Ecology Flashcards
What are the 7 requirements of life?
- Living things are made of cells
- Living things reproduce
- Living things are based on a Universal Genetic Code
- Living things grow and develop
- Living things obtain and use energy
- Living things respond to their environment
- Living things maintain a stable internal enviornment
What is the definition of ecology?
The scientific study of interactions between organisms and environments.
Why is ecology important?
Important because of biodiversity (the variety of life forms that exist)
What is a biotic factor and what are examples?
All living or once living things (e.g. cat, human, bacteria, fungi)
What is an Abiotic factor and what are examples?
Nonliving things (e.g. water, soil, air, sunlight, temperature, minerals)
What are the interdependence of life?
- No matter where you look on Earth, living things are connected and affect their environment and other living things.
- As organisms change, evolve, move from one place to another, they affect their environment and other living things.
What are the 6 levels of organization and what are they?
- Individual (A single organism)
- Population ( A group of individuals that all belong to the same species and live in the same area)
- Community (A group of all populations living in a defined area)
- Ecosystem (All the organisms that live in a particular place together with their nonliving enviornemnt)
- Biome (Tend to exist across latitude lines)
- Biosphere (Contains the combined parts of the planet in which all life exists)
What is a predator?
Any consumer that KILLS AND EATS another living organism in order to obtain energy. They organism being eaten is called PREY.
What is competition?
When different species are competing for the same resources (food, living space, etc.)
What is symbiosis?
Interaction between members of two different species that live together in a close association. There are three close relationships.
What are the three close relationships of symbiosis?
- Mutualism (Positive relationship where both organisms benefit from each other)
- Commensalism (Positive/neutral relationship where the organism benefits and the other is unaffected)
- Parasitism (Positive/negative relationship where one benefits and other is harmed at a disadvantage)
What is an ecological niche?
What the specie eats, what eats it, and how the species behave. No two species have identical niches.
What are the two categories species can fall into?
- Producer
- Consumer
What are producers?
Organisms that make its own energy-rich compounds using the suns energy (ex. plants and sea slugs)
What are consumers?
Organisms that obtain their energy from consuming other organisms. Consumers can be further divided depending on the organisms they eat.
What 4 roles can organisms be divided into depending on the organisms they eat?
- Herbivore
- Carnivore
- Omnivore
- Scavenger
What is a herbivore?
An animal that eats plants.
What is a carnivore?
An animal that eats other animals.
What is an omnivore?
An animal that eats plants and other animals.
What is a scavenger?
An animal that eats the remains of another organism.
What is a food chain?
The easiest way to show feeding relationships that exist between different organisms in an ecosystem through a food chain and how energy gets transferred from one organism to another.
What do food chains illustrate?
Food chains illustrate who eats whom in an ecosystem; it is a sequence of organisms, each following the next.
What are trophic levels?
The position of an organism within a food chain.
What occupies the lowest or first trophic level?
Producers
What occupies the second trophic level?
Herbivores
What occupies the third, fourth, and fifth trophic levels?
Carnivores
Why are decomposers special?
They consume organisms from any trophic level so they can be placed at different trophic levels within the food chain.
What can apex predators be described as?
- Top predator of an ecosystem
- Have no natural predators of their own
- Obtain the top trophic level
What are the two formats food chains have?
- Producer –> Primary consumer –> Secondary consumer –> Tertiary consumer –> Quaternary consumer.
- Tropic level 1 –> Trophic level 2 –> Trophic level 3 –> Trophic level 4 –> Trophic level 5
What is energy transfer
Energy transfer explains how energy is passed on from one trophic level to the next.
What does the 10% rule say?
Roughly 10% of energy is passed on to the next trophic level meaning 90% is lost.
What are the three types of ecological pyramids?
- Pyramid of energy
- Pyramid of biomass
- Pyramid of numbers
What is the pyramid of energy?
The total energy flow.
What is the pyramid of biomass?
Dry mass (water removed) or food available to each level.
What is the pyramid of numbers?
Numbers of organisms to each level.
What is a food web?
Represent all of the feeding relationships within a community. Food webs use arrows to show the direction of energy transfer.
What are the four combined parts of the planet in which all life exists?
- Lithosphere
- Hydrosphere
- Atmosphere
- Biosphere
What is lithosphere?
Solid earth
What is hydrosphere?
All water found on, under, and over the surface of Earth
What is atmosphere?
The gases that surround the earth (it’s air)
What is biosphere?
All life on earth
What do living organisms need to survive?
Water, food, shelter, mate
What is carrying capacity?
The number of organisms of one species that an ecosystem can support
What are the 4 factors that limit the size of population?
- Predator
- Population density
- Biotic potential
- Human influence
