Basic concepts of Ecology Flashcards
(127 cards)
1
Q
What is a species?
A
A population or populations of organisms capable of breeding naturally among themselves and that produce young that are reproductively viable.
2
Q
What is a population?
A
All of the organisms of the same species found within a specific geographic region.
3
Q
What is the number or terrestrial species?
A
Terrestrial species account for a million described species… mostly arthropods.
4
Q
What leads to greater species diversity?
A
Significantly greater diversity in terms of habitat conditions (elevation, rainfall, slope aspect and steepness, soil conditions and lake and stream conditions) leads to greater species diversity.
5
Q
How can we protect habitat?
A
Refuges. Parks. Reserves.
6
Q
What is the food chain?
A
Energy stored by plants that moves through the ecosystem in a series of steps of eating and being eaten.
7
Q
What are trophic levels?
A
The grouping of species into categories based on common source of food.
8
Q
What is the 1st trophic level?
A
Primary producers Plants! (phytoplankton in marine ecosystem).
9
Q
What is the 2nd trophic level?
A
Primary consumers Herbivores (essential for higher trophic levels!).
10
Q
What is the 3rd trophic level?
A
Secondary consumers Carnivores (first level carnivores).
11
Q
What is the 4th trophic level?
A
Tertiary consumers Carnivores (second level carnivores).
12
Q
What is the 5th trophic level?
A
Quaternary consumers Carnivores (third level carnivores).
13
Q
What is the 6th trophic level?
A
Decomposers Feed on detritus All consumers are decomposers in some way (i.e. feces) Critically important! Bacteria (other microbes) primary decomposers in the ocean.
14
Q
What is an ecological pyramid?
A
Indicates the amount of energy flow at each trophic level.
15
Q
What are food webs?
A
Food webs- are numerous food chains that link together to form a web with all links leading from producers through an array of primary and secondary consumers.
16
Q
What are trophic cascades?
A
Occurs when predators in a food web suppress the abundance of their prey, thereby releasing the next lower trophic level from predation this can occur also when predators are absent from a food web and their prey spike in population.
17
Q
What is bioaccumulation?
A
The increase in concentration of a pollutant from the environment to the first organism in the food chain
18
Q
What is biomagnification?
A
The increase in the pollutant from one link in the food chain to another.
19
Q
What is the difference between ecology and environmentalism?
A
Ecology is a scientific study of the relationships within nature. Environmentalism is a social and political movement that assigns value to aspects of these relationships
20
Q
What is biocenosis?
A
A term describing only the biotic or living aspects of an ecosystem.
21
Q
What are the layers of soil?
A
Top - organic layer (undecomposed/partially decomposed plant material Topsoil - mineral soil with lots of organic matter Subsoil - clay, salts, larger rock layer Bottom - Unconsolidated materials from parent source
22
Q
What is the difference between ectothermy and endothermy?
A
Ectotherms have an internal temperature reliant on the outside environment, whereas endotherms produce their own internal temperature but with more metabolic energy.
23
Q
What are other names for ectotherms and endotherms?
A
Ectotherm - poikilotherm Endotherm - homeotherm
24
Q
What are some ways ectotherms regulate temperature?
A
Avoidance - hide out during times when too hot or cold Changing orientation - reduces amount of the surface exposed to the sun Large size - conserves metabolic heat by decreasing surface area per volume unit
25
What are the different levels of organization?
Organism, population/deme, metapopulation, community, ecosystem, biosphere
26
What is population density?
The number of individuals per unit space
27
What is ecological density?
The number of individuals per habitable space
28
What is dispersal?
The movement of an individual from birth to reproduction - the home range
29
What are the three modes of dispersion?
Clumped - groups of a species Uniform - evenly spaced Random - movement not following a pattern
30
What factors determine population distribution?
Areas of water, food, shelter, etc., climate conditions, predations, parasites, temperature, topography, etc.
31
What is a carrying capacity?
The amount of individuals a habitat can support given its resources
32
What is competition?
The combined demand for a resource that may exceed an immediate supply
33
What are examples of intraspecific competition?
