APES Unit 2 Flashcards
(83 cards)
3 levels of biodiversity
Ecosystem (habitat) diversity
Species diversity
Genetic diversity
Ecosystem resilience
How quickly a ecosystem can return to its original conditions after a major disturbance. Higher diversity means more resilience.
Habitat loss
biggest reduction in diversity. First affects species specialists then generalists.
Niche specialist
Specialized to live in a specific habitat. If environment changes disadvantaged. EX: pandas
Niche generalists
Species that can survive under a lot of conditions. Broad niche. Advantages when environment changes. EX: racoon
Bottleneck events
Bottleneck events randomly kill individuals regardless of their genes. reduce gene diversity.
Ecosystem disturbances examples (bottleneck event causes)
Wildfires, droughts, diseases.
The more genetically diverse a population is →
the more likely the pop. will survive a ecosystem disturbance.
Genetic diversity
how different the genes inside of individuals of the same species.
Ecosystem (habitat) diversity
How many habitats are available in a given area
more habitat diversity →
more organisms/species. Can support many microhabitats.
Microhabitat
Small area which differs from surrounding habitats.
Species diversity
Number of different species and balance of population size.
Species Richness
Total number of different species in an area.
Species evenness
measure of how the pop. in an ecosystem is balanced. Counts individuals.
more evenness =
more diversity
High richness is a
good sign of ecosystem health.
Evenness indicates
if there is a dominant species.
Ecological tolerance/ range of tolerance
EX.
range of abiotic conditions an organism can endure before injury or death. EX: temperature, salinity, pH, sunlight
Species and individual tolerance
Species will more be an average. Some individuals will always be able to withstand more extreme conditions than the rest due to genetic diversity.
Optimal range
Where organisms thrive. Survive, reproduce and grow.
Zone of physiological stress
Organisms can survive but under stress.
Zone of intolerance
Organisms die. Cannot survive in conditions.
Fundamental niche
the abiotic conditions under which a species theoretically can live under. (without competition)