Ecology Flashcards.txt

autotrophs who use solar energy to power the production of food. Some autotrophic bacteria carry out chemosynthesis which means they produce carbohydrates by using energy from inorganic molecules. Plants are usually the main producers.

rate at which producers in an ecosystem capture energy.

organic material in an ecosystem : producers add biomass to an ecosystem by making organic molecules

rate at which biomass accumulates. typically expressed in units of energy per unit area per year. net PP is gross primiary production minus the rate of respiration in producers

consumers that feed on the garbage of an ecosystem

cause decay by breaking down the complex molecules in dead tissues and wastes into simpler molecules

indicates the organism's prosition in the sequence of energy transfers.

single pathway of feeding relationships among organisms in an ecosystem that results in energy transfer. A food web describes the feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

The sum of all living things taken in conjunction with their environment. In essence, where life occurs, from the upper reaches of the atmosphere to the top few meters of soil, to the bottoms of the oceans. We divide the earth into atmosphere (air), lithosphere (earth), hydrosphere (water), and biosphere (life).

The relationships of a smaller groups of organisms with each other and their environment. Scientists often speak of the interrelatedness of living things. Since, according to Darwin's theory, organisms adapt to their environment, they must also adapt to other organisms in that environment. We can discuss the flow of energy through an ecosystem from photosynthetic autotrophs to herbivores to carnivores.

The relationships between groups of different species. For example, the desert communities consist of rabbits, coyotes, snakes, birds, mice and such plants as sahuaro cactus (Carnegia gigantea), Ocotillo, creosote bush, etc. Community structure can be disturbed by such things as fire, human activity, and over-population.

Groups of similar individuals who tend to mate and produce viable, fertile offspring. We often find species described not by their reproduction (a biological species) but rather by their form (anatomical or form species).

Groups of similar individuals who tend to mate with each other in a limited geographic area. This can be as simple as a field of flowers, which is separated from another field by a hill or other area where none of these flowers occur.

One or more cells characterized by a unique arrangement of DNA "information". These can be unicellular or multicellular. The multicellular individual exhibits specialization of cell types and division of labor into tissues, organs, and organ systems.

(in multicellular organisms). A group of cells, tissues, and organs that perform a specific major function. For example: the cardiovascular system functions in circulation of blood.

(in multicellular organisms). A group of cells or tissues performing an overall function. For example: the heart is an organ that pumps blood within the cardiovascular system.

Two modes of population growth. The Exponential curve (also known as a J-curve) occurs when there is no limit to population size. The Logistic curve (also known as an S-curve) shows the effect of a limiting factor (in this case the carrying capacity of the environment).

The age within it's individual life cycle at which an organism reproduces affects the rate of population increase. Life history refers to the age of sexual maturity, age of death, and other events in that individual's lifetime that influence reproductive traits. Some organisms grow fast, reproduce quickly, and have abundant offspring each reproductive cycle. Other organisms grow slowly, reproduce at a late age, and have few offspring per cycle. Most organisms are intermediate to these two extremes.

is a symbiosis where both parties benefit, for example algae (zooxanthellae) inside reef-building coral.

is a symbiosis where one species benefits while harming the other. Parasites act more slowly than predators and often do not kill their host

is a symbiosis where one species benefits and the other is neither harmed nor gains a benefit: Spanish moss on trees, barnacles on crab shells. Amensalism is a symbiosis where members of one population inhibit the growth of another while being unaffected themselves.

Predator release is common where humans hunt, trap, or otherwise reduce predator populations, allowing the prey population to increase. Elimination of wolves and panthers have led to increase in their natural prey: deer. There are more deer estimated in the United States than there were when Europeans arrived. Large deer populations often cause over grazing that in turn leads to starvation of the deer.

Removal of a competing species can cause the ecological release of a population explosion in that species competitor. Pesticides sprayed on wheat fields often result in a secondary pest outbreak as more-tolerant-to-pesticide species expand once less tolerant competitors are removed.

Introduction of exotic or alien non-native species into new areas is perhaps the greatest single factor to affect natural populations. More than 1500 exotic insect species and more than 25 families of alien fish have been introduced into North America; in excess of 3000 plant species have also been introduced. The majority of accidental introductions may fail, however, once an introduced species becomes established, its population growth is explosive. Kudzu, a plant introduced to the American south from Japan, has taken over large areas of the countryside.

is the disturbance of the physical environment of a species, for example cutting a forest or draining wetlands. Habitat disruption in currently the leading cause of extinction.

• Overhunting: When a predator population increases or becomes more efficient at killing the prey, the prey population may decline or go extinct. Examples today include big game hunting, which has in many places reduced the predator (or in this case prey) population. In human prehistory we may have caused the extinction of the mammoths and mastodons due to increased human hunting skill.
• Secondary extinction: Loss of food species can cause migration or extinction of any species that depends largely or solely on that species as a food source.

• Overkill is the shooting, trapping, or hunting of a species usually for sport or economic reasons. Unfortunately, this cannot eliminate "pest" species like cockroaches and mice due to their large population sizes and capacity to reproduce more rapidly than we can eliminate them. However, many large animals have been eliminated or had their populations drastically reduced (such as tigers, elephants, and leopards).
• The death of one species or population can cause the decline or elimination of others, a process known as secondary extinction. Destruction of bamboo forests in China, the food for the giant panda, may cause the extinction of the panda. The extinction of the dodo bird has caused the Calviera tree to become unable to reproduce since the dodo ate the fruit and processed the seeds of that tree.

One of the two basic subdivisions of the marine biome; includes the sea floor and bottom-dwelling organisms

One of the two basic subdivisions of the marine biome; consists of the water above the sea þoor and its organisms.

Innate behavior

Reflex

Fight-or-flight response

Courtship behavior

Territoriality

Agressive behavior

Dominance hierarchy

Circaduan rhythms

Migration

Hibernation

Esitvation

Taxis

Learned behavior

Habituation

Imprinting

Motivation

Conditioning

Insight

Communicationa nd Language

Trial-and-error

Ecology

Biomes

Biotic

Abiotic

Species

Population

Community

Ecosystem

Observation, experimentation, modeling

Competition

Predation

Symbiosis

Mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

mutualism

commensalism

parasitism

Autotroph

Heterotroph

Herbivores

Carnivore

Omnivore

Decomposer

food chain or web

The direction of energy flow

trophic level.

10%

It is used to sustain the organisms within the trophic level and is lost to the environment as heat.

Producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers.

The carbon from carbon dioxide is used ot make glucose during photosynthesis. During cellular respiration, the carbon in glucose is used to make carbon dioxide.

Greenhouse effect

Global warming

Births, deaths, immigration (moving in), and emigration (moving out)

density independent factors

density dependent factors

exponential growth

Logistic growth

Carry capacity.

Age structure diagram

More life a pyramid with a large base and not many individuals living to older ages.

Biological magnification.

The science by which we study how organisms interact in and with the natural world.

A collection of living and non-living components that are tied together by regular interactions

• 1) Organism with its surroundings
• 2) Populations within a habitat
• 3) Community with abiotic environment

• 1) Ecological systems are physical entities
• 2) Ecological systems exchange materials and energy with their surroundings
• 3) Ecological systems undergo evolutionary change

No

Steady states

Ernst Haeckal

Characterizes and explains the statistical patterns of Abundance, Distribution, and Diversity

The range in an environmental gradient in which a species is best suited for growth or reproduction

They have been restricted to one end of it's tolerance range in nature

When a process depends on many different factors, then the process will be limited by the factor in the Lowest Relative Abundance

Silicate or Phospahate limitation

Interaction greater than sum

A reversible physiological or structural change in response to a changing environment

A genetically determined charactersistic that enhances the ability of an organism to cope with it's environment

Adaptatioin to one environment makes it difficult or impossible to live in a different environment

Different populations of a species that have genetic differences of ecological significance (color, size, physiology)

4th

• 1) Forested Regions
• 2) Interior Valleys
• 3) Steppe Region
• 4) Coastal Strand

Consume - Inorganic--> Organic

Release- Organic--> Inorganic

Organization of ecosystem into functional units that exchange materials and energy

• -Living Organisms
• -Inorganic pool
• -Organic pool
• -Unavailable pools

Nitrogen Fixing organisms (prokaryotes)

Rate at which nutrients are made available to primary producers is determined largely by rate of mineralization