Exploitation - competitive exclusion Interference - direct confrontation Territoriality - competitive exclusion and direct confrontation Asymmetry - few large individuals and lots of small ones
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What are examples of interspecific competition?
Predator - prey Symbiosis - mutualism and neutralism Commensalism Competition Creation of niches Resource partitioning Coevolution
35
What are the two main types of food chains? What are their steps?
Grazing food chain: primary producers, herbivores, carnivores Detrital food chain: detritus, decomposer herbivores, carnivores
36
What are the differences between pioneer and climax communities?
Pioneer communities are the first to establish the ecosystem whereas climax communities come in later and is at equilibrium with the environment.
37
What are biomes?
Any of several major ecosystems characterized by the presence of specific plants and animals, climate, and soil conditions in a specific geographic setting
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What is an ectotone?
Boundaries between biomes
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What are the 13 types of biomes?
Savannas Temperate Grasslands Chaparral Pinyon-juniper Desert Tundra Boreal Evergreen Temperate Deciduous Tropical Forests Freshwater Systems Saltwater Systems Wetlands Cryptic Systems
40
What are the six biogeographical realms?
Nearctic (North America) Neotropical (South America, the Caribbean islands) Australians (Australia, several surrounding islands) Oriental (India, Countries Under China, some Islands, Pakistan) Ethiopian (Africa minus small portion northwest, Madagascar) Palearctic (small northwest portion of Africa, Europe, Middle East, Russia, China, Japan, Mongolia)
41
What is environmental science?
The study of how the world works; examines cause and effect relationships underlying issues and problems that rise from our use of the natural world
42
What is the difference between conservation and preservation?
Conservation should be used and managed sustainably to provide the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. Preservation is areas of no human contact.
43
What are the four main types of terrestrial biomes?
Temperate, tropical, desert, and polar
44
What is a climatograph?
A graph that shows the pattern of seasonal changes in temperature and precipitation for a particular location.
45
What are the different types of tropical biomes?
Tropical rain forest, tropical seasonal forest, and tropical savanna
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What are the different types of temperate biomes?
Temperate deciduous forest, temperate evergreen forest, chaparral, and temperate grasslands
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What are the different types of polar biomes?
Boreal forest and tundra
48
How do mountains affect climate and weather?
Air temperature drops as altitude increases, rain falls on the mountain as the air climbs, the opposite (leeward) side is dry
49
How do coastlines affect climate and weather?
Harsh environments suitable for halophytes - transitional area between terrestrial and aquatic biomes
50
What are the differences between competition, exploitative, and mutualism?
Competition - both species are harmed Exploitative - one species benefits, one is harmed Mutualism - both species benefit
51
What is the difference between intraspecific and interspecific competion?
Interspecific competition - between multiple species Intraspecific competition - between the same species
52
What is the difference between competitive exclusion and species coexistence?
In competitive exclusion, one species completely excludes another species from using the resource while species coexistence does not fully exclude the other from resources so they live side by side
53
What is resource partitioning?
Species use different resources or share them in different ways
54
What are the relationships between predator and prey populations?
Increased prey populations, increase predator populations Increased predator populations, decrease prey populations Decreased predator populations, increase prey populations
55
What is amensalism?
A relationship in which one organism is harmed while the other is unaffected
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What is commensalism?
A relationship in which one organism benefits, while the other remains unaffected
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What are trophic levels?
Places in the feeding hierarchy - (producers, levels of consumers, decomposers)
58
What are keystone species?
Species that play an important role in the ecosystem and cause many ripples if something occurs
59
What is the difference between resistance and resilience?
Resistance is a community of organisms resist change and remain stable despite the disturbance Resilience is a community that changes in response to a disturbance but later returns to its original state
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What is succession?
The predictable series of changes in a community
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What is primary and secondary succession?
Primary succession - disturbance removes all vegetation and or soil life Secondary succession - disturbance dramatically alters, but does not destroy, all local organisms
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What are pioneer species?
The first species to arrive in a primary succession area
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What is a climax community?
A community that remains in place with few changes
64
What is biocapacity?
