Ice Age Earth & Megafauna
Long periods of colder global temperatures and glaciation
What is the Ice Age climate (glaciation with prolonged global cooling)?
A large region defined by climate and living organisms
What is a biome?
What is an ecological niche?
The role or “job” of an organism in its ecosystem
This consumer eat plants
Determine a suitable location for reintroducing a species
What is the goal of the Placement Argument assignment?
They had larger bodies requiring more energy intake.
Why did megafauna require more food?
Matching a species to its climate, food sources, and habitat conditions
What is environmental compatibility (or suitable habitat matching)?
When organisms compete for limited resources
What is competition?
Break down dead organisms and recycle nutrients
What are decomposers?
Evidence and reasoning
What must a strong scientific argument include?
It would reduce plant growth and limit food sources.
How would colder climates affect plant availability for herbivores?
Cold, low-temperature biomes with large open landscapes and short growing seasons
What are tundra or boreal (taiga) biomes?
They rely on the same prey and resources
What is sharing the same food source and resources?
Regulate populations and maintain ecosystem balance
What is population control and ecosystem stability?
Interactions between organisms such as competition and food webs
What are ecosystem interactions?
They had specific adaptations, but environmental change exceeded their ability to survive
Why did megafauna go extinct despite being well-adapted?
The long-term pattern of weather in a particular area, typically averaged over a period of 30 years
What is Climate?
One species outcompetes another for the same resources
What is competitive exclusion?
Decrease in plant populations due to increased grazing
What is reduced plant populations?
Flora & fauna inventory / ecosystem interactions
What is this section of the placement argument?
Changing temperatures affect plants first, which then impacts herbivores and predators up the chain
How does climate change disrupt a food web?
Climate affects plant growth, which controls food availability in an ecosystem
What is the effect of climate on primary producers?
Availability of resources needed for survival and reproduction
What is resource availability?
Changes in predator-prey relationships and resource availability across trophic levels
What are cascading effects in a food web?
Survival depends on ecosystem interactions, not just climate
What is considering only climate is insufficient for species survival?