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By
Kareen Mezerhane
Manar Naboulsi
Alexander Blitch
J.P Kamar

AP Biology
September 5, 2010
Hour 3

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    Breeds through temperate and northern Eurasia. It has an increased
geographic range due to increased availability of open water because of gravel extraction and
increased mussel, their preferable food. They migrate a broad range, from Western Europe to
southern Asia.


   need water of pH between 6.5 and 8.0. Oil pollution, drainage, peat
extraction, hunted for sport.

      sexually, gametes in the form of eggs. Lay an average of 9 eggs at a
time. They have nests on islands in lakes.

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 Tufted ducks feed on fresh water mussels, rarely eats vegetables, also eats snails,
shrimps, insects, and waterweed. Hunted by the American Mink.

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p? Dresh water Bivalve

p? Dound in 6 to 24 ft depth of water
p? Invasive species that sticks to the bottom of boats and populates new areas.
p? Originated in Russia
p? Threatens other ecosystems due to their ability to filter vast amounts of water.
p? can͛t tolerate pH above 9.3 or a strong base

     

p? Produce eggs and can spawn 30,000 to 1 million eggs per year.
p? Eggs grow to larvae and only 5% make it to being an adult.
p? R strategists.

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p? Predators: crayfish, muskrats, waterfowl, ducks, fish

p? Deed on single cell organisms such as algae or bacteria


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p? Live at the bottom of the sea in all kinds of marine environments.

p? Survive beneath ice sheets
p? Survive in muddy banks and beds
p? Most active at temperature above 46 c

     

p? Demale carries the sperm in order to begin reproduction if it is suitable for the
environment. Male transfers the sperm to the female which is stored in her body until
the eggs are fertilized, which happens when the water temperature increases. In this
case, they are sexual and have gametes.

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p? They eat shrimp, vegetable, fish, and algae.

p? Their predators are humans, raccoons, and other big fish.

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    strictly freshwater, found on 6 continents, live on the bottom of the body of
water (meaning benthic). Substrate composition affects where they are found: if there are lots
of shifting rocks and bedrocks, unionids isn͛t found there, but if the substrate composition
consists of sand and gravel, unionids are found there and flourish there.

      sperm is ejected into female's mantle cavity. Dertilized eggs move from
gonad to gills where they ripen and metamorph into glochidia (which are the 1st larval stage).
Their form of reproduction is by gametes and sexual.

h   

 They eat through filtering so they eat very small organisms such as
phytoplankton, bacteria, detritus, and dissolved organic matter. The animals that feed on them
are turtles, raccoons, muskrats, otters, and birds.


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The members of this community form their own food chain, as you shall see in the food chain
diagram, with the tufted duck feeding on mussels and clams, crayfish feeding on mussels, and
the mussels and clams feed on unicellular organisms such as algae and phytoplankton. The
main interactions therefore are mainly the transfer of energy from one organism to another.
The organisms use this energy to survive and reproduce. The organisms then feed off each
other in the order of their food chain, which must create a balance between the rate of birth
and death, to create a perfect balanced environment. 

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When the community is out of balance, several things could happen. The population ratio of
the species in this community could significantly drift away from equilibrium probably due to
the decrease in population of a certain prey or predator (inverse relationship, =/-) which could
occur from unnatural limiting factors. Eventually, this will lead to the destruction and downfall
of the biological community, as some species would become extinct and some overpopulated. 

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The Great Lakes hold 20% of the earths freshwater, and therefore provide a great habitat for
many animals to live. As a matter of fact, this basin holds one of the most diverse communities
in this world, due to the thousands of species that have made it their home. An interesting fact
is that they contain not only critically imperiled species, but GLOBALLY imperiled species, and
even more globally RARE species. The exact numbers are: 22 critically imperiled species, 30
globally imperiled species, and 79 globally rare species. These all include plant, fish, bird, insect,
mollusk species, and everything between. This isn't even listing the regular species.

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Humans have impacted the ecosystem and the community in various ways. In only the last 20
years, so much has been done to the water, for example, nutrients and toxic chemicals have
been put in there because of a lack of space and proper disposal facilities. However, although
some of the lake communities have gone through major changes, and some species have gone
extinct, the fauna as a whole still has a large, biodiverse, life. Despite that fact, human's actions
of adulterating the basin poses serious threats to the maintenance of it.

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The type of model that represents this community is bottom-up. This is because this
community͛s source of good keeps reproducing thus allows the community to have food
and to reproduce as well.

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Yes, this unit is a highly integrated unit due to its several benefactors that form a
relationship between the contrasting animals. At a primary basis, the sole producer for the
community is the Zebra Mussel, thus causing competitive exclusion throughout most of the
community. As another benefactor to why the unit is highly integrated is due to the fact
that they share all the same aquatic ecosystem, and each species forming a part in
consuming its prey.















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p? Benson, Amy. "Zebra mussel DAQs." Southeast Ecological Science center. N.p., 22 Dec.
2009. Web. 5 Sept. 2010.
<http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/Nonindigenous_Species/Zebra_mussel_DAQs/zebra_mussel_
faqs.html>.
p? "Zebra Mussels." Gulf of Maine Research Institute. N.p., 8 Dec. 2005. Web. 5 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.gma.org/surfing/human/zebra.html>.
p? "Zebra Mussels." National Atlas home page. National Atlas, 15 Sept. 2007. Web. 5 Sept.
2010. <http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/biology/a_zm.html>.
p? "Tufted Duck Dacts, Digures, Description and Photo." Wetlands, Conservation,
Waterfowl, Duck Hunting - World Leader in Wetlands Conservation - Ducks Unlimited.
Web. 05 Sept. 2010. <http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowlGallery/89/index.html>.
p? @L Ads. Web. 05 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=
480>.
p? "Birds." Canterbury Environmental Education Centre, Kent, UK. Web. 05 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversity/birds/ducks.htm#top>.
p? "Tufted Duck." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 05 Sept. 2010.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufted_Duck#Distribution>.

p? "Harmful Aquatic Hitchhikers: crustaceans: Rusty crayfish." rotect Your Waters and

Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers. Web. 05 Sept. 2010.

<http://www.protectyourwaters.net/hitchhikers/crustaceans_rusty_crayfish.php>.

p? "crayfish." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 05 Sept. 2010.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/crayfish>.

p? "Dreshwater clams and Mussels." Khode Island Sea Grant. Web. 05 Sept. 2010.

<http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/factsheets/clams_fs.html>.

p? "Unionid Mussels in Kansas." Great lains Nature Center Home age. Web. 05 Sept.

2010. <http://www.gpnc.org/unionid.htm>.