Differences in mass loss by the target species reflected differences in the physical and chemical characteristics of their leaves

Litter bags to study decomposition in temperate forests

Leaves with a higher lignin content decomposed at a slower rate

Leaves degraded faster in streams with higher nitrate concentrations

Nutrients in streams are subject to downstream transport

A positive relationship between grazing intensity and rate of turnover in plant biomass in Serengeti Plain

Nutrient dynamics under canopy of native shrub and introduced acacia

Invading N-fixing tree Myrica faya is altering N dynamics of Hawaiian ecosystems

A group of populations that occur together, interact, and whose ecological function and dynamics are in some way interdependent

• -Dominant species
• -Major growth habit
• -Geographic location
• -Climate type
• -Major taxon
• -Trophic level

The organization of the community in vertical space

Horizontal changes in the physical environment reflect zonational changes in plant and animal components of ecological communities

A group of species thatexploit the same environmental resources in a similar way

• -Most numerous
• -Greatest biomass
• -Preempt the most space
• -Largest contribution to energy or nutrient flow
• -Behavior

• -Open/Individualistic Communities
• -Closed/Organismal Communities

Henry Gleason

• -Species are individualistic
• -Occurrence of one species is independent of other species
• -Each species has a characteristic environmental tolerance or optimal range
• -Species occur together where environmental tolerance coincide
• -Overlapping species populations intergrade
• -Communities are a gradient or continuum of species associations accross a changing physical environment

• -Main proponent was Frederic Clements
• -Communities are discrete, discontinuous, predictable entities
• -Community types are compared to "super organisms"
• -Certain clusters of species reach their optima in the same environmental conditions
• -Dominant members of one group do not occur as important or dominant members of any other group
• -Only minor overlap between communities

• -Species diversity is low when frequency or intensity of disturbance is high
• -Species diversity is low when frequency or intensity of disturbance is low
• Greatest species diversity occurs when frequency or intensity of disturbance is intermediate

The total number of species in a community or region

• 1) Species richness
• 2) Relative abundance (species evenness)

A quantitative measure of relative diversity

Species Richness

Statistical method to compare species richness for unequal sample sizes

• -Can be used to compare species richness for unequal sample sizes
• -Uses number of species and relative abundance to estimate expected number of species in a standard sample size
• -Some information is lost, number of species and relative abundance is converted to expected number of species only

The majority of communities studied by ecologists display a log normal pattern of species abundance

• -Based on dominance of species
• -Emphasizes evenness

• -Rare species are mostly ignored
• -Influenced by sample size

The probability that any two individuals drawn randomly from a population belong to different species

Portray relative abundance and species diversity within a community by plotting relative abundance of species against their rank in abundance

• 1) Alpha local
• 2) Beta regional
• 3) Gamma biogeographical

Diversity of small areas of relatively homogeneous habitat; number of species per unit area

Describe local community structure

Change in species composition over relatively small distances; often between distinct adjacent habitats along an environmental gradient

Describe species turnover

Diversity of similar habitat type separated by wide geographic distances

Address the relative roles that history and ecology have played in species assemblages, distribution

Increases

Decreases

Decreases

• 1) Environmental Heterogeneity
• 2) Area
• 3) Climatic Stability
• 4) Biotic factors
• 5) Evolutionary speed

The Water Cycle

Nitrogen Cycle

Carbon Cycle

Phosphorous Cycle

Ecology

Ecosystem

Biosphere

Succession

Limiting Factors

Carrying capacity

Niche/Trophic level

Decomposers

Producers

Predator/Prey

Symbiosis

Mutualism

Commensalism

Parasitism

Coevolution

Food web

First order consumers/herbivores

Second order consumers/ carnivors

Third order consumers/omnivores

Fourth order consumers

the scientific study of the relationship between organisms and their environment

German zoologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866

• oikos - "family of the household"
• logy = "study of"
• it same root as economics = "management of the household"

The struggle for existence

• they do so on many levels
• Physical and chemical, (i.e. ambient temperature, oxygen concentrations,
• moisture, light intensity)

to pass their genes on to successive generations

• both the physical conditions and the array of organisms
• that coexist within its confines

• Biotic - the living
• abiotic - the non-living (physical, chemical)