Questions tagged [ecology]
The study of the spatial and temporal patterns of the distribution and abundance of organisms, including causes and consequences (Scheiner, S.M. and Willig, M.R., 2008. A general theory of ecology. Theoretical Ecology, 1(1), pp.21-28. doi:10.1007/s12080-007-0002-0)
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Introduction of critically endangered South Asian species to South America
I have in mind in particular orangutans but don't want the question to be that specific, so the answers about other species will be equally welcome.
Orangutans are endangered or critically endangered ...
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What is the largest animal a colony of army ants can kill?
Reading David Attenborough's "Life on Earth" he describes the African army ants super-colony that can hunt, kill and devour creatures far greater than the individual ants. He writes that ...
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What factors allow some species to outcompete species formed by the local environment and become invasive?
If an invasive species is introduced to a new environment, why can they outcompete local species in the same nische, if they specifically evolved in this local environment and are adapted to it, ...
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Hypothetical violation of independence assumption for linear models
Let's say I have measured the abscisic acid content (could be any metabolite really) of 10 individual plants which we can consider biologically independent. Then I repeat that measurement for all 10 ...
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Which species of iron-reducing bacteria are hyper-sensitive to copper?
I would like to know which species of iron-reducing bacteria are inhibited in their iron metabolism by a copper concentration of less than 500 nano moles per litre.
Searching the internet, I can only ...
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Estimation of carbon stock value
I would like to ask, to calculate the carbon value estimation, the Allometric formula is of course used, but in some of the literature I searched, I found different allometric formulas but the same ...
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How should I analyze proportional community data, in respect to habitat variables?
I want to analyze how the proportions of groups of species in a biological community correlated to habitat variables. I have 6 functional groups, defined by their similar traits, and I want to know ...
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Why were vegetation coverages not assumed to be affected by precipitation, humidity or temperature?
I am trying to understand the graph topology of the structural equation model (SEM) given in Figure 1 of Bisset et al 2023. It is stated in the paper that it reflects an a priori causal structure.
I ...
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Phonotaxis and Preference
(Am I losing my mind?) I could have sworn there was solid research indicating that phonotaxis evidence for preferences (during ex situ experiments) was "held up" by en situ experiments...(by ...
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High value weed or plant that can replace the chemical treatment of pesticides and herbicides?
I'm working on a project that aims to replace (at least lower) the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides in farming with the use of high value weeds and plants that can naturally replace the ...
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The Contradiction in Soy Production: Livestock Feed versus Human Consumption?
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this ecological question. I apologize for any inconvenience, and please let me know if it is.
There is a contradiction regarding soy production and its ...
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Where do the bones of dead animals go?
I've spent quite a bit of time in the wild, but I've seen little to no bones lying on the ground.
Large bones such as skulls, spines, horns, hooves are not eaten by any other animals, and even ...
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What would actually be the ecological impact of deep sea mining?
In the last few months I have read a number of articles with increasing alarm concerning the potential of many countries soon engaging in deep sea mining. The idea is that in order to produce numerous ...
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Models of evolution by positive versus negative selection
I am making a program for simulating natural selection. Now, I have discovered an interesting difference between positive selection and negative selection.
Positive selection occurs when the ...
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Datasets for Genetic Diversity of Species Across Geographical Distribution
I'm carrying out some research on applying machine learning methods to ecology and conservation. I'd like to know: are there some datasets on genetic diversity across geographical positions? ...
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When do invasive species become native species?
Until when an invasive species is considered an "invasive species" and when it is starting to be considered a "native" species, i.e. a species that is an integral part of the local ...
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Could trophy hunting lead to deer evolving to lack antlers?
There was a recent paper in Science which showed that elephants are quickly evolving tusklessness because elephant hunting imposes selective pressure against having tusks:
Shane C. Campbell-Staton et ...
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If a plant is a host to a parasite, will the biomass of the plant's predator increase?
My biology text book claims exactly that, yet offers no explanation. It seems quite strange to me. Is it correct, and if so, why?
It seems illogical since parasites take away from a plant's biomass, ...
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Quantifying species detection probability using sign surveys as a function of distance in known occupied sites
I ran a pilot study to determine the probability of detecting a rare African small carnivore using scat (feces) detection dog surveys to assist with future population monitoring and occupancy surveys. ...
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Ecological regime shifts and natural resource variability
I am thinking of the interaction of two different uncertainties; ecological regime shift uncertainty and natural resource variability.
For example, for fishes, we know that the fish stock is exposed ...
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Does Ramon Margalef really stated in 1972 general criteria for Shannon-Wiener index interpretation?
I work as field biologist in Chilean System of Environmental Impact Assesment. Several reports made by colleagues use Shannon-Wiener index for characterizing the richness study area, with the ...
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How does an engineered supressive Lethal (when present in 2 copies) gene drive spread through a population until causing population extinction?
I understand that at the molecular level a CRISPR mediated gene drive works by copying the altered gene (and the drive containing CAS enzyme, and guide RNA) into the other chromosome containing the ...
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How selective are wolves about the size of their prey?
For an animal that lives and hunts socially like a wolf, is there a lower threshold to the size of prey items they will hunt? A pack wouldn't have much trouble with catching say a rabbit, but would ...
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Would fewer cows mean less methane emission?
Rotting grass produces the same amount of methane as cows that digest grass (see this source). So if cows did not eat the grass, it would still emit methane. Therefore, if there were fewer cows, would ...
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Why is livestock bad for the climate?
It is always told that eating meat is bad for our climate. This is most often explained by mentioning following reasons (Source):
Methane is produced when digesting the food and also the faeces of ...
