Ecology Exam 2

Front 1

Density

Back 1

The number of individuals per unit of space

Front 2

Abundance

Back 2

number of individuals

Front 3

crude density

Back 3

measuring the number of individuals, including favorable and unfavorable environments

Front 4

ecological density

Back 4

number of individuals per unit of available living space

Front 5

modular individual

Back 5

repeated copies of the same unit, generally comes about through asexual reproductioin

Front 6

census

Back 6

counting everything in a population

Front 7

quadrat sampling

Back 7

a means of estimation, good for sessile (non-moving) organisms. Setting up lots of predetermined size, estimate the number of species, number of individuals, and the percentage of ground cover

Front 8

mark-recapture

Back 8

a means of estimation, good for mobile organisms. Requires trapping and marking, trapping again and counting the number of recaptures to the amount of new captures.

Front 9

population

Back 9

group of individuals of a single species inhabiting a single area

Front 10

cohort life table

Back 10

group of individuals born in the same time period

Front 11

Relative Humidity

Back 11

The quantity of water vapor in the air, calculated by taking the water vapor density and dividing it by the saturation water vapor density

Front 12

Vapor Pressure Deficit

Back 12

The relative saturation of air with water

Front 13

Osmosis

Back 13

The diffusion of water--movement of molecules along a concentration gradient--across a semi-permeable membrane

Front 14

Hypoosmotic

Back 14

Occurs when there are more solutes outside the body, causing water in the organism to leave

Front 15

Hyperosmotic

Back 15

The environment in which the solutes outside of the body are less than in the body, causing water to rush into the organism

Front 16

Water Conservation (4 items)

Back 16

Lower evaporation, increase gain, reduction of surface area, alter secretions

Front 17

Large Scale Population Distribution

Back 17

Based on the movement of individuals among populations and the likelihood of breeding with individuals of other populations

Front 18

Meta-Population Model

Back 18

Interested in gene flow between populations and populations within suitable habitats

Front 19

Source-sink model

Back 19

If the patch becomes dense, population will move to another site (even if it is of lesser quality)

Front 20

Landscape model

Back 20

Patches are not in a uniform matrix and include geographical features that organisms must overcome

Front 21

Metapopulation

Back 21

Group of populations connected by the movement of inidividuals

Front 22

Small Scale Population Distribution

Back 22

Looks at individual distribution, determined by interactions between individuals and environmental structure

Front 23

Random distribution

Back 23

A small scale population distribution. There is uniform distribution of nutrients, neutral interactions between organisms

Front 24

Regular Distribution

Back 24

Competition over limited resources, individuals are evenly spaced and there are antagonistic initeractions

Front 25

Clumped Distribution

Back 25

Individuals are closer together (than expected by chance), social behavior occurs, patchy resources

Front 26

genet

Back 26

an individual produced from sexual reproduction

Front 27

ramet

Back 27

an "individual" produced from asexual reproduction

Front 28

Vulnerability Measures (3 items)

Back 28

Geographic range, habitat tolerance, and population size

Front 29

Dispersal

Back 29

Movement of species, causes the increase or decrease in a local population size

Front 30

Static life table

Back 30

generate age distribution and determine the age at the time of death

Front 31

Population Structure

Back 31

The description of a population considering both spatial dispersion (uniform, clumped, etc.) and temporal dispersion (diurnal, nocturnal, crepuscular)

Front 32

Type I survivorship curve

Back 32

high survival among young but die with increases in age; typical of large vertebrates and humans

Front 33

Type II survivorship curve

Back 33

nearly constant rate of survival, typical of small mammals, birds, reptiles

Front 34

Type III survivorship curve

Back 34

large mortality rate at the beginning of life but those that survive live for a long time; type III organisms have a short life, grow less, reproduce early

Front 35

semelparity

Back 35

giving birth once

Front 36

iteroparity

Back 36

repeatedly producing offspring

Front 37

True predators

Back 37

Outright kill prey/kill more than 1 prey in their lifetime (includes carnivores, seed predators, filter feeders)

Front 38

grazers

Back 38

eat part of their prey, typically harm but doesn't kill the prey. (bloodsuckers, herbivores, biting flies)

Front 39

parasites

Back 39

consume part of the prey, usually attack one or few prey. (parasitic worms, types of plants, bacteria)

Front 40

parasitoids

Back 40

free living adults lay their eggs in or near their prey. When the eggs hatch, larvae grow in the prey and consume it.

Front 41

Batesian mimicry

Back 41

resembling a poisonous organism but are quite edible in actuality

Front 42

Mullerian mimicry

Back 42

different species are poisonous models but look like others

Front 43

Niche

Back 43

looks at space, time, and functional relationships; activity range of each species along every dimension of the environment

Front 44

guild

Back 44

group of species that are closely related to one another in their niches in a given community

Front 45

fundamental niche

Back 45

potential for an organism to exist without competition

Front 46

realized niche

Back 46

where species are actually found (competition is included). A smaller hypervolume than the fundamental niche

Front 47

scramble competition

Back 47

indirect competition, mutual use of a limited resource

Front 48

contest competition

Back 48

interact directly (with aggression or display)

Front 49

interspecific competition

Back 49

occurs between species

Front 50

intraspecific competition

Back 50

occurs between individuals in a species

Front 51

Principle of Gause

Back 51

if two species have the exact same requirements/niches in the same place, they cannon coexist

Front 52

Principle of Gause: corollary

Back 52

no two species observed in a stable community are direct competitors limited by the same resource

Front 53

Communities

Back 53

an assemblage of species which interact among themselves and with their environment

Front 54

Space-for-time substitution

Back 54

Looks at the change in time (and change in species?) as one progresses through an environment

Front 55

organism concept

Back 55

A group or association of animals/plants is like a single organism

Front 56

Monoclimax theory

Back 56

climax community is determined by the climate and should be found over large areas (modifications for local conditions, too)

Front 57

ecotones

Back 57

border of a community, major change in what is being found

Front 58

species diversity (2 items)

Back 58

richness and evenness

Front 59

evenness

Back 59

how evenly distributed are the individuals among the species?

Front 60

richness

Back 60

large amount of individuals

Front 61

Principle of Gause

Back 61

if two species have the exact same requirements/niches in the same place, they cannon coexist

Front 62

Principle of Gause: corollary

Back 62

no two species observed in a stable community are direct competitors limited by the same resource

Front 63

Communities

Back 63

an assemblage of species which interact among themselves and with their environment

Front 64

Space-for-time substitution

Back 64

Can almost measure the change in time because of the change in species as one progresses through an environment (think bog)

Front 65

organism concept

Back 65

A group or association of animals/plants is like a single organism

Front 66

Monoclimax theory

Back 66

climax community is determined by the climate and should be found over large areas (modifications for local conditions, too)

Front 67

ecotones

Back 67

border of a community, major change in what is being found

Front 68

species diversity (2 items)

Back 68

richness and evenness, together form heterogeneity

Front 69

evenness

Back 69

how evenly distributed are the individuals among the species?

Front 70

richness

Back 70

large amount of individuals

Front 71

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

Back 71

highest species diversity is found at intermediate levels of disturbance (high disturbance kills off too many species, low disturbance allows for dominance through competition)

Front 72

keystone species

Back 72

the top predator (generally) determines the composition of the community. If it is removed, it causes the extinction of other species often occurs through competition

Front 73

potential natural vegetation

Back 73

what the vegetation of an area should be (including all factors) at climax growth

Front 74

succession

Back 74

process of regular change in biota

Front 75

allogenic (drive) succession

Back 75

change in community is caused by extrinsic factors

Front 76

autogenic succession

Back 76

change occurs because of a community (makes it more suitable for for other species to live there)

Front 77

sere (3 types)

Back 77

entire process until climax growth. Can be hydrarch, xeric, mesic

Front 78

Hydrarch sere

Back 78

primary succession for open water

Front 79

Mesic sere

Back 79

primary succession for bare soil

Front 80

Xerarch succession

Back 80

primary succession for dry conditions of gravel and rock

Front 81

secondary succession

Back 81

not a complete reversion but skipping of some early seral stages (generally occurs with a natural phenomenon)

Front 82

subclimax

Back 82

can develop from interruptions in a sequence

Front 83

retrogressive succession

Back 83

generally linked to changes in extrinsic abiotic factors

Front 84

Initial floristic composition model

Back 84

all plants are there already and everything is growing at the same time

Front 85

facilitation

Back 85

certain group of plants changes the environment

Front 86

tolerance

Back 86

some species that can tolerate situations better, change the environment with them to help bring about preferred conditions

Front 87

inhibition

Back 87

species are replaced by death or damage by factors extrinsic to competition

Front 88

soil components (4 items)

Back 88

Sand, silt, clay, humus

Front 89

field capacity

Back 89

amount of water that soil can hold after the gravitational water has dropped through

Front 90

Cation exchange

Back 90

can rank soils by their capacity for exchange and their ability to hold ions

Front 91

atmospheric river

Back 91

water is mainly in the tropics though it can occasionally branch off and downpour

Front 92

carbon cycle

Back 92

gaseous cycle, major reservoir is in the atmosphere

Front 93

biological pumping

Back 93

phytoplankton take in CO2, die, fall to substrate, and fail to circulate

Front 94

nitrogen cycle

Back 94

gaseous cycle with majority in the atmosphere

Front 95

denitrification

Back 95

bacteria use nitrate in place of oxygen as electron donors

Front 96

sulfur cycle

Back 96

gaseous and sedimentary cycle