03. Niches, Habitats, Ecosystems & Interactions

Question 1

Niche

Answer 1

Describes the role a species has in an environment (where a species occurs, what it does there, and how it interacts with other organisms)

Question 2

Habitat

Answer 2

Where a species lives

Question 3

Realized vs. Fundamental niche

Answer 3

Realized - the range of conditions under which a species actually occurs in natural communities
Fundamental - the range of conditions that allows a species to survive and reproduce

Question 4

Niche partitioning

Answer 4

the process by which competing species use the environment differently in a way that helps them to coexsist

Question 5

Competition

Answer 5

(-/-)
Interaction between individuals/groups where a common resource use by one limits its availability to other individuals/groups

Question 6

Interspecific competition (& two types)

Answer 6

• between 2 species
• interference competition: direct physical competition for resources
• exploitative competition: indirect, when one species reduces resources

Question 7

Intraspecific competition

Answer 7

Competition within a species

Question 8

What is the competitive exclusion principle

Answer 8

When two species competing for the same limiting resources cannot coexist

Question 9

Predation

Answer 9

(+/-)

-one organism consumes the other

Question 10

Cryptic colouration

Answer 10

change in colour camoflages the individual

Question 11

Aposematic colouration

Answer 11

distinctive colouration as a real warning sign

Question 12

Batesian Mimicry

Answer 12

when a harmless species mimics the appearance of a harmful or noxious species

Question 13

Mullerian mimicry

Answer 13

two or more noxious animals develop similar appearances as a shared protective device

Question 14

Symbiosis

Answer 14

Any relationship between 2 or more species where they live in direct and intimate contact with each other often over long periods of time

Question 15

Mutualism

Answer 15

(+/+)

A relationship where both species benefit

Question 16

Commensalism

Answer 16

(+/0)

when one organism benefits and the other is not benefited or harmed

Question 17

Ecological communities

Answer 17

Sets of populations found in a particular place

Question 18

Keystone species

Answer 18

Pivotal populations that affect other members of the community in ways that are disproportionate to their abundance or biomass

Question 19

Succesion

Answer 19

Describes the community’s response to new habitats of disturbance

Question 20

Food web

Answer 20

A map of the interactions that connect consumer and producer organisms within the carbon cycle (the movement of carbon through an ecosystem)

Question 21

Trophic pyramid

Answer 21

A diagram that traces the flow of energy through communities, showing the amount of energy available at each level to feed the next. The pyramid shape results because biomass and the energy it represents generally decrease from one trophic level to the next

Question 22

Primary productivity

Answer 22

Describes the rate at which photosynthetic plants and other organisms produce organic material

Question 23

Gross productivity

Answer 23

the entire photosynthetic production of organic material in an ecosystem

Question 24

Net productivity

Answer 24

=gross productivity -the energy used by the organism through cellular respiration