Ecosystems And Sustainability

Front 1

Habitat

Back 1

The place where an organism lives

Front 2

Population

Back 2

All of the organisms of one species that live in the same place at the same time, and that can breed together

Front 3

Community

Back 3

All the populations of different species that live in the same place at the same time, and interact with each other

Front 4

Ecosystem

Back 4

Any group of living organisms and non-living things occuring together, and the interrelationships between them, can be thought of as an ecosystem

Front 5

Niche

Back 5

The role that each species plays in an ecosystem is called its niche

Front 6

How are ecosystems dynamic?

Back 6

If a predator's population size goes up, the population size of the prey will go down

The nitrogen levels in soil can affect the population sizes of plants growing there - nitrogen-fixing plants would grow successfully in nitrogen-deficient soil, but they would affect their environment by increasing the soil nitrogen levels

This change would then help other plants to grow there as well

Front 7

Trophic level

Back 7

The level at which an organism feeds in a food chain

Front 8

Measuring efficiency of energy transfer

Back 8

To do this properly, an ecologist would collect all the organisms and put them in an oven at 80 degrees until all the water in them has evaporated

Front 9

Primary productivity

Back 9

The total amount of energy fixed by photosynthesis

It is the net flux of carbon from the atmosphere to plants, per unit time

Front 10

Net primary productivity

Back 10

The rate at which carbohydrate accumulates in the tissue of plants of an ecosystem and is measured in dry organic mass

Front 11

Succession

Back 11

The directional change in a community of organisms over time

Front 12

Primary succession

Back 12

A directional change in a community of organisms over time, beginning from bare ground

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Pioneer community

Back 13

The living organisms which first begin to colonise bare ground

Front 14

Climax community

Back 14

The stable community that emerges at the end of a process of succession

Front 15

Carrying capacity

Back 15

The maximum population size that can be maintained over a period of time in a particular habitat

Front 16

Reproduction and death rate during a) lag phase b) log phase c) stationary phase

Back 16

a) almost equal, but reproduction slightly higher

b) reproduction rate higher

c) equal

Front 17

What is the connection between limiting factors and carrying capacity?

Back 17

The carrying capacity is the maximum population size that can be maintained over a period of time in a particular habitat

Limiting factors are those factors that prevent carrying capacity being any bigger than it is

Front 18

Competition

Back 18

This happens when resources are not present in adequate amounts to satisfy the needs of all the individuals who depend on those resources

Front 19

Intraspecific competition

Back 19

Competition between members of the same species

Front 20

Interspecific competition

Back 20

Competition between members of a different species

Front 21

Coppicing

Back 21

This involves cutting a tree trunk close to the ground to encourage new growth

Front 22

Conservation

Back 22

This involves the maintenance of biodiversity, including diversity between species, genetic diversity within a species, and maintenance of a variety of habitats and ecosystems