary succession
o Fire, insect pests, windthrow secondary succession
o Too rapid colonization arrested succession
Lecture 3.
- Seed limitation:
o Pervasive, slows competitive exclusion, enhances species coexistence
o Makes community composition very unpredictable
- Breeding systems:
o Monoecious
o Dioecious
o Hermaphroditic
- Pollination & dispersal syndromes:
o Combination of reproductive features that attract particular pollinators/ dispersers
, - Seeds size vs seed number trade-off
o Small seeds enhance arrival success
o Large seeds enhance establishment success
- Escape from natural enemies
o Density dependent mortality is pervasive, enhances species coexistence
o Dispersal very important
Lecture 4.
- Understand trade-offs related to seed size & seed bank:
o Small seeds abundant in seedbank and long viability
o Small seeds more orthodox (low water, seedcoat)
- Know what triggers germination:
o Light quantity, light quality, temperature, water
- Understand seedling growth analysis:
o Seedlings have high mortality rate, bottleneck, enrichment
o Relative growth rate (RGR) scales for size differences
o RGR= LMF * SLA * NAR (allocation * morphology * physiology)
- Analyse seedling responses to light:
o Functional equilibrium hypothesis (Brouwer); plants should invest carbon in plant
organ that captures the resources that’s in limiting supply
o Interspecific growth variation: in low light driven by LAR, in high light driven by NAR
Lecture 5.
- Plant strategies:
o Grouping of characteristics that causes a certain group of species to exhibit
similarities in ecology
- Horizontal and vertical gradients
o Light is the most limiting factor
o Horizontal gradient is small and unpredictable
o Vertical gradient is large and predictable
o Four functional groups
- Partitioning of the horizontal gradient
o Tree classifications are based on life history, succession and light requirements
o Pioneers and shade-tolerants are the extremes of a continuum in shade tolerance
o Parallels the fast-slow continuum, or acquisitive-conservative continuum
- What is shade tolerance?
o Minimum light to survive, survival time in shade, growth rate in shade
o Shade tolerance varies with forest type (growing season, other stresses)
- Partitioning of the vertical gradient
o Most species follow the forest light profile, extreme pioneers and shade-tolerants
are rare
o Adult stature determines partitioning of the vertical gradient
Lecture 6.
- Ungulate body mass:
o Ungulate body mass determines the animal’s feeding diet, home range and density
- Plant-animal interactions:
- How to describe environmental heterogeneity:
o Three types of environmental factors: resources, conditions, signals
- Recognize the 3 main environmental forest gradients:
o Horizontal gradient: understory gap
o Vertical gradient: forest floor canopy
o Centre forest fragment edge matrix
Lecture 2.
- Define succession:
o Progressive alteration in the structure and species composition of the vegetation
- Understand difference between contrasting theories:
o Clements: organic & deterministic
o Gleason: individualistic & chance
- Recognize 3 types of succession:
o Primary succession fresh substrate
o Secondary succession legacies
o Cyclic succession mosaic of patches
- Is there a climax?
o No, many potential types of mature forest, depending on environment and history
and there is potential decay at long time scales.
- Pickett:
o Hierarchical approach with causes, mechanisms, factors
- Define disturbance:
o Any relatively discrete event in time that disrupts ecosystem, community, or
population structure and changes resources, substrate availability or the physical
environment
- Be able to describe disturbance:
o Size, frequency and intensity
- Disturbance impact, a matter of scale:
o Spatial and temporal variation
- Know common types of disturbance:
o Lavaflow, meandering rivers, drift sand primary succession
o Fire, insect pests, windthrow secondary succession
o Too rapid colonization arrested succession
Lecture 3.
- Seed limitation:
o Pervasive, slows competitive exclusion, enhances species coexistence
o Makes community composition very unpredictable
- Breeding systems:
o Monoecious
o Dioecious
o Hermaphroditic
- Pollination & dispersal syndromes:
o Combination of reproductive features that attract particular pollinators/ dispersers
, - Seeds size vs seed number trade-off
o Small seeds enhance arrival success
o Large seeds enhance establishment success
- Escape from natural enemies
o Density dependent mortality is pervasive, enhances species coexistence
o Dispersal very important
Lecture 4.
- Understand trade-offs related to seed size & seed bank:
o Small seeds abundant in seedbank and long viability
o Small seeds more orthodox (low water, seedcoat)
- Know what triggers germination:
o Light quantity, light quality, temperature, water
- Understand seedling growth analysis:
o Seedlings have high mortality rate, bottleneck, enrichment
o Relative growth rate (RGR) scales for size differences
o RGR= LMF * SLA * NAR (allocation * morphology * physiology)
- Analyse seedling responses to light:
o Functional equilibrium hypothesis (Brouwer); plants should invest carbon in plant
organ that captures the resources that’s in limiting supply
o Interspecific growth variation: in low light driven by LAR, in high light driven by NAR
Lecture 5.
- Plant strategies:
o Grouping of characteristics that causes a certain group of species to exhibit
similarities in ecology
- Horizontal and vertical gradients
o Light is the most limiting factor
o Horizontal gradient is small and unpredictable
o Vertical gradient is large and predictable
o Four functional groups
- Partitioning of the horizontal gradient
o Tree classifications are based on life history, succession and light requirements
o Pioneers and shade-tolerants are the extremes of a continuum in shade tolerance
o Parallels the fast-slow continuum, or acquisitive-conservative continuum
- What is shade tolerance?
o Minimum light to survive, survival time in shade, growth rate in shade
o Shade tolerance varies with forest type (growing season, other stresses)
- Partitioning of the vertical gradient
o Most species follow the forest light profile, extreme pioneers and shade-tolerants
are rare
o Adult stature determines partitioning of the vertical gradient
Lecture 6.
- Ungulate body mass:
o Ungulate body mass determines the animal’s feeding diet, home range and density
- Plant-animal interactions:
