Zoology Exam 3 - Chapter 6

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ecology

Back 1

the study of the relationships of organisms to their environment and to other organisms / helps us understand why animals live where they do and eat certain foods

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habitat

Back 2

animal's environment / includes all living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) characteristics of an area

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abiotic components

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availability of oxygen and inorganic ions, light, temperature, current/wind

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tolerance range

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a certain range of values that animals live in

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range of optimimum

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the conditions under which an animal is most successful

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limiting factor

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an abiotic factor that is out of an animal's tolerance range

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taxis

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when an animal orients itself relative to an abiotic factor / Example: if an animal favors well-lighted environments and moves toward a light source

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energy

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the ability to do work

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hetrotrophic energy

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the type of nutrition in which organisms derive energy from the oxidation of organic compounds either by consumption or absorption of other organisms

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autotrophic energy

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organisms(plants and algae) carry on photosynthesis or oother carbon-fixing activites that supply their food source

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energy budget

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an accouting of an animal's total energy intake and a description of how that energy is used and lost

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temperature

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most of animal's is existance is spent regulating body temperature

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torpor

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a time of decreated metabolism and lower body temperature that occurs daily in bats, hummingbirds and some small birds who must feed constantly when they are active

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hibernation

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a time of decreased metabolism and lower body temerature that may last for weeks or months

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winter sleep

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occurs in some larger animals, no lower body temperature / large energy reserves sustain animals through out inactivity

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aestivation

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a period of inactivity in some animals that must withstand extended periods of drying / common to many invertebrates, reptitles, amphibans

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surviorship curves

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plots of the number of survivors versus age

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surviorship curves type I

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applies to poplulations in which invidividuals are likely to live out their potential life span

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surviorship curves type II

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applies to poplulations in which imortality rates are constant throughout age classes

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surviorship curves type III

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applies to population in which mortality rates are highest for the youngest cohorts

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population growth

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the population increases by the same ratio per unit of time

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exponential growth

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the population increases by the same ratio, cannot happen indefintely

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environmental resistance

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constraints that climate, food, space, and other environmental facotrs place on a population

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carrying capacity

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the population size that a particular environment can support

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density-independent factors

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inflence the number of animals ina population without regard to the number of individuals per unit space (density) / Example: weather conditions often limit population and human activities - constructions/deforest

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density-dependant factors

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more severe when population denisty is high / animals use territorial behavior to tell other animals to look somewhere else

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competition

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occurs when animals utilize similar resources and in some way interfere with each other's procurrement of those resources

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intraspecific competition

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competition among members of the same species

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interspecific competition

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when members of different species compete for resources / may force the other to go extinct

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interspecific interactions

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includes herbivory, predation, competition, coevolution, and symbiosis

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herbivory

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animals that feed on plants by cropping portions of the plant, but usually not killing the plant

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predation

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predators feed by killing and eating other organisms

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coevolution

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the evolution of ecologically related species is sometimes coordinated such that each species exerts a strong selective influence on each other

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symbiosis

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"together life" two different species living in continuting, intimate assoications

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parasitism

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common form of symbiosis in which one organism lives in or on a second organism called a host

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commensalism

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a symbiotic relationship in which one member of the relationship benefits and the second is neither helped nor harmed

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mutualism

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a symbiotic relationship that benefits both members

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camouflage

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occurs when an animal's color patterns help hide the animal from another animal

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countershading

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a kind of camouflage common in frog and toad eggs - eggs dardly pigmented on top and lightly pigmented on the bottom

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aposematic coloration

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"away from sign" - coral snakes, skunks

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mimicry

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"to imitate" occurs when a species resembles one or sometimes more than one other species and gains protection by the resemblance

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community

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all populations living in an area

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ecological niche

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the niche of any species includes all the attributes of animal's lifestyple: where it looks for food, what it eats, where it nests, etc.

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ecological succession

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the sequence of community types during the maturation of an ecosystem

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pioneer species

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the first species to inhabit an area

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seral stage

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a successional stage in an ecosystem

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climax community

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a final, relatively stable stage in an ecological succesion

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ecosystem

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communities and their physical environment

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food chain

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the sequence of organisms through which energy moves in an ecosystem

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food web

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complexly interconnected food chains

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autotrophs

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producers that obtain nutrition from inorganic materials and an energy source / they form the first level

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pyramid of energy

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how energy is passed from sun to producers - herbivores - carnivores

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first trophic level

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plants / producers / autotrophs