5.2 Ecology Concepts U5 Flashcards
What is ecology?
The study of interrelationships between living things and their nonliving environment
What is a biosphere?
Consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, and the atmosphere
What is the environment?
All external factors that determine conditions surrounding an organism
Organizational Levels: Population?
Groups of individuals of the same species in the same area
Organizational Levels: Community?
Assemblages of different species in the same area
Organizational Levels: Ecosystem?
A collection of all the organisms in a particular place together with the nonliving or abiotic environment
Organizational Levels: Biome?
A group of ecosystems that have the same climate and similar communities
Organizational Levels: Biosphere?
The highest level of organization
What is the main source of energy for life on earth?
The sun
How many directions does energy flow through an ecosystem?
One
What is a food chain?
A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten
What is a food web?
A complex network of feeding interactions
What is a trophic level?
Each step in a food chain or web.
How much energy flows through each trophic level?
Only about 10% of energy available in one trophic level is passed to the next level (10% rule).
Who is in the first trophic level?
Producers
Who is after the first trophic level?
Consumers
What is an ecological pyramid?
Models that show the relative amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a given food chain or web.
What are the three types of ecological pyramids?
Pyramid of Biomass
Pyramid of Numbers
Pyramid of Energy
What is a pyramid of biomass?
a model that illustrates the relative amount of living organic matter available at each trophic level in an ecosystem
What is a pyramid of numbers?
a model that show the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem
What is a pyramid of energy?
show the relative amount of energy available at each trophic level of a food chain or food web.
What is direct competition?
between species produces a winner and a loser. The losing species dies out.
What is intraspecific competition?
competition among members of the same species
What is interspecific competition?
competition among members of different species
