Biogeography

Question 1

define ecosystem function

Answer 1

the rates at which an ecosystem processes substances (like carbon, water, energy), exchanging these with the atmosphere, how it develops over time and how its entities interact with one another

Question 2

define physiology

Answer 2

the processes within an individual which contribute to its functioning, also ecosystems as a whole

Question 3

define physiognomy

Answer 3

the morphological features of an organism that contribute to its appearance and functioning within the ecosystem

Question 4

define plant ecology

Answer 4

the study of the interaction between plants and their environments

Question 5

outline the theories of succession and climax from Clements and Tansley

Answer 5

clements - succession was a developmental process that led to a climax community, which was determined by the regional climate. He also believed that all other types of vegetation were either successional stages or arrested successional stages. Clements described the climax community as an indicator of the climatic conditions that created It

tansley - Disagreed with Clements’ view of succession, believing that a variety of environmental factors could lead to different types of climax formations in a given region. He introduced the concept of the ecosystem into biology and was a pioneer of the science of ecology in Britain

Question 6

define system

Answer 6

the sum of the components that interact with each other to produce the coupled behaviour

Question 7

define cycling

Answer 7

the flow of a substance in and out of the system

Question 8

define resource limitation

Answer 8

the concept of the ability of a function to operate being limited by some resource (ie N supply may influence photosynthesis)

Question 9

define phenotype

Answer 9

the visible appearance of an organism and results from the interaction of genetics with the environment

Question 10

define niche

Answer 10

the environmental limits within which a species can survive and grow.

Question 11

define fundamental niche

Answer 11

the potential niche in the absence of competition from other species

Question 12

define realised niche

Answer 12

the niche that is observed and includes competition as a contraint

Question 13

define genotype

Answer 13

the set of genes in an organism

Question 14

define ecotype

Answer 14

a subset of a species and represents a population genetically adapted to a particular environment, eg. lowland vs montane

Question 15

define scale

Answer 15

can be spatial or temporal. discussion of all ecological concepts requires specifying scales of relevance

Question 16

outline abiotic and biotic components

Answer 16

abiotic - those that are purely physical and chemical

biotic - those made of the living organisms. when these die their organic remains become abiotic and decompose into different organic and inorganic forms

Question 17

outline soil

Answer 17

composed of organic and mineral components.
organic component is derived from living organisms and contains carbon
mineral soil is largely derived from the underlying rock, but organic material can be broken down so much that the products are no longer considered organic, they contain no carbon, and are therefore minerals, or nutrients if can be taken up by plants

Question 18

define decomposition

Answer 18

the breaking down of organic material into simpler forms. as this happens part of the carbon in the organic material is released as CO2, which is classed as heterotrophic respiration

Question 19

define mineralisation

Answer 19

production of inorganic from organic material

Question 20

define functional type

Answer 20

group of species that share some functional characteristic

Question 21

define trait

Answer 21

some feature of an organism that can be observed and is related to one or more of its functions

Question 22

Define resilience of a system

Answer 22

its ability to maintain a certain level of functionality when subject to perturbation