Biogeography activity

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Austin Peay State University *

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3000

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Biology

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Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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2

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Island Biogeography Activity Please follow the instructions below. Once you finish your analyses please show Dr. Haase. We will discuss as a class. INTRODUCTION How many different species will be found in a habitat of a certain size? Answering this question could help us better understand patterns in where species are found. It could also help us predict how many species will be lost from damaged habitats and design protected areas to save Earth’s remaining wildlife. To investigate the relationship between species number and habitat size, scientists studied species of arthropods — such as beetles, grasshoppers, flies, and moths — in a desert in central New Mexico, USA. They focused on arthropods that live on desert shrubs. Some of these arthropod species are specialist herbivores that feed and live only on these shrubs. The sand and grasses between the shrubs do not provide the food or shelter that these specialist species need to survive for long periods. The scientists counted the number of specialist herbivore arthropod species on individual, isolated shrubs. They calculated shrub volume to represent habitat size, the distance from each shrub to a dense clump of shrubs (aka a “continent”), and calculated shrub density (the number of shrubs per square meter). To test the species-area relationship, the scientists selected shrubs at the same distance from the continent. To test the impact of habitat distance, the scientists selected shrubs of the same habitat size. The scientists then used an insecticide to fumigate, or kill all the arthropods on, these shrubs. Two weeks after fumigation, they counted the arthropod species that had returned to each shrub. These arthropods came from other places in the environment, including shrubs that had not been fumigated. Use the collected data to answer the questions below. QUESTIONS: 1. Create 3 scatter plots that each represent the relationships below: a. Shrub size and richness, both before and after fumigation b. Shrub distance and richness c. Shrub density and richness, before and after fumigation. Make sure to follow figure guidelines as discussed in class. Include axes labels with units, tick marks, and a descriptive caption.
2. Is there a significant relationship between shrub size and arthropod richness before fumigation? After? Use a linear regression analyses and make sure to report your coefficient, 95% confidence intervals, R 2 value, and p-value. 3. Is there a significant relationship between distance from shrub to large, dense shrubs and arthropod richness before fumigation? Use a linear regression analyses and make sure to report your coefficient, 95% confidence intervals, R 2 value, and p-value. 4. Is there a significant relationship between shrub density (e.g., isolation) and arthropod richness before fumigation? After? Use a linear regression analyses and make sure to report your coefficient, 95% confidence intervals, R 2 value, and p-value.
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