key terms ecology

Question 1

define ecology

Answer 1

the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment

Question 2

individual

Answer 2

a single organism of a particular species
basic unit of study in ecology and can be any living entity such as a plant, animal, fungus or microorganism

Question 3

population

Answer 3

a group of individuals of the same species

Question 4

recruitment

Answer 4

how many more individuals of the same species have each year in an area

Question 5

Dispersal

Answer 5

the way that individuals spread away from each other - how one species is able to bring reproductive material somewhere else (usually unidirectional)

Question 5

life cycles

Answer 5

are the response to adaptation to the environment

Question 6

Migration

Answer 6

refers to the mass directional movement of a large number of species from one direction to another

Question 7

density

Answer 7

total number of individuals divided by total size of habitat

Question 8

carrying capacity

Answer 8

the max number of individuals that you can have in one niche =
zero growth
births and deaths equal

Question 9

metapopulation

Answer 9

a group of spatially separated populations of the same species that interact with each other through occasional migration and dispersal between habitat patches

Question 10

community assembly

Answer 10

construction and maintenance of local communities through repeated sequential immigration of species from the regional species pool

Question 11

historical contingency

Answer 11

the effect of the order and timing of past events on community assembly
eg. fires or pathogen spread

Question 12

priority effects

Answer 12

the influence that the order or timing of species arrival has on the structure and composition of ecological communities

Question 13

facilitation

Answer 13

positive effects of plants on the establishment of other plants

supports plant establishment and growth

Question 14

environmental conditions

Answer 14

the physiochemical features of the environment like temp, exposure to sun, humidity

Question 15

resources

Answer 15

allow species survival growth and reproduction
= water nutrients carbon dioxide

Question 16

species traits

Answer 16

measurable, structural and functional characteristics of organisms which can effect their ecological performance

Question 17

co-existence

Answer 17

the ability for two species to live along side each other

Question 18

biomes

Answer 18

how places are different in response to environmental conditions
- the overarching system that drives species to be place specific

Question 19

niche (simple definition)

Answer 19

not a place but an idea

a summary of all the organisms tolerances and requirements

Question 19

Niche differentiation

Answer 19

process where different species use resources in ecosystem differently to allow them to coexist without competing directly
(form of resource partitioning)

Question 20

fundamental niche

Answer 20

combination of conditions and resources that allow that species to exist, grow and reproduce when considered in isolation to other species

Question 21

realised niche

Answer 21

combination of the conditions and resources needed for species to exist grow and reproduce in the presence of other species

Question 22

niche complex understanding + author

Answer 22

Niche can be thought of as an n-dimensional hypervolume
where n is the number of dimensions (environmental factors or species traits) that make up the niche

(Hutchinson, 1997)

Question 23

Interspecific competition

Answer 23

competition between species reduction of one pop as result of antagonistic interaction by individuals from another species

Question 24

alpha diversity

Answer 24

species diversity within a specific habitat or ecosystem = measured as the number of species in a given area (species richness)

Question 25

beta diversity

Answer 25

variation in species composition between habitats or ecosystems

Question 26

gamma diversity

Answer 26

total species diversity in a larger landscape or region (combines alpha and beta diversity across a broad area)

Question 27

resistance

Answer 27

the ability of a system to withstand disturbance

Question 28

robustness

Answer 28

how much the number of species changes after the disturbance

Question 29

persistence

Answer 29

the duration of a species in a community before local extinction

Question 30

pulse disturbance

Answer 30

happens once and then disappears

Question 31

press disturbance

Answer 31

stays through time (phosphorous pollution)

Question 32

disturbance

Answer 32

any event that is relatively discrete in time and space that disrupts the structure of an ecosystem, community or population

Question 33

species expansion

Answer 33

the process by which a species moves to new territories

Question 34

ecosystem stability

Answer 34

stable ecosystems that have been around for a long period of time tend to develop high biodiversity

Question 35

ecological interactions

Answer 35

complex webs of interaction between species (eg. mutualisms, predator prey interactions) can promote biodiversity by stabilising ecosystems

Question 36

environmental homogeneity

Answer 36

if populations occupy similar environments they may experience similar selective pressures which can hinder divergence

Question 37

vicariance

Answer 37

occur through fragmentation of habitats (populations split)

Question 38

dispersal

Answer 38

when a small number of individuals are separated and then evolve in a slightly different way to the main population (isolated)

Question 39

plant strategies

Answer 39

mechanisms and responses used by plant to reproduce, defend and survive in a landscape

Question 40

plants life history

Answer 40

represents a genetically inherited pattern of resource allocation between growth, reproduction and survival

Question 41

plant traits

Answer 41

a measurable characteristic of a plant that reflects adaptation to its environment eg leaf size

Question 42

r selected species

Answer 42

maximise reproduction rate , minimise maintenance short life span + poor competitors

Question 43

k selected species

Answer 43

allocation to maintenance and survival delayed reproduction (strong lifespan, slow reproduction, strong competitors)

Question 44

landscape ecology

Answer 44

emphasizes the causes and consequences of spatial variation in surface features and biota across a range of scales

Question 45

habitat connectivity

Answer 45

the degree to which a landscape impedes or facilitates movement

Question 46

habitat corridors

Answer 46

patches that connect blocks of habitat

Question 47

rewilding

Answer 47

to restore an area to its natural uncultivated state

Question 48

invasive species

Answer 48

species not native to that space and is invasive in behaviour