Ecology Flashcards
What is LUCA?
Last Universal Common Ancestor,
- The last shared ancestor in a species
What is Panspermia?
The theory that all life originated form of bacterial spores of viruses from an extraterrestrial source
What is radiometric dating?
Measuring the exact age of a material by using the concentrations of radioactive isotopes and their decay products (half-life)
What is relative dating?
Determining the age of a fossil by comparing its placement in layers of rock to other fossils
What are Probionts?
Collection of abiotic molecules surrounded in a membrane-like structure
What is a community?
The population of all species in a location
What is competition?
When two species compete for the same limited resource, since it is limited they are both negatively effected (-/-)
What is predation?
Predator hunts prey (+/-)
What is symbiosis?
When individuals from 2 or more species live in close contact to each other
What is parasitism?
When an organism derives nourishment from another, the host, to survive (+/-)
Commensulatism?
When one species benefits from a scenario, while the other is unaffected (+/o)
What is Niche?
How a species interacts with there environment and its functional role in a community, this can include many factors:
- Where and why they live in a certain area,
- Are they predator or prey,
- What resources do they use,
- etc.
What is cryptic coloration?
Using camouflage or different colors to confuse or predators
What is Batesian Mimicry?
When a harmless species uses the colors of a harmful species to deter predators
What is diversity?
The different types of organisms in a community
What is succession?
The changes in a community following a disturbance
What does Abiotic mean?
The non-living components of an ecosystem
What does Biotic mean?
The living components of an ecosystem
What is ecology?
The study of how living things interact with their environment
What is Aposematic coloration?
Warning colors used to deter predators
What is climax community?
The final stage of succession, when a community becomes stable because of the characteristics the plants and animals have
What is competitive exclusion principle?
No two species competing for the same resource can coexist because one will always outcompete the other
What is environmental disturbance?
Natural disasters or human activities that change the environment
What is interspecific competition?
Competition between two different species in a shared habitat
What is intraspecific competition?
Competition between members of the same species in a shared habitat
What are keystone species?
Species that are necessary for the survival and existence of biodiversity and an ecosystems community structure.
What is mutalism?
When two or more species share a symbiotic relationship where both benefit
What is Müllerian mimicry?
When two harmful species use the same pattern or coloration to deter predators
What is a parasite?
An organisms that uses resources from another species, the host
What is a pioneer species?
The first species to appear in primary and secondary succession
What is primary succession?
After a disturbance occurs, there is no soil remaining
What is secondary succession?
After a disturbance occurs, there is soil remaining
What is the long-term difference in primary and secondary succession?
Primary succession takes longer to revert back to a similar community before the disturbance because there is no soil to build a community on, the debris left over has to be ground down into new soil first
What is relative species abundance?
When a species’ population is determined proportionally by the population of other species in a community
What is species richness?
The number of species in a community
What is speciation?
When a common ancestor evolves into two separate species
What is a habitat patch?
Islands or suitable habitat separated from areas of unsuitable habitat
What are dispersion patterns?
The spacing of an organism in a population
- Uniform dispersion
- Random dispersion
- Clumped dispersion
What is uniform dispersion?
- Individuals are evenly spread out
- potentially because of toxin secretion, so prevents other members of the same species to grow around
- or penguins/ any aggressive organism to prevent fighting
- Not very common
What is random dispersion?
- Common in wildflowers
- no set distance between organisms\
- Not generally common in nature
What is clumped dispersion?
- When organisms stick together in groups,
- tend to surround a resource
- Most common in nature
What does the change in population size depend on?
Number of births and deaths over a duration of time
N_t+1 = N_t + B - D
B = Birth
D = Death
- Change in population size can only be measured in small countable groups, like zoo animals
What are some of the ways that population information can be described?
Per capita birth rate (b) - No. offspring an average individual produces
Per capita death Rate (d) - average individual chance of dying
Per capita growth rate (r) = (b-d) - average individual’s contribution to total population growth rate
What is demography?
Study of process influencing birth, death, and population growth
What is life history?
Timing of key events such as growth and development, reproduction, and death during an average individual’s life
- Key events in a life cycle
What is survivorship?
How likely an organism is to survive
What is Fecundity?
The average number of offspring each individual contributes to the population
What is type I of the survivorship curve?
Expected to live through most of their life, then die rapidly when older
- this happens because there is a lot of care and nurturing to offspring
(humans)
What is type II of the survivorship curve?
A very consistent rate of death in
songbirds
What is type III of the survivorship curve?
Lots of offspring are produced, most of which die early, the ones that do survive live long
(frogs/fish/turtles)
What is the relationship between the abundance of a resource and the usage of the resource?
When there is more of a resource, the organism can use it more
- More Sunlight = more photosynthesis
- More food = more consumption of food
What is the relationship between resource abundance, average fecundity, survivorship, and per capita growth rate?
When the organism has access to more resources, the survivorship, fecundity, and per capita growth rate all increase
- more resources = faster population growth
What are the disadvantages of large population growth in a species?
- Large population growth means there cannot be simultaneously a great investment in defense
- If high mortality rates are likely, so it makes sense to invest in early reproduction
What is the relationship between population density and population growth?
As population density increases, population growth decreases
What is the relationship between population density and birth and death rates?
As the population density increase/ becomes more crowded, birth rates decrease and death rates increase
When does a population reach equilibrium?
When population growth = 0/ stops changing
- This is called the carrying capacity
What is an ‘r selected organism’?
- Unstable environment
- Small in size
- Energy used to make individuals is low
- Lots of offspring/ early maturity
- Short life expectancy
- Reproduces only once
- Density independent
- Follow type III survivorship curve
(Roach, Insect)
What is a ‘k selected organism’?
- Stable environment
- Large size
- Energy used to make individuals is high
- Less offspring/ late maturity
- Long life expectancy
- Each individual reproduces more than once
- Density-dependent
- Follow type I or II survivorship curve
(Kangaroo, Human)
What is amensalism?
When two species interact, one is harmed and one is unaffected (-/0)
What are adaptive traits?
Traits that provide an advantage in an environment
What is heritability?
When adaptations can be passed onto offspring,
- helpful traits are passed on
What are some examples that organisms compete for?
- Food
- Mates
- Shelter/Territory
- Light
What is fitness?
An organism’s ability to survive and reproduce
What is selective pressure?
Factors that can cause natural selection
What are some examples of selective pressure?
- Climate change
- Habitat loss
- Natural disasters
- Human interferance
- Predation
- Change in food source
What are deleterious traits?
Traits that reduce the chance of survival and reproduction
What organisms have higher mutation rates?
Pathogens
