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85 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Ecology what is Ecology? |
The study of how organisms interact with their environment |
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What is the central goal? |
Understand distribution and abundance of organisms |
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What are the four main levels of Ecology? |
Organisms |
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What is the focus in ecological organisms? |
Explore morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptions that allow individual organisms to live successfully in a particular area |
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What is the population in ecology? |
A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area at the same time |
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What is the focus in population ecology? |
How population numbers change over time |
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What is a community? |
Species that interact with one another within a particular area |
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What is the focus in the community? |
Nature and consequence on interactions among species in a community |
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What is a ecosystem?
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All organisms, = biotic, in a particular region, along with non living, or abiotic, components |
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What is the focus of a ecosystem? |
How nutrients and energy move between organisms and surrounding atmosphere, soil, or water |
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What is a biome? |
Type of terrestrial ecosystem that is unique to a given region, has distinct type of vegetation |
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Where are tropical wet forests or rain forests found? |
Equatorial regions |
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How are biomes categorized? |
By annual precipitation and temperature |
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What are some characteristics of a subtropical desert? |
High average annual temperatures and moderate variation in temperature
Very low precipitation |
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What are some adaptions of species in subtropical deserts? |
Grow at low-rate year round
Dormancy and growing rapidly in response to any rainfall
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What are some characteristics of temperate region?
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Moderate temperatures relative to the tropics and polar-regions.
Summers are typically long an warm, winters short and cold |
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What are some characteristics of temperate grassland (prairies or steppes)? |
Temperatures moderate and precipitation low
Moderate annual temperature variation dictates well-defined growing season |
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What is a temperate forest? |
Experiences winter – temperatures below freezing |
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Characteristics of temperate forest? |
Precipitation moderately high and relatively constant throughout the year
May be dominated by deciduous species |
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Where are boreal forests located? |
Across most of Canada |
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Characteristics of boreal forests? |
Very cold winters; short, cool summers, and extraordinarily high annual variation in temperature
Precipitation similar to that in temperature grasslands |
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What are boreal forests dominated by? |
Highly cold tolerant conifers (spruce, pine, fir, and larch)
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What are some characteristics of an Arctic tundra? |
Very low temperatures and high annual temperature variation |
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What are bodies standing freshwater classified as? |
Lakes, Ponds, or Wetlands |
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What are the three types of zones involved with wetlands? |
Littoral zone – shallow water along shore, where flowing plants are rooted
Limnetic zone – open water with light photosynthesis
Benthic zone – bottom of lakes or ponds. Detritivores common |
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Littoral zone |
shallow water along shore, where flowing plants are rooted |
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Limnetic zone |
open water with light photosynthesis |
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Benthic zone |
bottom of lakes or ponds. Detritivores common |
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What are some characteristics of marshes? |
Lack trees, usually connected to lake or stream system. Slow and steady water flow |
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What are some characteristics of swamps? |
Similar to marshes but dominated by trees and shrubs. Very productive |
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What are some characteristics of bogs? |
Water flow is low or absent. Most water is stagnant. Very unproductive |
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What are streams/rivers? |
Bodies of water that move constantly in one direction |
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What is an estuary? |
The environment that forms where a stream meets the ocean |
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What are the ways of distribution of individuals? |
Uniform –eg. Plants in competition |
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What is Demography? |
Study of factors such as: birth rates, death rates, immigration and emigration rates |
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What do age pyramids reveal? |
They reveal recent history or births and deaths – eg. Baby boom |
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What do survivorship curves show? |
Populations patterns of births and deaths |
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What is density dependent? |
Change in birth or death rates in response to population density |
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What is a species life history? |
How efforts (ENERGY) are divided among growth, dispersal, and reproduction over time |
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What are population dynamics? |
Changes In population through time |
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What are population cycles? |
Regular fluctuations in size |
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What does a biological community consist of? |
Interacting species usually living with in a defined area |
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What are the 5 species interactions? |
Competition
Predation/parasitism
Commensalism
Mutualism
(amensalism) |
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What are the competitor organisms that use the same limited resources? |
Intraspecific (within species)
Interspecific (Between/among Species) |
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Intraspecific |
within species |
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Interspecific |
Between/among Species |
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What is competition?
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Seeking and using scarce resources |
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What are some effects of competition? |
Reduce species abundance
Restrict species range |
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What is the competitive exclusion principle? |
It is not possible for sympatric (organisms that live in the same place) species within the exact niche coexist |
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What is fundamental niche? |
The resources used or conditions tolerated in the absence of competitors |
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What is realized niche? |
The resources used or conditions tolerated when competition does occur |
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What is the consumption of plant tissues by herbivores? |
Herbivory |
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What is the consumption of small amounts of tissues from another organism or host by a parasite? |
Parasitism |
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What is the killing and consumption of most or all of another by a predator? |
Predation |
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What defenses are always present? |
Constitutive Defenses – Blue Mussels |
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What are defenses only produced when prey is threatened? |
Inducible Defenses – Crabs, Tanins in Oaks |
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How do prey defend themselves? |
Saddleback caterpillars have poisonous spines
Hickory horned devil have harmless spines to mimic
Bombardier beetle – glandular defense system w/ warning color (apopsomatic) |
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What is the close resemblance of one species from another? |
Mimicry |
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What is the resemblance of two harmful prey species? |
Mullerian mimicry |
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What is the resemblance of a harmless species to a dangerous prey species? |
Batesian mimicry |
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When one partner benefits and the other is unaffected? |
Commensalism Ex – Egrets, cows, buffalo
Clown fish, anemones
Bromiliads, breeding frogs |
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What is the development of communities after disturbance? |
Succession |
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What are organisms and the physical environment in a particular area |
Ecosystem |
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What are heat, moisture, and sunlight? |
Climate |
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Earths spin and solar radiation is driven by? |
Air movement |
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What is driven primarily by prevailing winds? |
Ocean currents
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What is grouped into trophic levels? |
Organisms |
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What is composed of the network of herbivores (=primary consumers) and the organisms that eat herbivores (secondary consumers)? |
Grazing food web |
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What are species that eat the dead remains of organisms? |
Decomposer food web |
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What connects the trophic levels and shows how energy moves from one trophic level to another? |
Food chain |
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What is usually embedded in a food chain? |
Food web |
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How many levels do food chains and food webs have? |
2-7 |
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What are the three hypothesis to explain this? |
Energy-transfer hypothesis: food chain length limited by productivity
Stability hypothesis: long food chains are easily disrupted by environmental perturbations
Environmental complexity hypothesis: food chain length function of the physical structure of an ecosystem |
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When productivity is the greatest at the first (bottom) trophic level and declines at higher levels. This is called? |
Pyramid of productivity |
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What limits the rate at which nutrients move through an ecosystem? |
Decomposition of Demetrius |
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“Cutting Emissions [causing greenhouse effect] is not in US interest… |
Kyoto Accord |
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Altering the phosphorus cycle causes _____ of aquatic systems? |
Eutrophication |
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What is regulated in many countries? |
Acid Precipitation |
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Where is the ozone hole located? |
Antarctica |
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Forests act as major store because carbon dioxide is taken up from the atmosphere and used to produce carbohydrates, fats, and proteins… |
Carbon cycle |
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Trees draw up ground water through their roots and release it into the atmosphere (transpiration)… |
Water cycle |
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The loss of a protective cover of vegetation more soil is lost… |
Erosion |
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Courses, lakes, dams. This course is a result of… |
Sitting water |
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Species that depend on the forest for survival … |
Extinct |
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The causes of _____ are complex, but deforestation is one of the contributing factors… |
Desertification |
