Ecology Flashcards
What is ecology?
The study of interactions that take place between organisms and their environment.
What are the 7 simplest levels of organization
Atom Molecule Organelle Cell Tissue Organ System
What are the levels of organization?
Organism, population, biological community, ecosystem, Biosphere
What is an organism?
An individual organism
What is a population?
A population is a group of the same species which live in the same space and the same time
What is a biological community?
All the populations of different species that live in the same place at the same time
What is an ecosystem?
Populations of plants and animals that interact with each other in a given area with abiotic components.
What is a biosphere?
The portion of Earth that supports life
What is biomagnification?
When pollutants move up a food chain
What are the trophic levels?
Producers, Primary consumers, Secondary consumers, Tertiary consumers, and Quaternary
Why is energy lost in an energy pyramid?
- Energy is used for moment and growth
- Your body is inefficient at converting food into useful energy
- Unused material is excreted as waste
- Not everything can be digested
What is a habitat?
A habitat is an area with a particular combination of physical and biological environmental factors that affect which organisms live within it.
What are the tolerance levels?
Optimal zone- optimal conditions
Zone of stress- Reduced reproduction and lifespan
Zone of intolerance- an organism can’t survive
What are the kinds of competition?
Intraspecific- between members of the same species
Interspecific- between members of different species
(Intersect)
What is the Competitive Exclusion Principle?
No 2 species can have the same exact same niche in the exact same habitat and the exact same time
What is a keystone species?
A species that is vial to the ecosystem
What is Symbiosis?
A type of biological interaction between 2 organisms
What is commensalism?
When one organism benefits and the other is neither helped or harmed
What is mutualism?
When both organisms are helped
What is parasitism?
When one organism is helped and one is harmed
What is succession?
The recreation of a community after a disturbance.
- A sequence of biotic change
- damaged communities are regenerated
- new communities arise in previous uninhabited areas
What is primary succession?
the development of an ecosystem that was previously unhabited.
What is secondary succession?
- Starts after a disaster like a fire
- some species remain
- soil is left intact