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How do I construct sample-based rarefaction curves if the area (or volume) sampled is not consistent between samples?
My apologies if a similar question has been asked previously but I cannot find an answer.
I have data from multiple zooplankton tows from different study sites and I am trying to construct sample-...
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Larval abalone devlopmental times - what does ~ °C.days or °C hr-1 mean
I'm looking a number of papers on abalone larval development and the term °C.days or °C hrs-1 keeps coming up. The numbers before these terms are much larger than they would be if this term actually ...
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Confused About Why Red Queen Hypothesis Wouldn't Apply to Deer's Color Vision [duplicate]
In this site,https://www.livescience.com/why-are-tigers-orange, it says ""But there seems to be no evolutionary pressure, particularly for deer, which are the main prey of the tiger, to ...
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Do moose usually browse woody foilage approximately perpendicular to the long axis of the branch?
I am trying to improve my understanding of moose browsing behavior. One basic question is whether browsing on woody vegetation can tell us anything about the orientation of the moose's head. The ...
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What is the difference between "ecological succession" and the term "stage of regeneration", is there a difference between them?
In ecology what is the meaning of the term "ecological succession" and the term "stage of regeneration", is there a difference between them?
Edit 1: Perhaps the term "Stage of ...
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Examples of bifurcations in real-life systems
Does period-doubling bifurcation and Neimark-Sacker bifurcation happen in real-life systems? Are there some examples? I'm particularly interested in biological host-parasitoid and predator-prey models....
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Ecology: Indices to calculate species overlap in a community?
Experimental design: I sampled the abundances of four species for each month of the year. I did this across 6 sites. I want to calculate the temporal niche overlap for all the species at each site. ...
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What could be a refuge in host-parasitoid models
I was reading about refuge effect in host-parasitoid models and I found somewhere that refuge does not have to be only a place in habitat where hosts can hide, but also some "situation" ...
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Refuge impact on growth rate
I have a question related to the refuge effect in ecological models. The assumption is that the population of hosts/prey is divided into two groups. One group consists of individuals that are safe ...
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Ecosystem Control Theory
I've used EcoNet online tool to analyze an ecosystem. You can run the default model by pressing "run model" in order to follow my question.
Among the extended results there are 2 'Control ...
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Do cheetahs compete with lions?
Do cheetahs compete with lions for the same prey?
A quick Google search says the answer is no:
Lions hunt big animals such as buffalo, giraffe, wildebeest, and zebra. What prey do cheetahs hunt? ...
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What unmanned monitoring techniques are available to measure coral reef health?
Most biological data for coral reef monitoring are collected by human observers. This could be resource-intensive for long-term studies and thus hard to maintain consistency on large spatial scale. ...
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Ecology of the environment for the ruffed grouse
I live in a coastal New England town and while reading a local history I noticed frequent mention of the "partridge" as being a commonplace bird in the area. Now, however, this bird which is ...
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Why does the ecosystem of my house seem inverted?
My understanding of a typical ecosystem is that it is like a pyramid, with the mass of prey at the base and the apex predators at the peak.
However, the arthropod ecosystem in my house seems to be the ...
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Should soundscape ecology be a component of STEM education? [closed]
I'd like to see soundscape ecology be included in STEM education. I realize there is so much to teach and so little time, but think that primary and secondary students would be highly motivated and ...
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How long does an Audiomoth acoustic logger record for?
I'm wanting to record bat echolocation calls using an Audiomoth recorder. However, I can't find out anywhere how long these recorders can record for on a full charge.
What is the longest duration ...
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Has anyone seen/read interspecies competition that is different at spatial scale for the same group of animals?
I work at a highly fragmented wildlife sanctuary in North Borneo, Malaysia. We have 8 species of hornbills here and from our observation they've grown to be less territorial in terms of where they ...
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Can we infer the orientation of a moose's head from the teeth patterns on tree trunks?
Background
I am interested in studying the distribution and patterns of behaviour of moose (Alces alces).
Moose chew bark off of the trunks of trees, especially Populus tremuloides. See some of the ...
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Are animal whiskers a useful monitoring tool?
I have come across studies that have used stable isotope values from seal/sea lion whiskers to infer foraging ecology. However, I am also aware that whiskers can fall off and then grow back. Is there ...
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Temporal space-use modeling - How can I quantify temporal variation into a single value without losing magnitude?
For my ecological research on the impacts of intensity of space-use on vegetation structure I need to quantify temporal variation in the intensity of space-use across years (resulting in a single ...
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Which anaerobic environments would exist without aerobic life?
All of the anaerobic environments I can think of are that way because a layer of aerobic life above them separates them from oxygen. If the aerobic life were removed, the anaerobic compartment would ...
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How does genetic feedback shape the evolution of whole ecosystems?
While looking into the organization of ecosystems and how evolution shapes it, I've been reading "Ecology" (1975) by Eugene Odum. In chapter 6, p. 167, Odum speaks about the mutualistic ...
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How do I explain "effective number of types" to a lay audience?
I know how to calculate effective number of types. I can't figure out how to explain it to an audience that has no ecology training or background. Suppose one has 12 (for example) groups, each with a ...
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Where to find morphometric data for fish?
I need data regarding the aspect ratio for caudal fins of different Elasmobranchii. It should be some easily retrievable information but apparently fishbase doesn't have this type of data for many ...
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Abilities used to survive against natural enemies: directional selection or frequency-dependent selection?
Regarding abilities used to survive predators and parasites, are they subjected more to directional selection or frequency-dependent selection?
It's usually that host-parasite coevolution is ...
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