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What is population?
- All the individuals of a species that occupy a particuar geographic area at a certain time.
- eg. Population of humans in Canada 2012- almost 34 million
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Define exponential growth.
- Accelerating growth that produces a J shaped curve when the population is graphed against time.
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What are limiting factors?
- a factor that limits the growth, distribution or amount of a population in an ecosystem.
- eg. not enough resources
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What is carrying capacity?
- the size of a population that can be supported indefinetly by the available resources and services of an ecosystem.
- (The largest number of populatin in an ecosystem is reached)
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What is an ecologiacal niche?
- The way in which an organism occupies a posistion in an ecosystem, including all the necessary biotic and abiotic factors.
- eg. Bat- occupies cave, needs oxygen, etc
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What is a predator?
- An organsim that kills and consumes other organisms.
- eg. eagle eats mouse
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What is Prey?
- An organism that is eaten as food by a predator.
- eg. mouse is hunted by eagle
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what is Mutualism?
- a symbiotic relationship between two species in which both species benefit from the relationship.
- eg. Algae in coral
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What is a parasite?
- An organism whose niche is dependant on a close association with a larger host organism.
- eg. larval worm in white deer
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What is competition?
- when two or more organsims compete for the smae resource in the same location at the same time.
- eg. male peacocks with bright feathers trying to attract the same female
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Define Sustainable use.
- use that does not lead to long-term depletion or a resource or affect the diversity of the ecosystem from which the resource is obtained.
- (there will be enough to last forever)
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What is doubling time?
- the period of time that is required for a population to double in size.
- ie. current population is estimated to double in about 60 years
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what is an ecological footprint?
- a measure of the impact of an individual or a population on the environment in terms of energy consumption, land use and waste production.
- (measured in hectares per person)
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what does unsustainable mean?
- a pattern of activity that leads to a decline in the function of an ecosystem.
- (using up too many resources, etc)
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What is sustainability?
use of earths resources, including land and water, at levels that can continue forever. :)
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what are ecosystem services?
- the benefits experienced by organisms, including humans, that are provided by sustainable ecosystems.
- eg Pollination, cycling of nutrients, etc
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what is desertification?
the change of non-desert land into a desert, which may result from climate change or from unsustainable farming or water use.
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what is ecotourism?
- a form of tourism that is sensitive to the health of an ecosystem and involves recreational activities provided by sustainable ecosystems.
- eg, hiking, biking,whale watching, snowshoeing etc
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