APES Final Exam Flashcards
a relationship between individuals of two species in which one species obtains food or other benefits from the other without either harming or benefiting the latter.
Commensalism
Who benefits from commensalism?
The commensal—the species that benefits from the association—may obtain nutrients, shelter, support, or locomotion from the host species, which is unaffected.
a land region on the earth’s surface covered by biological communities that group under the same climatic patterns like rainfall and temperature.
Terrestrial Biome
Where are terrestrial biomes located?
in a region that need not be located in proximity but span across the earth. An example of a terrestrial ecosystem is tropical forests.
What is resource partitioning?
when different organisms within one ecosystem split up an area so that they will not compete for the same resources and when those organisms have a special adaptation. In any environment, organisms compete for scarce and limited resources.
light energy to chemical energy in photosynthesis
Light energy is converted to chemical energy when a photochemically excited special chlorophyll molecule of the photosynthetic reaction center loses an electron, undergoing an oxidation reaction.
ecosystem services
clean air and water, fertile soil for crop production, pollination, and flood control.
what causes mortality in migratory species ?
Migra- tory journeys may be associated with enhanced risks of predation, diseases, exhaustion, food shortage at critical stopover sites and mass mortality (often associated with adverse weather and wind conditions), which may have at least short-term effects on population sizes
secondary succession characteristics
Secondary succession is the ecological succession that occurs after the initial succession has been disrupted and some plants and animals still exist. It is usually faster than primary succession as soil is already present, and seeds, roots, and the underground vegetative organs of plants may still survive in the soil.
population bottleneck
A population bottleneck is an event that drastically reduces the size of a population. The bottleneck may be caused by various events, such as an environmental disaster, the hunting of a species to the point of extinction, or habitat destruction that results in the deaths of organisms.
carrying capacity
maximum population of a particular species that a given habitat can support over a given period.
density dependent limiting factors
Density-dependent factors include disease, competition, and predation. Density-dependent factors can have either a positive or a negative correlation to population size.
density independent limiting factors
Density independent factors are factors that will affect the size of a population regardless of it’s density. such as natural disasters and the weather. It operates in both large and small populations and is not based on population density. .
causes of decline in global human fertility
rule of 70
The rule of 70 states that if a population has a r% annual growth rate, then the number of years it will take for the population to double can be found by dividing 70 by r. This rule can also be used to determine the annual growth rate of a given population if we know the doubling time of the population.
La Nina
When a La Niña occurs, it is a cooling of the Pacific Ocean between Papua New Guinea and South America, essentially the opposite of an El Niño. The formation of a La Niña begins when the trade winds get stronger, pushing warm coastal water further away from the South American coastline.
Tragedy of the commons
the idea that individuals do not view a resource as a common good and will exploit it to the best of their ability, which, when done by everybody, depletes the resource.
sustainable agriculture and its characteristics
emphasizes the ability to continue agriculture on a given piece of land indefinitely through conservation and soil improvement.
how to reduce urban run off
planting trees and building buildings up (taller) and not out taking up more area on a streetblock will reduce urban runoff . Green infrastructure techniques, such as green roofs and rain gardens , can help to reduce the volume of runoff and improve the quality of the water that is discharged into the environment.
advantages of clearcutting
gives sunlight to younger trees;
improves forest health;
regenerates species that do not tolerate shade, improves seeding and sprouting;
supplies timber for multiple purposes;
decreases forest soil disturbance with logging machinery as the trees are cut at once;
disadvantages of clear cutting
Clear-cutting often contributes to reductions in root strength and soil water-holding capacity, due to soil compaction and reduced transpiration. Moreover, the removal of the forest cover exposes the soil surface to heavy precipitation and large variations in temperature.
green revolution
a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields. These changes in agriculture began in developed countries in the early 20th century and spread globally till the late 1980s.
how to reduce soil erosion
Maintaining a healthy, perennial plant cover. Mulching. Planting a cover crop – such as winter rye in vegetable gardens. Includes annual grasses, small grains, legumes and other types of vegetation planted to provide a temporary vegetative cover.
types of mining and their pros and cons
surface mining-Is where materials lying over a deposit are removed to expose the resources for processing
open pit mining-Is where machines dig very large holes a remove metal ores as well as sand, gravel and stone
strip mining-Is a tactic that is useful and economical for extracting mineral deposits that lie in large horizontal beds close to the Earth’s surface
contour strip mining-Is used mainly to mine coal on mountainous terrain which involves power shovels and bulldozers cutting series of terraces into the hills
mountain top mining-Is where machines with huge buckets called draglines are used to remove the top of a mountain and expose the seams of coal which are then removed
subsurface mining-Is the removal of deep deposits of minerals through the usage of tunnels and shafts
phosphourous cycling
the biogeochemical cycle that describes the transformation and translocation of phosphorus in soil, water, and living and dead organic material.
axis of rotation of the earth and how it affects solar radiation
The greater Earth’s axial tilt angle, the more extreme our seasons are, as each hemisphere receives more solar radiation during its summer, when the hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, and less during winter, when it is tilted away
type 1 survivorship
populations whose organisms tend to survive beyond their young and middle-ages and die when they become elderly. These organisms usually have small numbers of offspring and provide lots of parental care to make sure those offspring survive.
specialists vs generalists
A generalist species is able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources . A specialist species can thrive only in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet.
soil triangle- determine what soil type is
A soil texture triangle is used to classify the texture class of a soil. The sides of the soil texture triangle are scaled for the percentages of sand, silt, and clay. Soil Texture is one of the first things determined when a soil is examined.
water infiltration
the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil. Infiltration rate in soil science is a measure of the rate at which soil is able to absorb rainfall or irrigation. It is measured in inches per hour or millimeters per hour.
ozone hole and when it reaches maximum area- season and month
From August to October, the ozone hole increases in size – reaching a maximum between mid-September and mid-October.
