Ecology Flashcards
Organisms in the biosphere do what with who?
They interact with each other and their surroundings.
Ecology
Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their physical environment
Interactions within the biosphere produce what and with who?
Produce a web of interdependence between organisms and their surroundings.
What is related to ecology?
Human economics
Organism
One individual
Population
Group of interacting individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area
Community
Assemblage of all the different populations that live together in a defined area
Ecosystem
Sum of all of the populations that live in a place, along with their physical environment
Biome
A group of ecosystems sharing a similar climate with similar types of species
Biosphere
The portion of our planet on which life exists (includes all organisms and their physical environments)
Environment
Refers to all conditions or factors surrounding an organism (biotic and abiotic)
The three methods ecologists use:
Observation, experimentation and modeling
Observation
Often the first step in asking ecological questions
Experimentation
Experiments can be used to test hypotheses
Environmental resistance
Total sum of the limiting factors that keeps a population from reaching its biotic potential
Biotic potential
Maximum growth rate
Biosphere
- All the life on the earth including land, water and the atmosphere.
- It extends from 8 km above earth to 11 km below earth.
Modeling
Because many ecological events occur over long periods of time and are difficult to study, ecologists make models to help them understand these phenomena
Exponential population growth
Rapid pop growth
The combo of low death rates and high birth rates led to this growth
During the industrial revolution (improved nutrition, sanitation, medicine)
4 events that greatly impacted human pop growth
Agriculture, plowing and irrigation, bubonic plague, industrial rev
The demographic transition
A dramatic change from high birth rates and high death rates to low death rates and low birth rates
Stage one demographic transition
Birth rates and death rates are equally high for most of history- stable pop size
Stage two demographic transition
Advances in nutrition, sanitation, and meds cause death rates to begin to fall but birth rate remains high
Because birth rates exceed death rates pop increases exponentially
Stage three demographic transition
As the level of education and living standards rise, families have fewer children and the birth rate falls; pop growth slows
Complete when the iron rate meets death rate and pop growth stops
Ecological footprint
Measure of human demand on earths ecosystems, a measure of resource consumption
It compares human demand with the planet earths ecological capacity to regenerate
Carbon footprint
A measure of all greenhouse gases produced by an individual, factory, or country Ina specified amount of time
Biological community
An assemblage of populations living close enough together for potential interactions/described by its species composition
Interspecific interactions
Relationships with other species in the community
Intraspecific interactions
Relationships with members of the same species
Interspecific competition
Two different species compete for the same limited resource
Intraspecific competition
Two members of the same species compete for the same limited resource
Symbiosis
A relationship in which members of two or more species live in close association
Three basic types of symbiosis
Mutualism/commensalism/parasitism
Mutualism
Symbiotic relationship in which both individuals benefit/plus plus
Commensalism
Symbiotic relationship in which one individual benefits and the other is unaffected/+0