Chapter 1: Populations Flashcards
What is an abiotic component?
An ecological factor that is non- living (temperature, rainfall)
What is ecology?
The study of inter-relationships between organisms and their environment.
What is a biotic component?
An ecological factor that is living (predation, competition)
What is the biosphere?
The life supporting layer of land, air and water that surrounds the earth- it is included in the study of ecology.
What is an ecosystem?
A more or less self contained unit that is made up of all the interacting abiotic and biotic features.
The two main processes within an ecosystem that must be considered are:
• flow of energy through the system
• cycling of elements within the system
Examples include a freshwater lake and a oak woodland.
Within each ecosystem there are a number of species. Each of these species is made up of many groups of individuals that make a population.
What is a population?
A group of interbreeding organisms of one species in a habitat.
Boundaries of population are difficult to define. It is unclear where the boundary lies between two populations.
Populations of different species form a community.
What is a community?
A community is defined as all the populations of different organisms living and interacting in a particular place at the same time. It may contain a large range of organisms.
What is a habitat?
A habitat is the place where a community of organisms live.
Within an ecosystem there are many habitats and within each habitat there are smaller units, each with their own microclimate- these are called microhabitats.
What is an ecological niche?
A niche describes how an organism fits into it’s environment and refers to where an organism lives and what it does there.
It includes all the biotic and abiotic conditions required for an organism to survive, reproduce and maintain a viable population.
No two species occupy exactly the same niche.