Area and quality of land to supply resources
65
What are watersheds?
Areas of land that drain to form rivers and lakes; also called drainage basins; separated by mountains and plateaus
66
What are the differences between open and closed watersheds?
Open watershed drain into the ocean but closed watersheds do not
67
What is the difference between a perennial and intermittent stream?
Perennial - flows year round Intermittent - only flows at certain times
68
What is a channel?
The normal pathway of a waterway
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What is a floodplain?
Area surrounding the channel that periodically floods
70
What are the zones of a stream?
Riparian zone - area of transition between stream and terrestrial systems Hyporheic zone - area of saturated sediment next to stream and immediately beneath
71
What is the difference between lakes and ponds?
Lakes are greater than 5 hectares while ponds are smaller than five hectares
72
What is the difference between open and closed basins?
Open basins are drained by a stream or river whereas a closed basic has no outlet stream (percolation or evaporation only)
73
What is a lentic ecosystem?
Ecosystems of lakes and ponds
74
What are the zones of a lake ecosystem?
Littoral zone - shallow area near shore with rooted vegetation and most primary production Benthic zone - water and sediment on bottom Pelagic zone - water not close to bpttom Photic zone - water with enough sun for photosynthesis Aphotic zone - little or no sunlight
75
What is groundwater?
Water that resides in rocks and soil beneath the ground
76
What are the areas of groundwater?
Water table - underground depth where rock and sediment are completely saturated Recharge zone - area from which water enters water table from surface Discharge zone - groundwater flows to surface
77
What are wetland types?
Marshes - periodically or continuously flooded, herbaceous plants Fens - wetlands fed by groundwater, grasses and patchy woodlands Swamps - fed by flowing water, shrubs and trees Bogs - rainfall is source of water, low nitrogen and phosphorus plants Estuaries - partially enclosed bodies of water where freshwater meets ocean water Oceans - salt water covering over 71% of the earth
78
What is biodiversity?
variety of all life forms, combinations, and organization in an area defined spatially and or temporally
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What are the types of biodiversity?
Ecological biodiversity - diversity of ecosystems, communities, and habitats Landscape biodiversity - variety and abundance from place to place Community biodiversity - number of species, relative abundance, arrangement in space Genetic biodiversity - variation in genes that exists within a species Population biodiversity - measured by genetic diversity and genetic variation
80
What is communication?
An action on the part of one organism that alters the behavior of another organism in a fashion adaptive to either the sender alone or both the sender and receiver
81
What methods of communication exist in mammals?
Odor (pheromones), sound, touch, vision
82
What is agonistic behavior?
Social fighting among conspecifics, including territorial, assertions of dominance, and mating
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How do reproductive rates differ based on environment?
Animals living in harsher, less stable environments have high reproductive rates and little care while those living in stable environments offer more care and less young per time.
84
What is polygynous?
A mating system in which males mate with multiple females. Males are usually larger, more ornamental, and provide little care to offspring in these species
85
What is a society?
A group of individuals of the same species, organized in a cooperative manner that extends beyond sexual behavior. This includes alarm calling, cooperative rearing of young, formations of alliances, eusociality
86
What is habitat selection?
A choice of the place in which to live
87
What is reproductive effort?
the energy put into current reproduction that reduces future survival and reproduction; increase with age in long-lived species; high at maturity for short-lived species
88
What are biological communities?
interacting populations of organisms of different species in a specific area
89
What is a niche?
an organism's habitat and the role in the community
90
What are guilds?
groups of species exploiting a common resource base in a similar fashion
91
What is landscape ecology?
The study of the distribution of individuals, populations, and communities across different levels of spatial scale
92
Discuss what conservation means.
conscious use of natural resources Actively trying to protect natural resources to ensure future existence Conscious use of natural resources Planned management of natural resources
93
Discuss what stewardship means. Please give examples.
Respect demonstrated to all living organisms and their habitats Recognize humans are a part of nature and must use resources to survive and do so wisely Avoid compromising actions Pick up, recycle trash, dog stuff, educate
94
Discuss what sustainability means. Give an example.
