Ecological Concepts and Principles Flashcards
It is a pattern of survival and reproduction events typical for a member of the species.
life history/life cycle
How members of a species distribute limited resources among growth, survival and the production of the offspring.
Life History Strategy
True or False: Life History Strategy varies between species, depending on their traits.
True
Evolutionary Strategies that have fewer offspring but have extensive parental care. Produce few offspring but have higher probability of survival and is common in ling-lived and large animals.
K-strategist
Evolutionary Strategies with adult populations release large number, but reduced
parental care. Eggs are fertilized and then dispersed. Common to produce low-effort babies and occupy unstable environments.
R-strategist
True or False: Short-lived species often start reproducing early, while long-lived species are more likely to delay reproduction because they migrate and find a spot where nutrients and energy are enough for reproduction
True
This is how many times an organism reproduces over its lifetime.
Reproductive Cycles
Type of Reproductive Cycle that uses maximum energy invested in a single reproductive effort.
Semelparity: ex. Salmon
Type of reproductive cycle that uses less energy allocating for multiple reproductive efforts.
iteroparity
What are the 5 population characteristics?
size, density, abundance, distribution, & age structure
A population characteristic pertaining to the number of individuals.
Size
A population characteristic pertaining to the number of individuals per unit area of volume. It is the most important feature of population.
Density
True or False: Density is dependent on births, immigration and emigration, and deaths (natural occurrences).
True
This is used to determine the population size and density of plants or very small and slow-moving animals.
Quadrats
This is used to determine population size and density or organisms that move around.
Mark-recapture methods (tags)
This describes the area over which a population occurs.
Distribution
true or false: Distribution is influenced by occurrence of suitable environmental conditions.
true
It refers to the predicted increase or decline on birth and death rate of organisms at different ages, as well as the current age and sex make-up of the population.
Age structure
It refers to the graphs that show what fraction of population survive from one age to the next.
Survivorship curves
Type of survivorship curve where organisms tend not to die when they are young or
middle-aged, but die when they become elderly. They usually have small numbers of offspring and provide lots of
parental care to ensure the survival of organisms (e.g. whales).
Type 1
Type of survivorship curve where organisms die more or less equally at each age interval. May also have relatively few offspring and provide significant
parental care.
Type 2
Type of survivorship curve where very few organisms survive their younger years. They are the ones that make it through youth are likely to have long lives and usually have lots of offspring at once but don’t provide much
care for the offspring.
Type 3
It summarizes birth and death rates for organisms at different stages of their lives
Life Tables
It is a snapshot of a population in time showing how its members are distributed among age and sex categories.
Age-sex pyramid
