Ecology Flashcards
What is the Fossil Record?
The Fossil Record is formed from layers of sediment deposited in lakes, oceans, and soil, where fossilized remains are embedded within these layers.
What is the significance of fossils?
Fossils provide evidence of organisms that lived 500 million years ago and transitional fossils act as links between different evolutionary layers.
What is Biogeography?
Biogeography is the study of past and present distribution of organisms worldwide.
What are key observations in Biogeography?
Closely related species often inhabit nearby areas, and animals on continents and islands often resemble each other.
What are Homologous Structures?
Homologous Structures have the same structural elements and origin but different functions, indicating a common ancestor.
Example: Vertebrate forelimbs.
What are Analogous Structures?
Analogous Structures have different structures but similar functions and do not share a common ancestral origin.
Example: Wings of insects and birds.
What does Embryology provide evidence for?
Embryology shows that embryos of various species exhibit similar stages of development, providing evidence for common ancestry.
Example: Vertebrate embryos exhibit similar structures like tails and gill slits during early development.
What is the Geological Time Scale?
The Geological Time Scale represents Earth’s history from its origin (~4.6 billion years ago) to the present, organized into intervals: Eons → Eras → Periods → Epochs → Ages.
What is the process of Speciation?
Speciation involves the gradual accumulation of mutations due to environmental changes and divergence, where a species splits into two due to genetic and geographic isolation.
What are Geographic Barriers?
Geographic Barriers like mountains, rivers, and lakes prevent interbreeding, leading to separate evolution of populations.
What are Biological Barriers?
Biological Barriers prevent different species from interbreeding even in the same location.
Examples: Behavioral Isolation, Temporal Isolation, Habitat Isolation.
What is Adaptive Radiation?
Adaptive Radiation is when a single species evolves into many different species adapted to unique environments.
Example: Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos Islands.
What is Divergent Evolution?
Divergent Evolution occurs when one species diverges into multiple species over time.
What is Gradualism?
Gradualism is the theory that evolution occurs slowly and steadily over time, with small changes accumulating into significant differences.
What is Punctuated Equilibrium?
Punctuated Equilibrium is the theory that long periods of stability are interrupted by short bursts of rapid change, often during environmental upheavals.
What is Reproductive Isolation?
Reproductive Isolation occurs when populations of the same species stop interbreeding, leading to new species.
Example: Lake Victoria Cichlids.
What is a Species?
A Species is a group of organisms that can breed with one another and produce fertile offspring.
Example: Wolves, foxes.
What is a Population?
A Population is a group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time.
Example: Coyotes at Kingsman.
What is a Community?
A Community consists of all the populations of interacting species in an area.
What influences Community Structure?
Community Structure is influenced by competition, biotic and abiotic factors.
What are Biotic and Abiotic Factors?
Biotic factors are living things like plants and animals, while abiotic factors are non-living things like sunlight and temperature.
What is Taxonomy?
Taxonomy is the science of classifying living things.
What was Aristotle’s system of classification?
Aristotle categorized organisms as plants or animals, using movement as a key trait.
What is Linnaeus’s Hierarchical Classification?
Linnaeus’s Hierarchical Classification subdivides organisms based on observed characteristics into levels: Domain → Kingdom → Phylum → Class → Order → Family → Genus → Species.