Use resources so some are left over and not depleted Put into place procedures which ensure replacement such as regrowth of timber Example - limit number of animals to hunt - hunting regulations
95
What is the main reason species become endangered?
habitat loss and destruction habitat disruption
96
List three different types of aquatic habitats.
rivers/stresms oceans wetlands marshes tide pools wetlands
97
What is a riparian habitat?
The ribbon of green vegetation along rivers and streams
98
What are the characteristics of a mountain habitat?
less oxygen in the air low temperatures low humidity high winds
99
What are the characteristics of a rain forest habitat?
high temperatures very high rainfall - precipitation consistency of temperature is important atmospheric humidity very high
100
List the plant layers in a rainforest habitat.
Emergent Layer Upper Canopy Lower Canopy Understory Ground Layer
101
Describe a desert habitat.
arid land with meager rainfall that supports only sparse vegetation and limited population of people and animals
102
List some designs that desert animals have that enable them to survive in a desert habitat.
Nocturnal and Diurnal - active in cooler time small bodies burrowing behaviors limited water requirements or can conserve water well
103
Describe the arctic tundra.
winters extremely cold and dark permafrost animal adaptations harsh environment summers short - rapid growth during summer
104
What is ecology?
study of relationships between organisms and their environment
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What are habitat requirements?
appropriate food, water, shelter and space
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Explain how range and habitat differ.
Range is large geographical area throughout which an organism might be found (shown on a map) Habitat is its home, where it lives in a complex interrelationship with other organisms around it
107
Why is habitat important?
an organism's home, indicator of healthy environment or healthy population, provides a necessary home
108
What is an ecosystem?
self contained unit biological environment consisting of community of plant and animals in a given habitat and the non-living components interact and living
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What is a niche?
The specific role performed by a plant or animal in an ecosystem What it eats and where it lives example: pollinator and burrower
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How is a food web different from a food chain?
web shows complicated energy flow, species depend on multiple sources for food more accurate Chain shows transfer of food energy in a linear fashion sun - cattail - snail - sunfish - heron
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What is biodiversity, and why is it important?
variety of life on all levels genetic diversity - provides "raw material" for natural selection important for preservation of useful resources species diversity
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What is ecology?
-scientific study of the relationship between organisms and their environment
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Ecology is a broad discipline that includes studies at ?
- various levels from individual organisms to biosphere.
114
Ecology involves looking at both ___ and \_\_\_
- abiotic: nonliving - biotic (living
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Organisms interact with the ___ and ___ components of their surrounding environment (\_\_\_).
- physical (abiotic) and living (biotic) - ecosystem EX: physical: pH, acidity of soil, sunlight, air temp biotic: predator and prey interaction or how they interact with plants...etc
116
What is fitness??
- survival and reproductive success \*\*organisms need to feed themselves while keeping their risk of death as low as possible
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What is an ecosystem?
- an ecological system that consists of both living (biotic) and physical (abiotic) components \*\*Ex: forest....
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Organisms not only respond to the physical environment but they also?
modify it - ex: lots of species of animals and plants interacting with one another...relying on each other...with animals their presence in their ecosystem can modify it which is not always bad and not always good
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Define an individual!
- smallest unit we are interested in/ concerned with not really organisms etc.
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define population!
- group of individuals
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define community?
- group of different populations
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Define ecosystem?
- group of communities
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An individual interacts with ?
its surrounding environment
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A population is a group of (potentially) interbreeding individuals of ?
- the same species occurring together in space and time
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In a community - all populations within an ecosystem?
- are interconnected to one another
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Ecosystem: made up of?
- the community and physical environment . May have several leaves of interaction between individuals of the same species with the environment
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What is the order of biological levels.
1. individual- what specific characteristics of the individual allow it to live where it does 2. population- is the pop increasing, decreasing, constant? 3.community- how does one group of spices interact with another etc 4.ecosystem - how do variations in weather etc affect communities in an area 5. landscape- variations in topography and soil...affecting species composition and diversity 6.biome- what features of geology and regional climate determine transitions between different ecosystems. 7.biosphere - the role of a certain biome in a global aspect
