Chapter 8 129 Flashcards
community ecology 131
study of all populations living and interacting in area
The species that are particularly vulnerable to ecosystem perturbations, and can give us advance warning of a problem
Indicator species
All organisms in given area plus physical environment in which the interact
Ecosystem
Simple, linear path starting with a plant, that identifies what each organism eats
Food chain
Linkage of all the food chains together that shows the many connections
Food web
A photosynthetic organism that captures solar energy directly & uses it to produce its own food (sugar)
Producer
Organism that eats other organisms to gain energy & nutrients; includes animals, fungi, most bacteria
Consumer
Feeding levels in food chain
Tropic levels
Consumers (worms, insects, crabs) who eat dead organic material
Detrivores
Consumers (worms, insects, crabs) who eat dead organic material
Detrivores
Examples of decomposers (2)
Bacteria, fungi
Organisms - break down organic matter to constituent atoms or molecules in form that plants can take back up
Decomposers
Total amount of energy captured via photosynthesis & transferred to organic molecules in ecosystem
Gross primary productivity
Measure of amt of energy captured via photosynthesis & stored in the photosynthetic organism
Net primary productivity NPP
Role species plays in community, how it gets energy, nutrients, interactions within ecosystem
Niche
Physical environment - individuals of species found
Habitat
Ability of ecosystem to recover
Resilience
Variety of species in area; includes richness & evenness
Species diversity
Total # of different species in community
Species richness
Relative abundance of each species
Species evenness
Regions of distinctly different physical areas, boundaries between diff communities
Ecotones
Different physical makeup of ecotone creates different conditions that attract or repel certain species
Edge effects
Species that prefer edges of 2 different habitats (ecotone area)
Edge species
Species that prefer core of habitat, away from edge
Core species
Species that impacts community more than its mere abundance would predict
Keystone species
Species interaction - vying for limited resources
Competition
Competition between members of same species
Intraspecific competition
Competition between individuals of different species
Interspecific competition
When different species use different parts of resource, rather than competing directly for exactly same resource
Resource partitioning
Close biological or ecological relationship between 2 species
Symbiosis
Symbiotic relationship - 2 species, both parties benefit
Mutualism
Symbiotic relationship - 2 species: 1 benefits, other unaffected
Commensalism
Symbiotic relationship - 2 species: 1 benefits, other negatively affected (form of predation)
Parasitism
Science - repair of damaged or disturbed ecosystems
Restoration ecology
progressive replacement of plant (and then animal) species in a community over time due to changing conditions created by the plants themselves create (shade, more soil)
ecological succession
ecological succession occurs in area where no ecosystem existed before (bare rock w/no soil)
primary succession
Plant species that move into area - early stages of succession. often r species, annuals
pioneer species
species of plant that live 1 year, leave behind seeds, then die
annuals
ecological succession that occurs in ecosystem that has been disturbed:
secondary succession
Species that move into an area at later stages of ecological succession
climax species
end stage of ecological succession: conditions created by climax species suitable for plants that created them, persist as long as environment unchanged
climax community
