exam 3 Flashcards
(28 cards)
What is the focus of Organismal Ecology?
Adaptations that allow individuals to live in specific environments.
What does Population Ecology examine?
How populations of a species change over time and space.
What interactions does Community Ecology study?
Interactions between species such as competition and predation.
(ex. Interactions within a coral reef and fish)
What does Ecosystem Ecology focus on?
The flow of energy and cycling of nutrients among organisms and the environment.
What is Global Ecology also known as?
Biosphere Ecology.
What abiotic factors limit species distributions?
Temperature, moisture, sunlight, soil composition, salinity.
What are biotic factors that can limit species distributions?
Competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism.
What historical event influenced the biogeography of marsupials?
Plate Tectonics.
What is a Fundamental Niche?
Full range of conditions a species can tolerate.
**(ex. without competition, predation, disease, or environmental limitations) Ideal living **
What is a Realized Niche?
Actual conditions under which a species lives, often limited by competition.
(ex. Population of species coexisting)
What is Niche Modeling used for?
To predict potential distribution using environmental data.
(helps understand the conditions necessary for a species to survive and reproduce, essentially mapping out its potential range) Disease risk, Climate, Invasive species, Conservation
What defines an Invasive Species?
Non-native organisms that thrive and spread rapidly.
What factors influence global climate patterns?
Solar radiation, atmospheric circulation cells ( hadley cells a large-scale atmospheric circulation that transports heat and moisture from the trsopics towards the poles and back), ocean currents, mountain ranges.
What are the determinants of population distribution and abundance?
Abiotic factors and biotic factors.
(abiotic non-living: temp, light, water/nutrients.)
(biotic living: plants, animals, fungi, interact with other living things)
What is a Clumped spatial distribution pattern?
Individuals aggregate in patches due to resource availability.
(when individuals are social and prefer to live in groups ex. Elephants at a water source: During dry seasons, elephants gather at and around water sources)
What does the Growth Rate formula include?
Births + Immigration - Deaths - Emigration.
What is Carrying Capacity (K)?
The maximum population size an environment can support.
What are metapopulations?
A network of populations with occasional migration between patches.
What is Population Momentum?
Population continues growing despite reduced fertility due to high number of reproductive-age individuals.
** (population with a large number of young people entering their reproductive years, even if their fertility rates are lower than the previous generation, their sheer number will still result in a growing population.
**)
What types of species interactions are there?
competition, predation, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, and amensalism
(Competition: Two or more species struggle for the same limited resources, like food, water, or territory, negative)
(Predation; One species, the predator, consumes another species)
(Parasitism: One species, the parasite, lives on or in another species, the host, and benefits at the host’s expense)
Commensalism: One species benefits, while the other is neither helped nor harmed.
Mutualism: Both species benefit from the interaction
** Amensalism**: One species is harmed, while the other is neither helped nor harmed.
What is the Competitive Exclusion Principle?
Two species with identical niches cannot coexist indefinitely.
What is Character Displacement?
Traits diverge in sympatric populations to minimize competition.
(the different species of Darwin’s finches have evolved distinct beak sizes and shapes to utilize different types of seeds, reducing competition among them)
What are Constitutive defenses against consumption?
Permanent defenses like spines and toxins.
(Physical barrier or chemiczl defense)
What is a Top-Down community structure?
Predators control herbivores and producers.
