Ecology Flashcards
What is ecology?
ecology is the study of the relationships between organisms and the environment where the sun is the ultimate source of energy
What is the environement?
surroundings which change as per movement, made up of biotic elements and abiotic elements. abiotic and biotic elements are dependent upon each other.
Give examples of biotic elements
plants, animals, fungi etc.
Give examples of abiotic elements
climate, soil, water, sunlight, air etc.
What is the environmental system hierarchy? (from smallest to biggest)
organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere
What is an organism? (env. system hierarchy)
living thing that can carry out all the basic life processes such as eating, breathing, moving, growing, reproducing, and responding to the environment. it can be a single-celled or multicellular entity
What is a population? (env. system hierarchy)
group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area and can interbreed
What is a community? (env. system hierarchy)
group of populations of different species living in the same environement and interacting with each other
What is an ecosystem? (env. system hierarchy)
combination of all living and nonliving things in a particular area, interacting with each other to form a self-regulating system
What is a biosphere? (env. system hierarchy)
the global ecosystem (sum of all ecosystems) that includes all living things, their environment, and the interactions between them
What is a habitat?
natural environment or home of an organism. it is the specific place where a plant, animal, or other organism lives, grows, and reproduces
What is a niche?
role or position of an organism within an ecosystem, including the activities it performs and the resources it uses
What are limiting factors in an environment?
abiotic or biotic factors that limit the growth, abundance, or distribution of a population or species within an ecosystem
What are examples of limiting factors in an environment?
availability of food, water, shelter, space, disease, predation, competition, temperature, humidity, soil quality, and other environmental conditions
What are producers? (feeding relationships)
organisms that are autotrophs, make their own food through processes like photosynthesis, and they form the base of the food chain in feeding relationships
What are consumers? (feeding relationships)
organisms that are heterotrophs and ingest food containing the sun’s energy, they rely on other organisms for their food
What is commensalism? give an example (symbiotic relationships)
one species benefits, while the other species is neither helped nor harmed. example: an orchid taking shelter on a tree
What is parasitism? give an example (symbiotic relationships)
one species (the parasite) benefits while the other species (the host) is harmed. example: tick feeding on a dog’s blood
What is mutualism? give an example (symbiotic relationships)
both species rely on each other for survival and gain an advantage from the interaction. example: bees and flowers, bees collect nectar from flowers as a source of food, and in the process, they inadvertently transfer pollen from one flower to another, facilitating the reproduction of the plants.
