Chapter 36- Ecology Flashcards
Ecological succession
A change in community composition overtime
Ecology
The study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment
Biotic potential
The fastest rate A population could potentially grow
what does biotic potential depend upon
-number of offspring per reproduction. -chances of offspring surviving until reproduction. -age at which reproduction begins. -how often each individual reproduces
Type I survivorship curve
Most individuals die at old age
Type II survivorship curve
Decreases consistently over time
Type III survivorship curve
Most individuals diet early
Doubling time
Length of time it takes for population to double
Competitive exclusion principle
No two species can occupy the same ecological niche at the same time
Resource partitioning
Decreases competition. slight differences in a way a resource is utilized
Mimicry
One species resembles another that has an antipredator defense
Batesian Mimicry
A species that lacks a defense mechanism that makes another that has it
Mullerian mimicry
Several species with the same defense mechanism share a common characteristic
Autrophs
Primary producers
What do autrophs require to make organic food molecules?
An energy source and inorganic nutrients
Heterotrophs
Consumers
Types of heterotrophs?
Consume organic nutrients. - herbivores carnivores omnivores. Decomposers break down decaying material -fungi,bacteria
True or false chemicals and nutrients cycle through an ecosystem
True
How does energy enter the ecosystem
Sunlight which is absorbed by producers
How do chemicals enter ecosystem
When producers absorb inorganic nutrients
How do consumers gain nutrients and energy
Eating producers
How is energy released into the environment
Heat and waste products
What do food webs illustrate
The interrelationships between organisms in the food chain
What is the first law of thermodynamics
Energy is neither created nor destroyed (we can only change it’s form)
Second law of thermodynamics
With every transformation some energy is given off as heat
Detritis
Dead organic material
Biomass
The number of organisms at each level multiplied by their weight
Biome
Major type of terrestrial ecosystem
Distribution of biomes is due to
Climatic factors
Biomes from closest to equator to north pole
Tropical rain forest
Temperate deciduous forest
Coniferous forest
Tundra
Tundra
Permafrost
Very cold and dark most of year
Short growing season
only 20 cm of precipitation a year
Taiga
North Canada,Eurasia
Temperatures below freezing 1/2 year
Long night and a winter long days and summer
Vegetation-mosses,pines,firs,spruce
Temperate rainforest-Old growth forest
California redwoods
Temperate deciduous forest
Bridgewater
Tropical forests
South America,Africa
Weathers always warm,abundant rainfall
Biome with greatest diversity of species
Shrub lands
Shops with waxy leaves adapted to arid conditions
Dense shrubland in California
Grassland
Brain fog greater than 25 cm but not enough to support trees
A.k.a. Savanna
Deserts
Less than 25 cm per year of rain
Animals adopted to arid conditions
-many are burrowing animals
-nocturnal to avoid heat
Oligotrophic lake
Nutrient poor
Eutrophic Lakes
Nutrient rich
Lake sacrification
Seasonal turnover in temperate zone occurs in fall and spring
Coastal ecosystems
Salt marshes,mud flats,mangrove forests
Estuaries
- near mouth of the rivers
- feeding grounds of many bird,fish,shellfish
Brackish
Dilute Seawater
Estuaries contain what type of water
Brackish water
Pelagic division organisms
Live in a water column
Benthic division organisms
Live on bottom of the ocean or burrow into ground
Gaseous cycle
Drawn from and returns to atmosphere
Sedimentary cycle
Element is drawn from soil by plant roots, Eaten by consumers,returned to the soil By decomposers
What is happening to aquifers
They are being drain faster than they can be naturally replenished aka water mining
Phosphorus cycle
1) phosphate enter soil as rocks undergo weather process
2) (phosphate)picked up by producers and cycles through consumers and finally decomposers
Human impact on the phosphorus cycle
Accelerated transfer rate due to bus the mining supplementation and farm fields, detergents
Cultural eutrophication
Over enrichment of phosphate
What can cultural eutrophication cause
- Increased algal bloom
- As allergy dies of decomposers consume high-level’s of O2 in water
- Results in massive fish kills
Nitrogen fixation
Conversion of nitrogen gas (N2)to ammonium (NH4) by bacteria
nitrification
Production of nitrates which plants can also use
Denitrification
Nitrate back to atmosphere bc nitrogen bacteria
Nitrogen gas can be converted into nitrate by:
Lightning
Meteor trails
Cosmic radiation
Carbon cycle
- Photosynthesis takes up CO2 from atmosphere
- cell respiration returned it to atmosphere
Reservoirs of carbon
Dead organisms-(fossil feuls)
Forest