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the study of interactions among organisms and
between organisms and their environments
Ecology
is a system formed by the interaction between a community of organisms and its physical environment.
ecosystem
also called major life zone, the largest geographic biotic unit, a major community of plants and animals with similar life forms and environmental conditions (defined by climate)
Biome
luxuriant forest found in wet tropical uplands and lowlands around the Equator; make up one of Earth’s largest biomes (major life zones), are dominated by broad leaved trees that form a dense upper canopy (layer of foliage) and contain a diverse array of vegetation and other life.
Flora is highly diverse (temp and humidity are high)
Tropical Rainforest
filled with evergreen and laurel trees are lower and less dense than the other kinds of rainforests because the climate is more equitable, with a moderate temperature range and well-distributed annual rainfall.
Temperate Rain Forest
biome of vegetation composed primarily of cone-bearing nedle-leaved or scale-leaved evergreen trees
(Land of the little sticks)
Temperate Coniferous/ Boreal Forest (Taiga)
vegetation type that grows under hot, seasonally dry climatic conditions and is characterized by an open treecanopy (i.e., scattered trees) above a continuous tall grass understory (the vegetation layer between the forest canopy and the ground). Also, the world’s greatest assemblages of large mammals occur in the savanna biome.
Savanna
Extensive * occur in Africa, South America, and northern Australia.
savannas
Level or rolling grassland, especially that found in central North America
Temperate Grassland (Prairie)
Prairie in Europe + Asia
Steppes
a major zone of treeless level or rolling ground found in cold regions, mostly north of the Arctic Circle (Arctic tundra) or above the timberline on high mountains (alpine tundra).
Tundra (treeless plain)
any large, extremely dry area of land with sparse vegetation. It is one of Earth’s major types of ecosystems, supporting a community of distinctive plants and animals specially adapted to the harsh environment. It is an environment, almost completely free of plants including regions too cold to support vegetation
Desert
are dominated by trees that lose their leaves each year. They are found in areas with warm moist summers and cool winters.
Temperate deciduous forest
- spring
- summer
- autumn - change colors
- winter - lose leaves
a group of interbreeding
individuals (species) occupying the same area at the same time.
Population
all the different populations living together
Community
an interaction that affects both species negatively (–/–), as when both species compete over food or other resources
Competition
an interaction is one-sided, being detrimental to one species and neutral to the other
amensalism
is an interaction in which both species benefit (+/+)
Mutualism
benefits one species and leaves the other unaffected (+/0).
commensalism
typically nonlethal and differs from predation in that the adult parasite typically lives and reproduces for long periods in or on the living host
Parasitism
When one organism feeds on another but does not normally kill it outright, the organism is termed a * , and the prey, a *.
parasite, host
an interaction between species in which one benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
orchids or other epiphytes grow in forks of tropical trees
Commensalism
the movement of energy through an ecosystem.
Energy flow
all of the interactions of a species with the other members of its community, including competition, predation, parasitism, and mutualism.
- ecological role
niche
linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms and ending at apex predator species, detritivores, or decomposer species
food chain
harvest light or chemical energy and store
that energy in carbon compounds
Autotrophs
Organisms in trophic levels above the primary producers are termed *. These organisms must consume organic molecules from their environment to sustain life and thus receive their nutrition by feeding on other organisms
heterotrophs
Organisms that eat primary consumers are *
secondary consumers.
Organisms that feed on secondary consumers are *
tertiary consumers
energy enters a food chain through * via photosynthesis and is passed up the food chain to
producers - primary - secondary - tertiary consumers
Dead remains of animals, plants and waste products
detritus
Consumers that get their energy from detritus are called
detritivores
eat only other animals after they are already killed / vultures, hyenas/
scavengers
/bacteria and fungi/ that cause decay at a microscopic level. They release enzymes onto the dead animal/ plant, breaking down complex compounds into soluble ones.
saprophytes
‘recycle’ dead organisms and waste (feces) into non living elements by turning it into chemicals (N, C). They do not ingest their food but live by absorbing it on a molecular scale
decomposers
a pathway by which a chemical substance moves through biotic and abiotic compartments of Earth.
Biogeochemical Cycles
one giant interconnected ecosystem
biosphere
The process by which elevated nutrient levels lead to an overgrowth of algae and the subsequent depletion of water oxygen concentrations is known as
eutrophication
The Earth’s * is the main storehouse for this element. Weathering and erosion of rocks release phosphorus into the soil. Plants have the metabolic means to absorb dissolved ionized forms of phosphorus, the most important of which occurs as * (HPO42– or H2PO4–). Herbivores obtain their phosphorus only from eating *, and carnivores obtain it by eating *. When plants and animals excrete wastes or die, the phosphorus becomes available to *, which release it back to the soil.
Crust, phosphate, plants, herbivores, detritivores
Phosphorus Cycle
*, primarily plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, acquire CO2 from the atmosphere or water and incorporate it into the organic matter of their own biomass via *. Each year, plants, algae, and cyanobacteria remove approximately * of the CO2 from the atmosphere. At the same time, respiration and the decomposition of plants recycle a similar amount of carbon back into the atmosphere as CO2. Much material from primary producers is also transformed into deposits of coal, gas, and oil, which are collectively known as *.
Autotrophs, photosynthesis, one-seventh, fossil fuels
Atmospheric N2 is converted into inorganic nitrogen compounds that can be used by other organisms. The bacteria (Rhizobia) that fix nitrogen are fulfilling their own metabolic needs, but in the process, they release ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4+), which can be used by some plants.
Nitrogen fixation
In the process of * , soil bacteria transforms ammonia, convert NH3 or NH4 +, to nitrate (NO3 –), a form of nitrogen commonly used by plants.
nitrification
- is the process by which inorganic substances are incorporated into organic molecules. Organisms assimilate nitrogen by taking up the NH3, NH4+, and NO3– formed through nitrogen fixation and nitrification and incorporating them into other molecules. Plant roots take up these forms of nitrogen through their roots, and animals assimilate nitrogen from plant tissue, converting them into their own body compounds.
Assimilation
The remains of living things and their waste products are decomposed by microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) in the process of * - the conversion of organic nitrogen to NH3 and NH4 +.
ammonification
- is the reduction of NO3– to N2. * bacteria, which are anaerobic and use NO3 – in their metabolism instead of O2, perform the reverse of their nitrogen-fixing counterparts by delivering N2 to the atmosphere.
Denitrification
This cycle is a physical process fueled by the Sun’s energy which causes * of water from the ocean and * from the land. This is followed by the * of water vapor into clouds and * .
Hydrological cycle, evaporation, evapotranspiration, condensation, precipitation
