Chemistry and Nutrient Cycling Flashcards
Ecology Definition
The distribution and abundance of organisms, interactions between living things and the environment, Ecology is a hierarchy of studies, scientists operate at different scales and ask different questions
Biotic community (biota)
the grouping of populations in an area. all vegetation, animals, and microscopic organisms, it is determined abiotic
Abiotic
nonliving chemical and physical factors (water, climate, salinity, soil)
Ecosystem
an interactive complex of communities and the abiotic factors affecting them, species can occupy multiple. Ex: forests, grasslands, wetlands, coral reefs
Ecotone
A transitional region between ecosystems, shares species and characteristics of both ecosystems
Landscape
A cluster of interacting ecosystems
Biome
a large area with the same climate and vegetation. Ex: tundra, savannah, desert. can often be predicted by rainfall and temperature. no sharp boundaries
Biosphere
the huge system formed by all living things
For every factor there is an optimum range
a certain level where organisms grow or survive best, organisms do less well at higher or lower levels, they do not survive at extremes
Range of tolerance
the entire range allowing any growth
limits of tolerance
the high and low ends of the range of tolerance
zones of stress
between the optimal range and high or low limit of tolerance
survival depends on optimum levels of factors
individuals living in an area that is above or below the optimum level for a certain factor may die
